Jazz singing with nonsense syllables, using the voice as an instrument. Its invention is credited to trumpeter Louis Armstrong in the 1920s. Many singers resort to it from time to time to extend a phrase or cover up a forgotten lyric.
Anglo-American vocal group Lambert, Hendricks and Ross (1957–64) specialized in scat singing. The songs of Scottish pop group the Cocteau Twins (formed 1982) are composed almost entirely of meaningless syllables chosen for their sound.