Call and Response - The Sound of Collaboration (2024)
In music, call and response is a technique where one musician offers a phrase and a second player answers with a direct commentary or response to the offered phrase. The musicians build on each other’s offering and work together to move the song along and create a sound that’s inventive and collective. Outside of instruments, speakers and listeners also tap into call and response when statements (calls) are accented by expressions (responses) from the listener.
Mirroring the drum’s rat tat tat that sparks the piano’s twinkle of notes, when I facilitate ISKME’s Action Collabs, I use improvisational techniques to encourage participants to listen and build on each other’s contributions as they score their way to new solutions in education.
Picture, if you will, a school district annual meeting that includes a variety of stakeholders. There’s a circle of chairs in the middle of the room and seated are a principal, teacher, city official, student, and curriculum specialist. They’re brainstorming on how to decrease the number of high school dropouts in their district. This is a group of people who might not typically find themselves problem-solving together, nor are they typically experienced in how to actively listen and build off each other’s ideas.
Enter improv. Short of handing out saxophones and jazz guitars and leading the group in a call and response workshop, I facilitate exercises that encourage call and response-like collaboration. “Vacations”, for example, gets right to the heart of working together and is based on one of the primary tenets of improv - “Yes, and” and mirrors the sound of music’s call and response.
Participants are paired and our example duo is a principal and a teacher. They’re to imagine they’ve just returned from their vacation to Katmandu, where they had a whirl of a time. Each offers a memory of their trip and the partner acknowledges that “yes” that did, in fact, happen “and” remembers an additional thing that also happened. It sounds like this:
[teacher] “Remember when we took that amazing vacation to Katmandu? [principal] “Yes, and remember that day when we met that monk with the monkey?” [teacher] “Oh, yes, that monk was carrying that monkey all over the market and having him tap dance for money!” [principal] “Yes, and then you started dancing with him and it started to rain.” [teacher] “Totally! It was down pouring and I started belting out Singing in the Rain as I danced with the monkey.”
Reliably, Action Collab participants are floored with how creative, generative, and fun “Vacations” is as they “Yes, and” their way to shared memories. I encourage participants to think how they could apply the technique to their everyday workplace; and they start to imagine testing out “Yes, and” at work and transforming meetings from non-productive and dull to iterative and collaborative. It’s a revolution in new thinking and action.
Listening to jazz, we sometimes think their ability to improv, work off of each other, and create is effortless but it’s not. Players spend time cultivating their skills; and similarly, collaborative communication takes practice, preparation, and openness to others in the conversation. Use your next meeting to practice. When someone offers an idea, take a risk and say “yes, and” - add to their idea in some way. It can be small, but be intentional and find a way to connect. The conversation will benefit from your additions. “Yes, and” / “Call and Response” – it’s all about listening, building on offerings, going somewhere together, and creating something brand new and unexpected.
In music, call and response is a technique where one musician offers a phrase and a second player answers with a direct commentary or response to the offered phrase. The musicians build on each other's offering and work together to move the song along and create a sound that's inventive and collective.
Call and response is also a common structure of songs and carols originating in the Middle Ages, for example "All in the Morning" and "Down in yon Forest", both traditional Derbyshire carols.
Call-and-response is known as “coro-pregón” and is found in many Latin musical styles, including the salsa, rumba, cha-cha-chá, and timba. In Latin music, call-and-response songs are predominantly defined by an interaction between the vocalist and the coro (chorus).
In music, 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.
call-and-re·sponse ˌkȯl-ən(d)-ri-ˈspän(t)s. : a statement quickly followed by an answering statement. also : a musical phrase in which the first and often solo part is answered by a second and often ensemble part.
At its simplest, Call & Response is a dialogue between two distinct musical phrases. We can imagine the case above being between the shout of a leading voice and a group's answer, but Call & Response happens in a variety of ways.
Attention signals use a 'Call and Response' technique where the teacher performs an action and the students reply with a pre-determined response. Once students are attentive, the teacher can give the next set of instructions using clear and concise language.
I am writing in response to your letter of July 17. When I told him my plan, I wasn't expecting such an enthusiastic response. Her response to their decision was to threaten to quit her job.
I'm talking about a common figure called call and response. It's a melodic technique you can use to generate ideas and add interest to your songwriting. In this article I'll explain what call and response is, how to recognize it and where to use it in your own tracks.
For example, a bellow to emphasize a key point or an audible "Yes, Lord" to hone in on specific concept during preaching often serve as Verbal Indirect Calls to the congregation or musicians that the preacher requires a response in the form of "amens," "hallelujah," "preach, preacher," formulaic supporting musical ...
Imitation is used to establish and share the leader/follower relationship in the classroom. Once a skill is absorbed the student can be the 'caller. ' Call and Response formats also provide a way to instruct beyond imitation with the use of 'varied repetition.
This call-and-response pattern can be found in a variety of African musical traditions, including gospel, blues, jazz, and traditional music. In traditional African music, call-and-response is often used in songs, dances, and other ceremonies, and can involve singing, drumming, or playing an instrument.
According to The Norton Anthology of African-American Literature, call-and-response is: (an) oral musical pattern of West African origin in which a leader sings or speaks and is followed by the response of a related group; the response may echo fragments of the leader's structure or words.
sound reception, response of an organism's aural mechanism, the ear, to a specific form of energy change, or sound waves. Sound waves can be transmitted through gases, liquids, or solids, but the hearing function of each species is particularly (though not exclusively) sensitive to stimuli from one medium.
At its simplest, Call & Response is a dialogue between two distinct musical phrases. We can imagine the case above being between the shout of a leading voice and a group's answer, but Call & Response happens in a variety of ways.
If they were singing the same thing, it would be an echo. For it to be call and response, the response is reacting to the call, not imitating it. Often times, it is one person singing the call and many singers, or a chorus, responding.
Introduction: My name is Msgr. Refugio Daniel, I am a fine, precious, encouraging, calm, glamorous, vivacious, friendly person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
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