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Call-and-response lick – new every time
The piano plays a short, random blues-scale phrase in swing and you sing it back – like trading phrases with a band. Every repetition is a new lick, so you can’t learn it by heart.
A lick is a short, bluesy phrase, and here the app makes up a new one every time. It builds seven notes: six swung notes from the blues scale, moving in small steps, then a long last note on whichever of the tonic, the fifth or the octave is nearest. The piano plays it, you sing it back, like trading phrases with a band. Because every repetition is a different phrase, you can't memorize it. You have to listen.
How to do it
- Listen to the whole phrase before you start. Hear its shape first, then the individual notes.
- After the count-in, sing it back on “doo” in swing: long, short, long, short.
- The target blocks are visible on the roll, so use them to see where each note goes.
- Aim for the long last note. It's always the tonic, the fifth or the octave, so hear it as the landing.
- The next repetition brings a different phrase, so no two rounds are alike.
Coach's tip: Listen to the whole phrase before you start – its shape first, then the notes. The last, long note is always the tonic, the fifth or the octave: hear it as the landing.
What to watch out for
The usual mistake is starting to sing before you've taken in the whole phrase, so you lose the shape halfway. Listen to all of it first. The flattened fifth, the blue note, is easy to pull toward the fifth next to it, so check that block. Don't rush the long last note. If a phrase gets away from you, turn the tempo down with the slider. Stop if your voice tires.
Who it's for
Suits level 2 singers who want to practice listening and answering instead of learning one fixed line. Use it in the main block. Sing Blues scale with the “blue note” before it so the notes are familiar. Afterward, Repeat 5 notes trains the same ear skill with hidden targets. It isn't in a program, but the Jazz style gives it a place in your daily training.
Opens the app in your browser. Free to start, no account needed. Put on headphones first.
Related exercises
- Pentatonic run down 8-6-5-3-2-1 The most common run in pop – from the octave quickly down the pentatonic.
- Pentatonic run up A run-up ending on a long octave.
- Turn 5-6-5-3-1 The classic pop “ornament” at the end of a phrase.
- Pop scoop (slide into the note) A short, deliberate slide from below into the target note. It should be an effect, not a habit.
- Scat warm-up in swing Root, second, third, fifth and back down – lightly, on “doo-bee”. Swing rhythm: the first note of each pair is longer, the second short, as in jazz.
- Major pentatonic Five notes that almost all pop runs are built from.