What do you call it?

[Pahchisme Plaid]

Got a question..a few actually.... when you have one vocal going--the main/lead vocal and then WHILE that main vocal is singing the main theme, a support vocal is introduced highlighting certain words or carrying a separate chorus as a support, what do you call that? AND how do you notate that in lyric form so it's understood that they are being sung at the same time and how do you notate when it's introduced within the main lyric lines?

[Pahchisme Plaid]

This is all very much what I was looking for.  What you describe, @HoboSage, is closer to what I was asking, but I also needed all the information that @tunesmithth provided.  I'm eating it all up.  I've heard people refer to call and response in regard to my lyrics and I had a completely different idea of what that was, so Tom's got me straightened out on that one.  I always thought it was a format of writing, while suspecting by the title, "call and response", that it might encompass a secondary vocal because that made sense to me, but I never had any clarification on it, so this is great!  All of it!  I love the way you guys broke it down to show how to place it in a lyric, too!  I would love to also hear about the "many different forms of this concept:.  Educate me!

[Pahchisme Plaid]

What I was thinking of is not so much a stand alone sub melody because it would be only a few key words, not an entire lyric.

 

For an example (making this up here):

 

lead vocal = black

support vocal  = blue

 

(He took) A turn on Reid Street

(She looked) toward the band with the smoke screen

(They shook) Thunder rumblin' down the back beat

 

However, the vocals would overlap a bit.

 

[Kerry Parr]

There's not a specific term for backing vocals that highlight or exclaim certain words of the lead singer, like what hype men often do in rap. As far as notating it, I'd just put in bold print or underline it.

[MikeRobinson]

You might also be referring to a counter-melody.  Or, a descant.

 

Another singer or instrument is presenting what is clearly "a second melody," independent of the first yet obviously dovetailed with it.  For instance, a counter-melody, following a different yet complementary rhythm pattern, might "frequently rendezvous with," say, the 5th or 7th notes of the chords being played by the primary melody.  (And, the primary melody might deliberately not play those notes, instead leaving a "hole" for the counter-melody to fill.  The counter-melody, at different times, might do the same thing.)

 

Scarborough Fair, as arranged by Paul Simon and several others, often uses counter-melodies, as does Greensleeves.  Instruments that do not have long-playing notes, such as lutes or harpsichords, frequently use this device to maintain interest.