Lessons · Musicianship

Call & response

Conversation as form — drums, voices, echoes

% Turn-taking before it is melody. Chorus is Lead's rhythm on other
% skins — four attacks in the same four places — so the pair is one
% figure heard twice, low then high, and the three silent units at the
% end of each figure are the room the answer needs. Take that room away
% and there is no exchange left: the last two lines put both figures in
% the same eight units, and then let the chorus have the floor.
 
bpm 60
unit 1/4
 
Lead   ::= kick - kick kick snare - - -
Chorus ::= tom2 - tom4 tom4 clap - - -
Time   ::= hat*8
Trade  ::= {Lead, Time} {Chorus, Time}
 
Trade*2
{Lead, Chorus, Time}
{Chorus, Time}
 
 
% A melody says the same thing with one note. Call rises to the top of
% the octave and then drops to 2 and sits there — it has stopped, not
% finished. Answer takes Call's first six notes, which is all 'Call[:6]'
% means, and instead of dropping to the open 2 it walks 3 2 1 down onto
% the tonic — which runs four units past the call's length, because a
% phrase that lands needs the room to land in. The assert spells it out.
 
key g maj
 
Call   ::= 5 _2 6 _2 '1 _2 7 _2 6 _2 5 _2 2 _4
Answer ::= Call[:6] 3 _2 2 _2 1 _4
 
assert Answer == 5 _2 6 _2 '1 _2 7 _2 6 _2 5 _2 3 _2 2 _2 1 _4
 
Call Answer
 
 
% Two chords are enough, and which one a phrase stops on is the whole
% difference: Ant hangs on Dom, Con passes through it onto Ton. Read the
% chords as three voices — d4 holds while b3 and g3 step down to a3 and
% f#3 — so the change costs two steps. Both phrases open on Bed; the
% tune's two e5s are passing tones between the chord tones around them.
 
Ton ::= {.5, .3, .1}
Dom ::= {.5, .2, ..7}
Bed ::= Ton _6 Dom _4
Ant ::= {Call, Bed Ton _2 Dom _4}
Con ::= {Answer, Bed Ton _4 Dom _2 Ton _4}
 
Ant Con
 
 
% Two choirs a phrase apart. Far enters an octave up exactly as the
% near voice begins its answer, and since the answer IS the call for six
% notes the overlap runs in octaves; they part where the phrases part —
% one landing on 1 while the other still hangs on 2. Low comes in an
% octave down two phrases late, so the last choir in is the last to
% finish, and the piece ends on an answer nobody is talking over.
 
Far   ::= - _16 {Call Answer}@12
Low   ::= - _32 {Call Answer}@-12
Echo  ::= {Call Answer - _16, Far}
Round ::= {Call Answer - _32, Far - _16, Low}
 
Echo
Round
 
 
% Shorten the answer and the talk turns urgent. Press halves it; Rush
% halves the call too and cuts the answer to a quarter, so all nine of
% its notes go by in five units. The hats hold the pulse still while it
% happens — two exchanges pass in the time the first one took — and then
% the full-length answer takes the floor back and closes.
 
Press ::= Call {Answer}/2
Rush  ::= {Call}/2 {Answer}/4
 
{Press Rush Rush Answer, Time*9}
 
 
% Nothing here is new. The drummers trade, the voices state the period
% over the two chords with the kit laying out for the answer, the choirs
% stack up, the exchange presses in over the hats, and the last answer
% lands with the kit cut off mid-figure — 'Chorus[:4]' is half the
% answering figure and no more. The chorus takes the last word, as it
% did in the first block, and the piece ends closed, which is the only
% reason the questions along the way were allowed to stay open.
 
Trade
{Ant, Trade}
Con
Round
{Press Rush Rush Answer, Time*9}
{Con, Trade Chorus[:4]}
{Chorus, Time}

% Turn-taking before it is melody. Chorus is Lead's rhythm on other
% skins — four attacks in the same four places — so the pair is one
% figure heard twice, low then high, and the three silent units at the
% end of each figure are the room the answer needs. Take that room away
% and there is no exchange left: the last two lines put both figures in
% the same eight units, and then let the chorus have the floor.

bpm 60
unit 1/4

Lead   ::= kick - kick kick snare - - -
Chorus ::= tom2 - tom4 tom4 clap - - -
Time   ::= hat*8
Trade  ::= {Lead, Time} {Chorus, Time}

Trade*2
{Lead, Chorus, Time}
{Chorus, Time}

% A melody says the same thing with one note. Call rises to the top of
% the octave and then drops to 2 and sits there — it has stopped, not
% finished. Answer takes Call's first six notes, which is all 'Call[:6]'
% means, and instead of dropping to the open 2 it walks 3 2 1 down onto
% the tonic — which runs four units past the call's length, because a
% phrase that lands needs the room to land in. The assert spells it out.

key g maj

Call   ::= 5 _2 6 _2 '1 _2 7 _2 6 _2 5 _2 2 _4
Answer ::= Call[:6] 3 _2 2 _2 1 _4

assert Answer == 5 _2 6 _2 '1 _2 7 _2 6 _2 5 _2 3 _2 2 _2 1 _4

Call Answer

% Two chords are enough, and which one a phrase stops on is the whole
% difference: Ant hangs on Dom, Con passes through it onto Ton. Read the
% chords as three voices — d4 holds while b3 and g3 step down to a3 and
% f#3 — so the change costs two steps. Both phrases open on Bed; the
% tune's two e5s are passing tones between the chord tones around them.

Ton ::= {.5, .3, .1}
Dom ::= {.5, .2, ..7}
Bed ::= Ton _6 Dom _4
Ant ::= {Call, Bed Ton _2 Dom _4}
Con ::= {Answer, Bed Ton _4 Dom _2 Ton _4}

Ant Con

% Two choirs a phrase apart. Far enters an octave up exactly as the
% near voice begins its answer, and since the answer IS the call for six
% notes the overlap runs in octaves; they part where the phrases part —
% one landing on 1 while the other still hangs on 2. Low comes in an
% octave down two phrases late, so the last choir in is the last to
% finish, and the piece ends on an answer nobody is talking over.

Far   ::= - _16 {Call Answer}@12
Low   ::= - _32 {Call Answer}@-12
Echo  ::= {Call Answer - _16, Far}
Round ::= {Call Answer - _32, Far - _16, Low}

Echo
Round

% Shorten the answer and the talk turns urgent. Press halves it; Rush
% halves the call too and cuts the answer to a quarter, so all nine of
% its notes go by in five units. The hats hold the pulse still while it
% happens — two exchanges pass in the time the first one took — and then
% the full-length answer takes the floor back and closes.

Press ::= Call {Answer}/2
Rush  ::= {Call}/2 {Answer}/4

{Press Rush Rush Answer, Time*9}

% Nothing here is new. The drummers trade, the voices state the period
% over the two chords with the kit laying out for the answer, the choirs
% stack up, the exchange presses in over the hats, and the last answer
% lands with the kit cut off mid-figure — 'Chorus[:4]' is half the
% answering figure and no more. The chorus takes the last word, as it
% did in the first block, and the piece ends closed, which is the only
% reason the questions along the way were allowed to stay open.

Trade
{Ant, Trade}
Con
Round
{Press Rush Rush Answer, Time*9}
{Con, Trade Chorus[:4]}
{Chorus, Time}

running…edit it — it re-runs as you type

Opening…

Call & response · Pattern Engine