Compositional devices are techniques that composers use to create, develop, manipulate and enhance their musical ideas.

Today we will be focusing on the compositional devices: call & response

Definition: Call and response is a compositional technique that works similarly to a conversation. A “phrase” of music serves as the “call,” and is “answered” by a different phrase of music. These phrases can be either vocal, instrumental, or both 

The origins of call and response in Western music date back to the ancient Jewish church where psalms were sung in alternation between the cantor and the congregation. This process was passed down to the early Christian church where psalms were sung in the same manner; a practice called responsorial psalmody.

Call and response has also been an integral part of the traditional music of West Africa and the practice was brought to America by the Africans used as slaves during the late eighteenth and first half of the nineteenth centuries. During this period, work songs often took the form of call and response with the repetitive pattern helping to pass the time and the rhythmic pattern of the words often corresponding to the physical actions of the work involved.

The call and response pattern was also used in the church services of African Americans where the call of the preacher would be answered by a response from the congregation, and from there the practice found its way to gospel music, spirituals, jazz, blues and rock.

Call and response may take a variety of forms. There may be more than one response and the call and the response may overlap. In instrumental jazz, the call and response pattern may be initiated by a solo instrument acting as the caller with a short improvisation, answered by a larger group with a scored response. In vocal forms of jazz or blues, a solo performer may sing one line which is answered by an instrumental response.

Call and response is commonly used in live performances where a singer will act as the caller and encourage the audience to respond. 

Watch the video below to see some of the ways call and response has evolved over time. 

Can you find five examples of songs or pieces that use call and response? 

Write your answers in the assignment in your books.