Editing Scat singing (section)

== Historical theories  ==
[[Image:Louis Armstrong restored.jpg|thumb|[[Paul Berliner (ethnomusicologist)|Paul Berliner]] has suggested that scat singing arose from instrumental soloists like [[Louis Armstrong]] (''pictured'') formulating jazz riffs vocally<ref name=b181/>]]

Some writers have proposed that scat has its roots in [[African music|African musical traditions]].<ref name="grove"/> In much African music, "human voice and instruments assume a kind of musical parity" and are "at times so close in timbre and so inextricably interwoven within the music's fabric as to be nearly indistinguishable."<ref name=b68>{{Harvnb|Berliner|1994|p=68}}</ref> [[Dick Higgins]] likewise attributes scat singing to traditions of [[sound poetry]] in African-American music.<ref>{{Harvnb|Higgins|1985}}</ref> In [[West African music]], it is typical to convert drum rhythms into vocal melodies; common rhythmic patterns are assigned specific syllabic translations.<ref name="grove">{{Harvnb|Robinson|2007}}</ref> However, this theory fails to account for the existence—even in the earliest recorded examples of scatting—of free improvisation by the vocalist.<ref name="grove"/> It is therefore more likely that scat singing evolved independently in the United States.<ref name="grove"/>

Others have proposed that scat singing arose from jazz musicians' practice of formulating riffs vocally before performing them instrumentally.<ref name=b181/> (The adage "If you can't sing it, you can't play it" was common in the early New Orleans jazz scene.<ref name=b181>{{Harvnb|Berliner|1994|p=181}}</ref>) In this manner, soloists like Louis Armstrong became able to double as vocalists, switching effortlessly between instrumental solos and scatting.<ref name=b181/>

Scat singing also resembles the Irish/Scottish practice of [[lilting]] or diddling, a type of vocal music that involves using nonsensical syllables to sing non-vocal dance tunes.<ref>{{Harvnb|Ó Nualláin|2002|pp=306–307}}</ref>