SAT vocabulary gets hip-hop beat

For Blake ''Escher" Harrison and Alex Rappaport, preparing for the SAT verbal section during their high school years was a torturous and tedious task. They loved the English language but had trouble relating the words to everyday language. Memorizing definitions to words like quiescence and periphery wasn't as easy as learning lyrics to their favorite hip-hop songs.

Then in the winter of 2003, while playing a game of basketball in San Francisco, they stumbled upon an idea -- create music that students will enjoy and, at the same time, teach them challenging new words. Harrison and Rappaport composed hip-hop music peppered with college-level vocabulary words commonly found on the SAT verbal section and called it Flocabulary.

Harrison, 24, originally from Lexington, tutors at a school in Wellesley, and Rappaport, 25, a Tufts University graduate, is a producer and recording engineer at a recording studio where he composes ring tones for cellphones. In January 2004, Rappaport and Harrison recorded two songs, ''Flocabulary" and ''Quantify." Their first full-length compact disc, ''Flocabulary, a Dictionary and a Microphone," came out this month. The CD and accompanying workbook are available through their website, www.flocabulary.com. In an interview with Globe correspondent Justin M. Aucoin, they spoke about their pairing of music with a college entrance exam that many students see as the factor that could keep them out of a top school.

Why use music for test prep?

Harrison: It's so easy to memorize lyrics to a song, especially lyrics to a hip-hop song. We're using that as a learning tool to help students in a way flashcards are never going to do. [Flashcards] will always be kind of painful and repetitious.

How does Flocabulary work?

Rappaport: The first step is coming up with a cohesive song that works. After that, it's up to the kids how they use it. They can listen and read along [with the lyrics]. The way it works is the way any song works. It stimulates the listener in some way, whether emotionally or from a pretentious standpoint. They're listening and having fun. Learning words this way, we're pronouncing the words and you're hearing the words used. When you look up a word in the dictionary it's often in some kind of archaic terminology we don't use anymore.

Harrison: Since all of the definitions are in the lyrics of the rap, once you memorize the words you memorize the definitions to the words. There is other test prep music out there but they don't define the words in the song. We give you a line like, ''Here's a piece of acumen, keen insight, there wouldn't be global warming if we all rode bikes." Based on that, we hope you know that acumen means keen insight and you know how to say the word.

Have you tried out one of your Flocabulary songs on high school students?

Rappaport: There's an after-school program called Be the Music [at Fenway High School in Boston]. Basically, it's a bunch of girls who sing a cappella music after school and we had the opportunity to teach them one of our hip-hop songs. We were pretty nervous because we thought they would be a little bit more critical of it, but they were really receptive and supportive. It was very rewarding.

With the elimination of analogies in the SATs, how useful is Flocabulary?

Harrison: Vocabulary is still a crucial aspect of a student's success on the SAT. . . . Now that two-thirds of your grade on the SAT is based on writing and reading, we feel that vocabulary is even more important now.

Can Flocabulary help students prepare for the MCAS?

Harrison: My sister right now is tutoring MCAS prep at Bunker Hill Community College and she's doing a lot of vocabulary work. We haven't studied the level of vocabulary on the MCAS but in general it can help all students. We're hoping that 30-year-old lawyers and 50-year-old firefighters are going to be listening to this, learning words, and having fun.

What tips would you give a student who's struggling with vocabulary?

Rappaport: In a lot of classrooms, vocabulary is treated like a frozen thing but it's a living thing. We encourage students to trust their own use of words and understanding of vocabulary, rather than focusing on what some old dictionary says.