Call and Response

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Call and response , German call and response is a musical pattern on the call ( Call ) of a cantor and the subsequent response ( response ) of the choir is based. In large parts of musicological literature, this short-phased responsory is regarded as a characteristic musical feature of traditional African music and is also one of the elementary design elements of Afro-American music as a form-building principle . This principle was developed in North and Latin America in various Afro-American music genres from the vocal transferred to instrumental music, for example to drums in Brazilian music .

Classic view

In North America, the call-and-response principle is typical for spirituals , gospels , blues and jazz and has also found its way into other musical genres via rhythm 'n' blues . Its origins are here in the African American work songs (work songs), singing a native of Africa slaves working in the fields to facilitate the work and to strengthen the sense of community. A lead singer gave the melody and the text, several subsequent singers answered it or repeated the text and melody of the previous phrase . An example of a song that contains this element is "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot".

Call and Response in Swing Low, Sweet Chariot

A solo call initially formulates a structure that is often more open and questioning. The group (or an individual) then gives the final answer, consequence or the like, which ends the phrase with the response. In the religious chant the preacher sings and the congregation joins in, e.g. B. the preacher sings “Witness” and the congregation joins in: “for my Lord”. In contrast to the alternating chant of Gregorian chant , the choir steps in before the lead singer has finished; There is also a corresponding phase shift when changing from choir to lead singer.

Call and Response is also used as a design tool in African American instrumental music. In jazz z. B. Sometimes there is an interplay of two instruments that have taken over the lead of the piece of music in one moment and are having a kind of conversation with each other, with the end of the "exclamation" of one of the two instruments usually requiring an answer, often with a leading tone or a tension-dissolving sound of the second ends. Even in the abstract play forms of free jazz that is call-and-response principle, a common means of musical design. This principle is often used in the collective interaction of two or more instruments in order to create a certain density and tension.

Call and response between two solo instruments in jazz

According to the principle of call and response , the voices can also be used in two-part instrumental movements; mostly themes are structured in such a way that they are divided between two melody instruments. Developing and playing riffs also builds on this. When used effectively, this interplay gives the piece a special intensity.

Criticism of the African claim of origin

In the Afro-American working group around the ethnomusicologist Alfons M. Dauer , a criticism of the notion that this musical principle had been transferred from the music of Black Africa to the Afro-American music was developed. It was pointed out that the cases in which it really is a question of a call and the answer in the pieces of music and their texts appear too seldom to be able to name this design form afterwards; In addition, previous jazz research has not clearly distinguished the antiphon (in which two choirs alternately play the same melody) from the actual responsory. Maximilian Hendler in particular has shown that this call-answer pattern by no means only comes from Africa, but is used around the Mediterranean and can also be found in work songs beyond.

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Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Ekkehard Jost : Reclams Jazzlexikon. Reclam, Stuttgart 2003, ISBN 3-15-010528-5 , p. 592 f.
  2. ^ Maximilian Hendler: Prehistory of Jazz. From the departure of the Portuguese to Jelly Roll Morton (= contributions to jazz research. 13). Akademische Druck- und Verlags-Anstalt, Graz 2008, ISBN 978-3-201-01900-2 , p. 65 ff., As well as the same: Sheep, shep, don't you know the road? - On the origin of the short phase responses in Afro-American music. In: Jazzforschung = Jazz research. 36, 2004, ISSN  0075-3572 , pp. 153-178.