Hocket

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In music hocket is the rhythmic linear technique using the alternation of notes, pitches, or chords. This is opposed to the alternation of phrases, or antiphony. In medieval practice of hocket, the melody in two voices moves (sometimes quickly) back-and-forth in such a manner that one voice is still while the other moves, and vice-versa.

In European music, hocket was used primarily in vocal music of the 13th and early 14th centuries. It was a predominant characteristic of music of the Notre Dame school, during the ars antiqua, in which it was found in sacred vocal music. In the 14th century, the device was most often found in secular vocal music.

Example of hocket (In seculum d'Amiens longum), French, late 13th century. Observe the quick alternation of sung notes and rests between the upper two voices. While this example is textless, the hocket was usually done on a vowel sound.

The phrase originated from its use to describe medieval French motets but is commonly used in contemporary music (Louis Andriessen's Hoketus), popular music (funk, stereo panning), Indonesian gamelan music (interlocking patterns shared between two instruments -- called imbal in Java and Kotekan in Bali), Andean pan pipe music (the pipes sharing the full number of pitches between them), and many African cultures such as the Ba-Benzélé (featured on Herbie Hancock's Watermelon Man, see Pygmy music), Mbuti, Basarwa (Khoisan), and Gogo (Tanzania).