call and response
Vocal back-and-forth
Call and response is a pattern where one voice or instrument makes a statement and another answers it.
The form runs through African American musical traditions—spirituals, gospel, blues, jazz—and extends to preaching, where a congregation answers the minister's phrases.
More broadly, any back-and-forth exchange: The protest had a call-and-response chant going.
- answerSolution to query
- back and forthRepeated alternating movement
- repeat after mePrompt to mimic speech
- work songsMusic accompanying manual labor
- antiphonyAlternating musical replies
rhythm · chain gang · echo · chorus · clap hands · African rhythms · gospel blues · spirituals · communal singing · sing along · oral tradition · singing · rejoinder · leader · slave songs · griot · amen · African
- work songswork song, sea shanty, chantey, hollers, prison song
- dialogue poetrydramatic verse, colloquy
- Sing-AlongsJingle Bells, Kumbaya, campfire songs, camp songs, karaoke
- Hip-Hoprapper, rappers, rhymes, beat, lyrics
- American Singingspirituals, blues, country, gospel, barbershop
- audience behaviorcheering, clapping, booing, standing ovation, applause
musical/performative structure
call and responsesolo performance
Unaccompanied artistic presentation
solo · monologue · aria · soliloquy · one-man show