vocalise

noun

1. a musical composition consisting of the singing of melody with vowel sounds or nonsense syllables rather than text, as for special effect in classical compositions, in polyphonic jazz singing by special groups, or in virtuoso vocal exercises.
2. any such singing exercise or vocalized melody.

verb (used with or without object), vo·cal·ised, vo·cal·is·ing.

1. Chiefly British. vocalize.

verb (used with object), vo·cal·ized, vo·cal·iz·ing.

1. to make vocal; utter; articulate; sing.
2. to endow with a voice; cause to utter.
3. Phonetics.
   1. to voice.
   2. to change into a vowel (contrasted with consonantalize).
4. (of Hebrew, Arabic, and other writing systems that do not usually indicate vowels) to furnish with vowels or vowel points.

verb (used without object), vo·cal·ized, vo·cal·iz·ing.

5. to use the voice, as in speech or song.
6. to sing without uttering words, especially to warm up the voice, practice vowel sounds, etc., before a performance.
7. to sing scales, arpeggios, trills, or the like, usually to a solmization syllable or a vowel sound.
8. Phonetics. to become changed into a vowel.

noun

1. a musical passage sung upon one vowel as an exercise to develop flexibility and control of pitch and tone; solfeggio

verb

1. to express with or use the voice; articulate (a speech, song, etc)
2. (tr) to make vocal or articulate
3. (tr) phonetics
   1. to articulate (a speech sound) with voice
   2. to change (a consonant) into a vowel
4. another word for vowelize
5. (intr) to sing a melody on a vowel, etc

v.

1660s, from vocal + -ize. Related: Vocalized; vocalizing.