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Soul
Characterized by its vocal intensity and its use of a church-like call-and-response style of singing, soul is considered a return to African American musical roots—gospel and blues. Often featuring a large ensemble of blended instruments, players would make their instruments "talk" using devices like wah-wah pedals for guitars and synthesizers for keyboards. Many people mistakenly think that soul music is just another term for R&B music.
MUSIC THEORY
Soul music has a steady backbeat and percussion accents beats 2 and 4 of each measure. The tempo of soul music varies, for slower songs and ballads soul is commonly set at 120 bpm.
Vocal styles of soul music use techniques like melisma's and vibrato's, stretching out a single syllable over multiple notes. Other techniques are strong vocal projection and a strong emphasis on emotional delivery. Oftentimes, soul features a "call and response" structure between the lead soloist and back up singers.
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