How to... run a 'call and response' song

Call and response songs are songs where the campfire leader sings a line and the campfire echo it back. For that reason, I think they are the easiest to run because you aren't relying on the campfire to know the words or the tune - you give it to them on a plate every time.

What you do have to do is to watch the audience carefully - go on for too long and you've lost them. Have in mind a variety of ways to do the song, as well, because you won't be able to make it up on the fly.

Things I have done that have worked:

• Loud and louder
• Whispered
• Staccato
• High-pitched voice
• Very deep voice
• Sustain the first note of each line as long as possible
• Loudest possible verse to finish

As far as I'm concerned, the biggest pitfall to avoid is someone else's accent. Unless you are VERY good at accents, don't try it. It's all too easy to end up in some horrible racial mess that starts out Wales and ends up in Pakistan via Liverpool in four lines of a song.

And above all, enjoy yourself!