"Say Hallelujah, Somebody" and "I Will Call upon the Lord" An Examination of Call and Response in the Black Church
Abstract Call and response is an African retention that pervades the musical and cultural expressions of people of African descent, and is uniquely observable in the Black Church. This essay interrogates the intricacies, diversity, and multi directionality of calls and responses in the Black Church by examining liturgical expressions (particularly music and preaching) at "Bethel Nondenominational Church" and "Mount Zion Baptist Church" in Bloomington, Indiana. I argue that calls and responses can emanate from any position in the sanctuary and from any source (human or inanimate) Contrary to the often held consensus on call and response, I argue further that, on many occasions, expressions originating from the congregation, including those regarded as responses, often constitute primary and secondary calls that effectuate responses from the pulpit and the rest of the congregation. This essay ultimately demonstrates how "call" and "response" in the Black Church are often interchangeable concepts. Introduction Call and response is an African retention that pervades the musical and cultural expressions of people of African descent, and is uniquely observable in the Black Church (Burnim, 2006, p. 54; Williams Jones, 1975, p. 378) I use the term "Black Church" to reference "a kind of sociological and theological shorthand reference to the pluralism of black Christian churches in the United States" (Lincoln and Mamiya, 1990, p. 1) The collective black church is an outgrowth of the "invisible church," where enslaved African Americans who converted to Christianity, gathered in ravines, gullies, and other clandestine locations to worship God in manners that were culturally and socially significant (Epstein, 1977, p. 100; Southern, 1977; Raboteau, 1980, pp. 243 266; Creel, 1988, pp. 276 302; Washington, 1988; 1992, p. 69; Burnim, 2001, p. 624 625) It encompasses storefront churches that emerged in urban areas after The Great Migrations (1914 1918; 1939 1945) where millions of African American migrated from the Agrarian South to the North and other regions of the United States. However, it also includes more established denominations that catered to the worship styles of urban and rural black populations, such as Holiness, Baptist and Methodist (Burnim, 2015) Although services in the Black Church today are considerably more complex and visible than those of the invisible church, call and response continues to be a persistent and pervasive expressive form. Call and response in the Black Church is overwhelmingly used to discuss music, but is also prevalent in preaching, and praying, and other aspects of worship (Hinson, 2000, pp. 163 188; Pitts, 1989, pp. 137 149; Weaver, 1991, pp. 53 61) For example, call and response can be observed in interactions between soloists and choir (Williams Jones, 1975) between singers and instruments (Allen, 1991, pp. 308 309) between singers (and other ministers) and the congregation (Williams Jones, 1975, p. 383; Burnim, 1985; Booker, 1988, pp. 40 45) between the preacher and congregation (Mitchell, 1970; Wharry, 2003) and between ministers and instruments, particularly keyboards, organs, and drums (Booker, 1988, pp. 40 41) Call and response is noticeable, pervasive and crucial in just about every expression and performance throughout the course of the Black Church service. Nevertheless, examinations of call and response in recent literature have overwhelmingly focused on vocalized calls that originate from the "the pulpit" (from preachers, singers, musicians, and other ministers) and vocalized responses that emanate from "the pew" or the congregation (Smitherman, 1977) When responses from the pew facilitate the perpetuation of perceived "pulpit" calls or performances in general, scholars have tended to examine the combined resultant performative interaction as a feedback loop (Maultsby, 1990, pp. 185 210) However, focusing on call and response from these perspectives overlook other equally important calls and responses that are essential to what African Americans often refer to as "having church" (Allen, 1991, pp.