Comments on: Encores

By: brady

brady — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 03:04:00 +0000

#12, David, I didn’t make myself clear on my previous post. Yes, encore and reprise are the two musically correct terms for an encore, but I was trying to say that whatever an emcee calls it, be it “hit it again” or “let ‘er rip,” or “turn this thing around,” that it their personal jargon for meaning an encore, so any number of terms for that could be floating around, albeit incorrectly. And turn-around is typically the instrumental interlude between verses. Sorry for the misclarification.

By: Amy Rogers

Amy Rogers — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 02:26:20 +0000

Oh, yeah. That one’s engraved on my brain.

By: Amy Rogers

Amy Rogers — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 02:24:05 +0000

Someone needs to educate the dictionary writers.

By: David Bruce Murray

David Bruce Murray — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 22:03:51 +0000

Brady wrote:
“There are all sorts of terms out there–encore, reprise, turn-around, etc. I think it’s whatever the manager chooses to call the encore. ”

Encore and reprise mean the same thing, but turnaround does not. The term “turnaround” has always applied to the musical intro that comes before any verse other than the first verse. The encore or reprise, on the other hand, is the entire bit of the song that is repeated after a pause. You can have turnarounds that do involve encores as well as turnarounds that don’t involve encores.

Whether a fake ending leads to an encore is debatable. If it doesn’t entirely stop, then I would probably agree with you that it isn’t a true encore, even though the audience may be tricked into applauding at that point. Tomorrow, I might disagree with you on the same point. )

By: John C

John C — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 21:59:35 +0000

I’m not a great fan of encores, but I loved the way the Statesmen planned their encores of a few songs. They actually had introductions to several of their encores that weren’t a part of the actual song.

For example: “No no no no no no no no God’s Not Dead!”

Guess you have to be old to appreciate that.

By: David Bruce Murray

David Bruce Murray — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 21:55:45 +0000

In Southern Gospel parlance, the “turnaround” is essentially another musical intro that is played before an additional verse is sung. I think it’s appropriate to use the term to describe the beginning of an encore if indeed a fresh intro is played. If it’s just a fake ending where they hold a note for a long time and then kick right back into the song again, or if it’s a case like Daniel mentioned with the Kingdom Heirs where a vocalist triggers the encore, that would not involve a turnaround.

For reference on whether an encore can begin with a turnaround:
Jim Hamill can be heard triggering an encore yelling, “Turn it around, Tony” to Anthony Burger on one of their live recordings…I think it’s the University Of Alabama album. Burger plays an intro that pretty much the same as his earlier intro, and off they go again.

By: Brady

Brady — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 20:58:29 +0000

A legitimate encore, to me, is when the fans won’t stop clapping after a particular song, thus meriting the group to have to re-do part or all of the song. I see very few legitimate encores these days. One of the most recent was Mark Trammell Trio in Springfield back in April. They sang “Safe On The Glory Side,” and people would not stop clapping. They did the entire song over and it was justified and got the same response as the first time they did it.

That said, there are times when groups do a much loved song or one they almost 100 percent know for sure will get a rousing response and therefore they have an encore planned.

There are all sorts of terms out there–encore, reprise, turn-around, etc. I think it’s whatever the manager chooses to call the encore. And let’s not forget the very popular “fake ending.” That’s when a song doesn’t actually stop. They end it, but then the drum will keep kicking out a time or someone will hold a note and they start singing the chorus again. That isn’t an encore either.

By: Daniel J. Mount

Daniel J. Mount — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 19:34:58 +0000

I’d actually differ. The Perrys don’t encore the same songs every time. I’ve heard them do “Who am I” with and without the encore, and ditto for a number of other songs.

And the songs they do encore every time – right now, “Did I Mention” and “I Wish I Coulda Been There,” they don’t encore the same number of times. Between different YouTube videos and the live appearances I’ve seen, they might do anywhere from one chorus or verse/chorus encore on those two to *four*!

By: Daniel J. Mount

Daniel J. Mount — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 19:31:38 +0000

AND, by the way, they do different numbers of encores depending on the venue. I think they’re always doing at least one acapella chorus encore, but they don’t do the additional verse/chorus at every venue (they didn’t do it when I saw them).

By: Daniel J. Mount

Daniel J. Mount — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 19:30:49 +0000

Hmm. The dictionary doesn’t help much!

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/turnaround