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Singing by Chants an exploration of the Church’s musical heritage Beverly Catholic Collaborative 2016 by Patrick Valentino

Singing by Chants Material Packet - Patrick Valentinopatrickvalentinomusic.com/stmm/summer2016chant.pdf · Singing by Chants an exploration of the Church’s musical heritage Beverly

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Page 1: Singing by Chants Material Packet - Patrick Valentinopatrickvalentinomusic.com/stmm/summer2016chant.pdf · Singing by Chants an exploration of the Church’s musical heritage Beverly

Singing by Chants an exploration of the Church’s musical heritage

Beverly Catholic Collaborative 2016

by Patrick Valentino

Page 2: Singing by Chants Material Packet - Patrick Valentinopatrickvalentinomusic.com/stmm/summer2016chant.pdf · Singing by Chants an exploration of the Church’s musical heritage Beverly

Chant is the oldest musical heritage of the Catholic Church, dating back to the very institution of the Liturgy (Mt 26:30). Many other threads of liturgical music, from polyphony to modern works, take their inspiration from chant and thus it continues to influence our religious musical culture. Here are some great quotes on Chant:

"The Church recognizes Gregorian chant as being specially suited to the

Roman liturgy. Therefore, other things being equal, it should be given pride of place in liturgical services." (Second Vatican Council)

Gregorian chant, with its inspired modulations, was to become down the

centuries the music of the Church's faith in the liturgical celebration of the sacred mysteries. The 'beautiful' was thus wedded to the 'true', so that through

art too souls might be lifted up from the world of the senses to the eternal." (Pope John Paul II)

The Gregorian chant which has been used in the Church over the course of so

many centuries, and which may be called, as it were, its patrimony, is gloriously outstanding for this holiness. This chant, because of the close adaptation of the melody to the sacred text, is not only most intimately

conformed to the words, but also in a way interprets their force and efficacy and brings delight to the minds of the hearers. It does this by the use of musical

modes that are simple and plain, but which are still composed with such sublime and holy art that they move everyone to sincere admiration and

constitute an almost inexhaustible source from which musicians and composers draw new melodies." (Pope Pius XII, "Musicae Sacrae", 1955)

Gregorian chant is uniquely the Church’s own music. Chant is a living

connection with our forebears in the faith, the traditional music of the Roman rite, a sign of communion with the universal Church, a bond of unity across

cultures, a means for diverse communities to participate together in song, and a summons to contemplative participation in the Liturgy. (USCCB 2007)

Page 3: Singing by Chants Material Packet - Patrick Valentinopatrickvalentinomusic.com/stmm/summer2016chant.pdf · Singing by Chants an exploration of the Church’s musical heritage Beverly

But how to we define chant? Chant is… • Monophonic (a single melody line without accompaniment) • A capella (performed by voice without instruments) • A proclamation/amplification of sacred text In this last point, the composer decides whether certain text is set syllabically (one pitch per syllable) or melismatically (many pitches per syllable), as well as which mode a chant is in. Modes Like modern scales, modes are distinct compasses of pitches which give both a range to a chant and also a particular harmonic ‘color’.

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A (very) brief History of Chant

• Once believed it derived from Judaic practice, unclear now • Numerous mentions in the OT and NT • 3rd c. = Musical elements from Roman Rite • 4th c. = Monastic Psalm chanting (St. Anthony) • 4th-5th c. = Responsive Psalmnody (Sts. Ambrose & Augustine) Ambrosian Gloria • 6th c. = Divine Office created (St. Benedict) • 7th c. = Chant spreads rapidly in Europe • 9th c. = Organization/Standardization (Pope St. Gregory I) • 10th-16th c. Chant in standard use, inspires new musical compositions (polyphony) Aquinas, Hildegard von Bingen, Lasso, Palestrina, Victoria, Allegri • 16th-19th c. Chant continues to be used and often is reformed due to localized corruptions. • 19th-20th c. Solesmes Abbey finishes most recent major reform • 20th-21st c. Chant continues to be used in traditional liturgies, and is the basis for much contemporary sacred music. Pärt, Gorecki, Durufle, Tournemire, Tavener, modern chant composers, many others!

Page 4: Singing by Chants Material Packet - Patrick Valentinopatrickvalentinomusic.com/stmm/summer2016chant.pdf · Singing by Chants an exploration of the Church’s musical heritage Beverly

Elements of Chant • Biblical Text (usually from Psalms, syllabic vs. melismatic text setting) • Musical Form (hymns, antiphons/propers, sequences, ordinary) • Mode and Melody Chant uses 8 distinct Modes, akin to modern scales. How are Modes/Scales the same? Modes range upward from a home base note (called a “Final”) The intervals between tones are similar to modern melodies How are they different? Scales need separate harmony to color the melody & guide it home Modes have inherent harmonic color based on where the Final is The Range of a Mode is very important, while in a Scale less so Mode Low Tone* Final Name Range (modern) Modern equiv.

I D re

D re

Dorian

DEFGABCD Dorian

II D re

A la

Hyopdorian

ABCDEFGA Aeolian

III E mi

E mi

Phrygian

EFGABCDE Phrygian

IV E mi

B ti

Hypophrygian

BCDE(F)GAB Locrian

V F fa

F fa

Lydian FGAB(b)CDEF Lydian/Ionian (depends on flat)

VI F fa

C do

Hypolydian CDEFGAB(b)C Ionian/Mixolydian (depends on flat)

VII G sol

G sol

Mixolydian

GABCDEFG Mixolydian

VIII

G sol

D re

Hypomixolydian

DEFGABCD

Dorian

*In the odd numbered (authentic) modes, using one tone below the Final is permitted

Page 5: Singing by Chants Material Packet - Patrick Valentinopatrickvalentinomusic.com/stmm/summer2016chant.pdf · Singing by Chants an exploration of the Church’s musical heritage Beverly

Singing Chant

Solfege names for tones:

do-re-mi-fa-sol-la-ti-(do)

You may know “do” as the modern note “C”, but chant uses a “moveable do” system, so do can be moved anywhere to make the

chant’s range lie comfortably. Half-steps exist between mi and fa and between ti and do.

Ever wonder where solfege came from? CHANT!

Before do, “ut” was used (and still is in France). This solfege

system ut-re-mi-fa-sol-la-si was taught by Guido d’Arezzo 1000 years ago using this chant, where each phrase begins with the next

solfege tone.

This chant has no tone for the 7th step of the mode. This step is often avoided. There is an apocryphal tale that the reason European

solfege uses “si” rather than our “ti” for this missing step is the patron of this chant, Sancte Ioannes.

Page 6: Singing by Chants Material Packet - Patrick Valentinopatrickvalentinomusic.com/stmm/summer2016chant.pdf · Singing by Chants an exploration of the Church’s musical heritage Beverly

Let’s recap what mode corresponds to what solfege syllables –

There are 2 helpful tricks for the eight chant modes.

Trick #1: Authentic and Plagal The odd modes are called Authentic Modes, the even ones Plagal. Each pair (1&2, 3&4, etc) are to our modern eyes the same collection of notes, just with a different tone as their Final. In this way some modern musicians think of Hypodorian (mode 2) as “the notes of Dorian (mode 1) but starting on A instead of D”. But if that were true, Mode 1 and Mode 8 would be identical and interchangeable. The answer to why they are not lies in this location of the Final. Trick #2: The Circle of Fifths The circle of fifths is a musical tool with which one can travel the interval of a fifth (five notes) repeatedly and eventually end up where one started. The 8 modes traverse the circle of fifths if you think of their lowest note (although this is not always the Final).

Mode # Low Tone 1 D 2 A 3 E 4 B 5 F 6 C 7 G 8 D

Now we’ll try to sing some well-known simple chants by rote, and explore their syllabic and phrase structure to see what makes them effective.

Page 7: Singing by Chants Material Packet - Patrick Valentinopatrickvalentinomusic.com/stmm/summer2016chant.pdf · Singing by Chants an exploration of the Church’s musical heritage Beverly

Chant Notation

Chant notation, like modern music notation, developed over centuries. Chant was originally taught by rote, but this was

limiting. Written notation allowed 3 main benefits:

• Clarity of intent (standardizing of chants) • Participation (schola/choir, congregation) • Dissemination (publishing v word of mouth) Printed music could travel far and wide, and choirbooks allowed scholas and even congregations to partake in the chant. But it is the Clarity we will look at here, and see how chant notation is 1) quite clear, 2) closely related to modern notation, and in some ways 3) better!

Elements of Notation

• Note indicator (in chant called a Neume) to show relative pitch • A Staff to show definite, measurable pitch relations • A Clef to indicate which line is which pitch In modern notation we have many indications of duration, but the prevailing interpretation now is that chant generally had a steady pulse and each tone sung was equal. **This is one of the more controversial inheritances from the Solesmes reform in the late 19th century, as we will see – but it does simplify things!!

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NB. The Chant staff as seen in hymnals has 4 lines compared to modern notation’s five lines, but this is irrelevant as the lines serve the same purpose.

Page 8: Singing by Chants Material Packet - Patrick Valentinopatrickvalentinomusic.com/stmm/summer2016chant.pdf · Singing by Chants an exploration of the Church’s musical heritage Beverly

The Clef

Once you know what one of the lines of the staff is, you can figure out all the others by filling in the solfege (mentally or otherwise)

Note on the fa-clef staff, the high do is off the staff. The staff’s

line-space alternation is extended with a leger line as it is in modern notation.

Before we explore neumes, it is important to note you do not need to know all their names! What is important is recognizing which collection of sounds the blob of ink on the page represents. Since chant is notated syllabically, neumes can comprise any number of

distinct pitches, depending on how many tones are sung to any given syllable.

Page 9: Singing by Chants Material Packet - Patrick Valentinopatrickvalentinomusic.com/stmm/summer2016chant.pdf · Singing by Chants an exploration of the Church’s musical heritage Beverly

One-Pitch Neumes

You may notice the punctum and the virga look different, but

represent the same single note. Why? This is what has been passed on from Solesmes. Remember by the Solesmes method, each pitch is of equal duration, so the bistropha and tristropha are used if the composer desires a longer duration. Like in modern notation, a dot can be used to extend the duration, but unlike modern notation, the

dot extends it one more pulse. A long horizontal line can do the same thing.

Two-tone Neumes

Chant is notated syllabically, which means if a syllable is sung on 2 pitches, chant notation uses special neumes which indicate two

pitches. There are 2, as there are only 2 ways a group of two notes can move:

Notice the higher note of the podatus can be any interval away from the low note, not just a step. The same is true for the clivis.

Also note the ascending podatus is a vertical group, and the descending clivis is slightly diagonal. This convention holds true

for all larger neumes.

Page 10: Singing by Chants Material Packet - Patrick Valentinopatrickvalentinomusic.com/stmm/summer2016chant.pdf · Singing by Chants an exploration of the Church’s musical heritage Beverly

Three-tone Neumes

Now we get into the fun stuff. Three tone groups can appear 4 ways: ascending, descending, lo-hi-lo, or hi-lo-hi.

Ascending:

Descending:

lo-hi-lo: hi-lo-hi:

Notice the descending climacus has diamond shaped neumes. And then forget it. They are the same duration as the square neume;

most likely they were diamonds due to the calligraphy quill used to ink them.

Also note the 3 neumes in the torculus are connected with vertical lines, showing they are not 3 separate punctums (puncta?) but one grouping for one syllable. Also note the heavy diagonal line in the

porrectus, which again may be a biproduct of a quill and the attempt to connect related neumes.

Let’s look at some simple chants and see what we can decipher.

Page 11: Singing by Chants Material Packet - Patrick Valentinopatrickvalentinomusic.com/stmm/summer2016chant.pdf · Singing by Chants an exploration of the Church’s musical heritage Beverly

In the Hosanna Filio David above, there is a large neume group on the “ra” of “Israel”, can you deconstruct it?

There are many other neumes and details in chant, but what you have learned so far will help you decipher pretty much anything

you see.

There are a few things we have not covered which you might see though…

Page 12: Singing by Chants Material Packet - Patrick Valentinopatrickvalentinomusic.com/stmm/summer2016chant.pdf · Singing by Chants an exploration of the Church’s musical heritage Beverly

The Flat Just like in modern notation, the flat lowers a tone one half-step. In chant though, it only appears on the tone B (ti in solfege). It looks

like a square version of the flat sign:

This B-flat was used to avoid an interval between F and B so

dissonant is was called diabolus in musica and was banned on pain of excommunication from liturgical music.

The Custos

My personal favorite marking, and something we have lost in modern notation. Look carefully at the end of each line of a chant –

there is a partial neume which looks like it was “cut off”…this small mark was an indication of what the first pitch on the next

line would be – extremely helpful for page turns!

The Different Barlines

Revised notation for chant uses many barlines, but each is about one degree less in importance as you might think:

No rhythmic interruption, no rhythmic interruption like a rest like a rest breath only if necessary Slight “lift” breath deliberate breath deliberate breath

Page 13: Singing by Chants Material Packet - Patrick Valentinopatrickvalentinomusic.com/stmm/summer2016chant.pdf · Singing by Chants an exploration of the Church’s musical heritage Beverly

Chants in a Schola

Most chants have an * near the beginning; since they are not accompanied, and use a moveable do system, how would a group of people know what note they are starting on? They can’t, so a solo cantor starts the chant, and the group joins in after the *. If

this section is repeated later, everyone sings the whole text though, as the tonality has been established. You can witness this when we

chant the Agnus Dei at St. Mary’s.

Antiphons

One main way we encounter chant in the modern liturgy is when we intone the Propers. These chants are called antiphons because they are sung antiphonally (in alternation of groups). One way to perform an antiphon is to have a cantor sing, then a larger group

repeat the whole antiphon (like our responsorial psalm).

Another way is to have a smaller group continue after the *.

Page 14: Singing by Chants Material Packet - Patrick Valentinopatrickvalentinomusic.com/stmm/summer2016chant.pdf · Singing by Chants an exploration of the Church’s musical heritage Beverly

Antiphons are often elongated by adding verses (as we do for the psalm and the alleluia). The verses would be sung by a cantor, and

following each one, the antiphon is repeated.

The verses are written in pointed text, which saves space. The music for the verses is in the two small measures after the antiphon, with pitch changes indicated by italics and bold.

Page 15: Singing by Chants Material Packet - Patrick Valentinopatrickvalentinomusic.com/stmm/summer2016chant.pdf · Singing by Chants an exploration of the Church’s musical heritage Beverly

Responsive Psalmnody

When chanting the liturgy of the hours or similar litanies, responsive psalmody is employed. These chants can exist with or

without an antiphon (a “refrain”); that is, they can just be a collection of verses. Often when they have an antiphon, it is only

chanted first and last, not in between every verse.

To chant psalmnody, the group is devided into two halves, and often each half has a cantor (lector). The psalm versicles are

devided into two parts.

The first half begins with an initio, a kind of pick-up note or notes, which leads to the reciting tone. In the middle (at the barline

above) is a mediant candence – on the other side of this cadence, the second group of the schola continues the chant until the final

cadence.

This canticle is extended with many verses, and all except the first one is pointed. In short order though, everyone catches on to the

melody. This is the method originated by St. Benedict and still the model used in monasteries throughout the world for chanting the

liturgy of the hours.

The trick to responsive psalmnody is that a pause is taken at the mediant cadence – the change from the end of verse 1 to the start

Page 16: Singing by Chants Material Packet - Patrick Valentinopatrickvalentinomusic.com/stmm/summer2016chant.pdf · Singing by Chants an exploration of the Church’s musical heritage Beverly

of verse 2 is immediate. This seemingly illogical structure is employed to promote meditation on the text in mid-sentence.