call and responsen.adj.
/kɔːl (ə)n(d) rᵻˈspɒns/, U.S. /ˌkɔl (ə)n(d) rəˈspɑns/, /ˌkɔl (ə)n(d) riˈspɑns/, /ˌkɑl (ə)n(d) rəˈspɑns/, /ˌkɑl (ə)n(d) riˈspɑns/ A. n.
1. Music The performance of musical phrases in alternation by different individuals or groups (esp. vocalists), in such a way that the second phrase seems to answer the first (cf. antiphony n. 3); a form of music employing such alternating phrases.Originally used with reference to African and African-American work songs.
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1922 T. W. Talley Negro Folk Rhymes 285 The spirit of ‘call’ and ‘sponse’ hovers ghost-like over the very thought of many Negro Rhymes.
1966 Jrnl. Amer. Folklore 79 404 Among other valuable inclusions are the rich call and 'sponse (harp and voice) of Jay Bird Coleman.
1991 Details June 101/1 The band electrifies and speeds up the Cuban-rooted beat with sweetly sung call-and-response.
2004 S. Dudley Calypso Music in Trinidad i. 21 Musicologists refer to call and response as a ‘cyclical’ form because the refrain (response) is constantly repeated at short intervals.
2. A form of verbal interaction between a speaker and listeners, usually at religious or public gatherings, in which each utterance by the speaker elicits a response from the audience.Frequently used with reference to preaching in African-American churches.
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1970 College Eng. 32 355/2 By playing the opening minutes of the sermon.., students become aware of the rhetorical devices of repeated phrases, call and response, variation in prose rhythm, [etc.].
1982 Washington Post 6 Feb. c3/6 There's also a great deal of call and response and other methods of involvement to effectively draw young theatergoers into the passions of the play.
1994 G. Santoro Dancing in your Head iii. 12 The incantatory preaching with its fervent call-and-response.
2015 Atlanta Jrnl.-Constit. (Nexis) 13 Aug. 1b The televised marathon of sermons, call-and-response, speeches, singing, and poetry-reading can fill three to four hours without a break.
B. adj. Frequently hyphenated.
1. Music. Designating musical phrases performed in alternation by different individuals or groups (esp. vocalists), in such a way that the second phrase seems to answer the first; of, relating to, or employing such phrases.
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1948 Jrnl. Amer. Musicol. Soc. 1 30/2 Records from the Archives of American Folk Song contain many examples of such traits as emphasized percussion, off-beat phrasing, and overlapping call-and-response phrases.
1971 Times 10 Apr. 17/6 Both Taylor's and Miss Knight's records make valuable use of the call-and-response technique, the singer throwing out a line and being answered by a chorus.
1988 New Yorker 7 Nov. 86/3 (advt.) The villagers sing the plena (call and response songs) accompanied by bongos and congas.
2008 JazzTimes May 103/1 The dramatic title track..features some dynamic call-and-response exchanges.
2. Of, relating to, or characterized by verbal interaction between a speaker and listeners, usually at religious or public gatherings, in which each utterance by the speaker elicits a response from the audience.Frequently used with reference to preaching in African-American churches.
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1971 Stud. in Novel 3 199 The structure and thrust of Barlo's preaching depended upon the reciprocity of his black congregation, whose members interject intensely felt responses to the words he utters. This is the basic call-and-response pattern.
1980 Washington Post 4 July c14/5 Speaking in a call-and-response style that left room for interjections of support.
1990 R. Maas & G. O'Donnell Spiritual Trad. for Contemp. Church ix. 290 A stylized conversation in which the members of the congregation minister to one another in a call and response formula.
2008 Guardian (Nexis) 26 Nov. 10 That ‘Yes we can’ refrain might more readily summon up the call-and-response preaching of the American church than classical rhetoric.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2016; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
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n.adj.1922