CALL AND RESPONSE

Lesson 4

Teaching Artist: Dave Adewumi

SUMMARY

This is the fourth lesson from the grades 2-5 Jazz and the World of Black American Music Course. Students will be introduced to the historical facts and figures in cool jazz and hard bop. Then they will demonstrate a jazz style call and response.

OBJECTIVE

  • Students will be able to summarize important information about cool jazz and hard bop.

  • Students will be able to identify calls and responses in their own experiences.

  • Students will be able to perform call and response in a jazz style.

MATERIALS

EXPLORE

  1. Watch Cool Jazz and Hard Bop [3:15-5:09 and 6:34-7:49] Ask students if they notice the difference between the first and second songs, “Boplicity” and “Moanin’.” Ask: How are these styles similar to Coleman Hawkins’ and Lester Young’s styles we talked about in the last lesson? 

  2. Watch Cool Jazz and Hard Bop Call and Response section [7:49-8:18]. Explain that call and response is one of the ways that jazz musicians express themselves. Ask students how they use call and response in everyday life. For example, “1, 2, 3…Eyes on me,” in hip hop “When I say X…You say Y,” on television “Scooby Dooby Doo…Where are you?” or during class, “Hocus pocus…Everybody focus!”

  3. Use chart paper or an interactive board to create a class list of call and response lines students have heard in everyday life or in songs.

LEARN

  1. Divide students into pairs and ask them to brainstorm their own calls and responses based on the given scenarios: time for lunch, asking for help, classroom transitions, time to play, and a motivational chant before an assessment. One partner will be the call (A) and the other will be the response (B). Write the following template on the board: Partner A says (X), partner B says (Y). 

  2. Model calls and responses with claps. Use the same verbal concept as above: “When I clap (X) you clap (Y)". 

  3. Practice calls and responses with Mr. Dave by watching Cool Jazz and Hard Bop Call and Response section [8:18-end]. When you hear, “Every morning got me moanin’,” respond by singing, “Moanin’.” For additional practice, use the Moanin Play Along track.

PERFORM+SHARE

  1. Perform and share the activities from this lesson on the  S’Cool Sounds Padlet. 

  2. Tell students they will write an original blues song in the next lesson.