Echo

What it means

In music, an echo is the immediate, softer repetition of a phrase previously played or sung louder, imitating the acoustic effect of a natural reverberation. The repeated phrase is usually identical or only slightly altered and follows the first phrase without a significant pause.

Musical use

The echo as a compositional device has been popular since the Renaissance and especially in the Baroque, for example in so-called echo arias or echo sonatas, where a second, distantly placed ensemble or instrumental group repeats the first group's phrases more softly. In organ music, the so-called echo division, a separate, often spatially set-apart set of pipes, uses this effect to create distant, muted sounds.

A musical echo should be distinguished from a mere dynamic repetition, in which a phrase is repeated more softly but without the sonic intent of a reverberation effect, and from acoustic reverberation itself, which is a physical phenomenon of a space and need not be specifically composed.

Performance practice

Shape a notated echo so it is clearly set apart in sound from the phrase's first statement, for example through a noticeably softer dynamic, a changed tone color, or, with multiple performers, spatial distance between the groups involved. Make sure the echo's tempo and articulation match the original phrase, so the effect of recognition is preserved.