Question/Answer Call and Response
Part of the band poses a musical "question", or a phrase that feels unfinished, and another part of the band "answers" (finishes) it. In the blues, the B section often has a question-and-answer pattern (dominant-to-tonic).
An example of this is the Christmas song Must Be Santa:
- CALL: Who laughs this way, ho ho ho?
- RESPONSE: Santa laughs this way, ho ho ho!
A similar question-and-answer exchange occurs in the movie Casablanca between Sam and the band in the song Knock On Wood:
- CALL: Who's got trouble?
- RESPONSE: We've got trouble!
- CALL: How much trouble?
- RESPONSE: Too much trouble!
Read more about this topic: Call And Response (music)
Famous quotes containing the words question, answer, call and/or response:
“In every question and every remark tossed back and forth between lovers who have not played out the last fugue, there is one question and it is this: “Is there someone new?””
—Edna O’Brien (b. 1936)
“We might make a public moan in the newspapers about the decay of conscience, but in private conversation, no matter what crimes a man may have committed or how cynically he may have debased his talent or his friends, variations on the answer “Yes, but I did it for the money” satisfy all but the most tiresome objections.”
—Lewis H. Lapham (b. 1935)
“Bishops are like umpires. You have to have them to call the close decisions.”
—Frank Butler (1890–1967)
“There is ... but one response possible from us: Force, Force to the uttermost, Force without stint or limit, the righteous and triumphant Force which shall make Right the law of the world and cast every selfish dominion down in the dust.”
—Woodrow Wilson (1856–1924)