Google yourself some of the history of scat music as well as a few masterpieces by
its major practitioners. then, perhaps, take a closer look at the tune “bli-blip” by ella fitzgerald.
using the form below, fill in the blanks with a transcription and/or translation of the scat chorus
line. opt for playful spellings and imaginative conversions. consider and relish your own unique
approach to phonetics, syllables, rhythm, and rendition. (if you can’t find “bli-blip,” transcribe a
scat chorus or verse from a different song—louis, ella, betty carter, rachelle ferrell, erykah badu,
etc.)

write a scat poem that “riffs off” of two slang terms. check out clarence major’s dictionary of
african-american slang for ideas. or you may want to base the poem off of a phrase or line
from a familiar or beloved nursery rhyme or a jump rope song. or zoom in on one or two vowel
sounds (think assonance and rhyme) and one or two consonant sounds (think alliteration and
consonance) as the organic material for the poem.

use a rhyming dictionary to create a word bank of one, two, three, and four syllable words that
will fashion the rhythmic and tonal pattern of your poem. how will you achieve the attitude, the
pose, the swagger, the buoyancy, the floating grace of the scat singer? consider the length of
each line as a unit of sound that can be shortened, elongated, and stretched with techniques like
line break, end-fixing, enjambment, and rhyme.

final challenge: thread a narrative or story through the poem. consider the ways in which you
could format the poem on the page to further complement its content.