Rhyme
development, to the point of dropping the "sponse."

[music]

[music]

These simple little songs,--the first made up of five notes, and the
second of seven,--are typical Negro Play songs. I shall not describe the
simple play which accompanied them because that description would not
add to the knowledge of the evolution under consideration.

At a Negro Evening Entertainment several such songs would be sung and
played, and some individual would be chosen to lead or sing the "calls"
of each of the songs. The 'sponses in some cases were meaningless
utterances, like "Holly Dink," given in the first song recorded, while
others were made up of some sentence like "'Tain't Gwineter Rain No
M[=o]'!" found in the second song given. The "sponses" were not expected
to bear a special continuous relation in thought to the "calls." Indeed
no one ever thought of the 'sponses as conveyers of thought, whether
jumbled syllables or sentences. The songs went under the names of the
various sponses. Thus the first Play Song recorded was known as "Holly
Dink," and the second as "'Tain't Gwineter Rain No M[=o]'."

The playing and singing of each of these songs commonly went on
continuously for a quarter of an hour or more. This being the case, we
scarcely need add that the leader of the Play Song had both his memory
and ingenuity taxed to their utmost, in devising enough "calls" to last
through so long a period of time of continuous playing and singing. The
reader will notice under both of the Play Songs recorded, that I have
written under "(a)" two stanzas of prose "calls." I would convey the
thought to the reader, by these illustrations, that the one singing the
"calls" was at liberty to use, and did use any prose sentence that would
fit in with the "call" measures of the song.

Of course these prose "calls" had to be rhythmic to fit into the
measures, but much freedom was allowed in respacing the time allotted to
notes, and in the redivision of the notes in the "fitting in" process.
Even these prose stanzas bore the mark of Rhyme to the Negro fancy. The
reader will notice that, where the "call" is in prose, it is always
repeated, and thus the line in fancy rhymed with itself. Examples as
found in our Second Play Song:

"Hail storm, frosty night.
Hail storm, frosty night."

Now, it was considered by Negroes, in the days gone by, something of an
accomplishment for a leader to be able to sing "calls," for so long a
tim