What is it called when a group of vocalists or chorus sing Ooh's oh's, ah's, etc?
I heard my chorus director refer to it as something sounding like dest cant or something, but since I'm hard-of-hearing, I couldn't hear all the letters.
If someone can give me the correct name for this, as well as more information and resources about it, that would be excellent.
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The term would not be "descant"
The term you and your director are looking for is "vocable"
We use the term "vocable" to describe sounds singers make that are outside of intelligible language. Beyond "oohs" and "aahs" it would also include whoops, screams, pops, clicks, lip buzzes and any of the other thousands of sounds the human voice can make.
www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/vocable
What is it called when a group of vocalists or chorus sing Ooh's oh's, ah's,
In my Gospel choir and school classes
I used the term "back ground"
back-ground voicing or back-ground singing
The typical arrangement of aah and oohs is that they are just homophone voicing the lead singer harmonizing the chords like an organ or guitar accompaniment.
(Of course will find also polyphonic background voicing.)
Edit:
I've deleted the links provided as they haven't been corresponding to my text above. What I mean is not the same as backing voices or backup singers or also barbershop style.
I just taught the children to sing the chords (triads) following the tune in half notes or whole notes e.g. the background voices in Hey Jude.
Maybe the term "background" has changed its meaning through the years, but that's what we have used in Swiss Jazz School in the late sixties. And I would still use it in Jazz arrangements where instruments are playing divided chord notes like the Aah and Oh in harmony of human voices.
Edit:
I thought that distinguished to consonants like mm, hm, nn, ng this kind of vocal accompaniment will be called vowel background.
But now here is the link with the correct answer:
BV's = BACKING VOCALS www.soundonsound.com/techniques/crafting-perfect-pop-backing-vocals
A descant is a melody added above the main melody. Common in festive arrangements of hymns. Maybe this was the word he used to describe the oohs and ahs, though it doesn't specifically mean that.
I can't think of a word that exclusively means that sort of singing except 'oohs and ahs'. Maybe 'vocalising' would cover, if not define it.
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