Vamp (Musical Improv)
A short looping musical phrase (4 or 8 bars) the MD plays while a performer is finding the shape of a song — the scaffold on which improvised melody sits.
Known for
- Vocabulary borrowed from jazz ('vamp till ready') and Broadway ('vamp' in the sheet music).
- The MD's vamp choice signals genre before any lyric — a gospel vamp and a country vamp invite different singers.
- Singers are taught to wait for the vamp to land before entering; premature entry is a rookie error called 'jumping the vamp.'