Speaking/scatting to the beat?

[manteca]

Does anyone know if there's an official way to speak/scat to the music, specifically the percussion? I've heard some some teachers, especially in NYC, speaking/scatting to the percussion while they are demoing in a class and I wanted to learn more if possible.

Like in Pachanga, you might hear them say KOO-CHA, KOO-CHA ... koo-cha, koo-cha, koo-cha. Or you might hear RAKA TAKA, RAKA TAKA (maybe for the Guiro). The sounds seem to both match instruments as well as dance movements. In one ET workshop, I heard him scat the beat for 1-2 minutes, while he did some pachanga and boogaloo, he was quite good and it was very musical and it got me dancing. In fact, I was a little disappointed when the DJ got the music going again and wished ET would start up again.

Anyway, thanks in advance for any help!

 

[manteca]

I thought I'd just add that the most famous example is of course the CHA CHA CHA for the triple syncopated beat/steps, in the dance of the same name.

 

[timberamayor]

Cuban (and probably other) musicians often sing the percussion parts, but I don't know that there are any specific agreed upon sounds used for the different types of instruments and patterns. But when they are learning a new song of example someone mught ask "what's the break here?" and the other person will sing it to them for example "raka pa tum blablabla, etc" and the guy understands what that means. I also took a class form a dancer atht did not allow counting of steps but would sing the steps instaad.

 

[groovetpt]

It's pretty much what timbera just said... nothing specific or universal, just whatever syllables work to get the message across...

 

[Smejmoon]

There is semi-official way for tabla players, but for Cuban music just use what works. It's sometimes easier to sing than to dance, so the idea is to use singing to memorize routines better. Also it adds musicality to the dancing since you engage your musical brain. But it's much harder to sing and dance different things at the same time.