Antiphony
Entry for EPMOW by Philip Tagg
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antiphony, from Greek antifonía [antifwnia] (= ‘opposing sound’): umbrella term denoting performance techniques in which one line of music is alternated with another contrasting or complementary musical line of roughly equal importance. Although no absolute duration limit can be given, each antiphonal statement between different musicians, singers, instruments or recorded tracks is usually perceived as lasting at least the length of a musical phrase. For alternation of individual notes between different voices, instruments, etc., see hocket. Most
responsorial techniques, for example African-American call and response,
the sawal-jawab (= ‘question and answer’) of Indian raga music,
and the chanted dialogue between precentor and congregation in many forms
of Christian liturgy, are also antiphonal. Antiphony that is not necessarily
responsorial occurs when one part of a vocal or instrumental ensemble
exchanges alternate phrases or sections of music with another, for example:
(i) the brass section playing one passage and the whole big band answering
with another; (ii) the jazz drummer or bass player performing two- or
four-bar breaks and the rest of the band answering with passages of similar
length, usually just before the final chorus; (iii) two sides of the choir
or congregation singing alternate lines or verses from psalms or hymns.
Stereo antiphony occurs either when the same sound is panned left (or
right) for one phrase or passage and right (or left) for the subsequent
one, or when two different sounds are assigned alternate phrases or passages
at opposite panning positions.
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