Call and response is one of the oldest forms of song, found in many parts of the world. It depends on one person with a strong voice who sings a line at a time for the others to echo. We have a number of these in our repertoire and sing them either with one caller or in two groups, _ one group calling and the other responding.
Today we sang WHAT'LL I DO WITH THE BABY-O? with each person taking a turn to 'call' a line of the song, right round the circle. Interesting how the need to sing the line, solo, demonstrated how not everyone was secure in the song and concentrated minds on fixing the melody. By the third time round, all were singing their lines in good, clear, confident voices.
This is a good way to build confidence among singers and also a fun way to sing.
GREEN GROW THE RASHES O we have almost memorised and our challenge now is to begin to enjoy the song and sing it confidently.
We ended the morning with ALEYKUM ASALAAM, Arabic for "Peace be unto you', a four part harmony piece by Nickomo. It's some time since we sang this but after re-learning the parts we achieved a full, close harmony sound which sent us off with a musical warmth inside on a cold morning.
