CLASS NOTES: Medieval Chant Notation (Western Music History through Performance)

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Notes on video lecture:

Medieval Chant Notation

Western Music History through Performance

Jonathan Coopersmith, Curtis Institute of Music

Notes taken by Edward Tanguay on November 30, 2015 (go to class or lectures)

Choose from these words to fill the blanks below:

joints, oral, syllables, large, unity, gestures, prayers, drawings, clefs, colored, gemstones, melodies, started, sing, Domine, Miélot, exact, shape, scriptoria, heights, Catholic, note, traditions, wrote, standardize, singing, diversity, religious, ear, six, rhythm, Christianity, Guidonian, monestary, monk

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as spread throughout Europe in the 300s and 400s CE

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singing songs and hymns became part of worshop in church

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text was regularly chanted and set to different

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different churchs developed had different musical

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even chants that were intended to be the same ended up with slight variations as they were passed from one generation to another over areas

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the Church eventually felt there was too much

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not enough

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needed a way to carry this out

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could no longer rely on memory and transmission

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neumes

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the first step in solving this problem

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Latin for " "

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provide a reminder for the melodic

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but they don't indicate pitches and there was no indication of

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they merely indicated if the melody went up or down or stayed the same

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the specific melodies still had to be taught by

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but the neumes provided a reminder of the melodic shape

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900-1000 AD

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these neumes began to be placed at relative which indicated interval size

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in some musical manuscripts, the author would draw a horizontal reference line, so that the heightened neumes could be interpreted relative to that line

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these lines were eventually marked as F and C and eventually evolved into our modern

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melody shape was still not completely clear and there was no indication of rhythm

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Guido of Arezzo (991-1033)

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was a

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came up with a system of four lines and three spaces, using lines for F and C

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eventually get expanded to our modern five-line staff with four spaces

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neumes were then fixed on a line or a space, which for the first time, represented an pitch

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this was revolutionary because it allowed a singer to learn how to sing a verse without having heard it before, which was called sight reading and sight

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created of notes

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he developed new techniques for teaching, such as staff notation and the use of the "ut–re–mi–fa–so–la" (do–re–mi–fa–so–la) mnemonic syllables which are taken from the initial syllables of each of the first half-lines of the first stanza of the hymn "Ut queant laxis": (1) Ut queant laxīs, (2) resonāre fībrīs, (3) Mīra gestõrum, (4) famulī tuõrum, (5) Solve pollūtī, (6) labiī reātum

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didn't name B right away

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Ut eventually changes to Do, probably for the word

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hexachords

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arrangements of six notes

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one that on C

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one that started on G

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required a B-natural (square)

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one that started on F

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required a B-flat (rounded)

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hand

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a mnemonic device used to assist singers in learning to sight-

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teachers would point to different and fingers and have their students sing the intervals

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musical manuscript production

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Jean , 15th century

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writing music into manuscripts was a regular part of living in a

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special rooms called were dedicated to manuscript production

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creating a manuscript was part of the experience of being in a monestary

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were said as you entered the room

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monks were able to meditate on the text as they it down

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elaborate , sometimes for a single letter

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ornate borders

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leather bindings with metals and

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Gregorian chants

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written and recorded into manuscripts for hundreds of years in order to the music service in the Catholic Church to prevent variation over time

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there was still a problem of rhythm

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go back 1000 years and go back this simple system of neumes which are marks that show the pitch with no concept of meter, measures, time signature, or even a specific indication of rhythm for a given

Vocabulary:

neume, n. [noom] the basic element of Western and Eastern systems of musical notation prior to the invention of five-line staff notation, these were marks above the text which provided a reminder of the melodic shape ⇒ "The Medieval Catholic church eventually felt there was too much diversity in the chants from church to church and needed a way to standardize the chant melodies and prevent variations in order to enforce more conformity and unity of music, as they could no longer rely on memory and oral transmission within the great expanses of lands which the Church now influenced, and the introduction of neumes were the first step in solving this problem"

People:

Guido of Arezzo (991-1033)

Italian music theorist regarded as the inventor of modern musical notation, or staff notation, that replaced neumatic notation

his text, the Micrologus, was the second-most-widely distributed treatise in the Middle Ages, after the writings of Boethius
was a monk of the Benedictine order from the Italian city-state of Arezzo
his early career was spent at the monastery of Pomposa, on the Adriatic coast near Ferrara, where he noted the difficulty that singers had in remembering Gregorian chants and developed methods for them to better memorize the chants
after moving to Arezzo, he developed new techniques for teaching, such as staff notation and the use of the "ut–re–mi–fa–so–la" (do–re–mi–fa–so–la) mnemonic syllables which are taken from the initial syllables of each of the first six half-lines of the first stanza of the hymn "Ut queant laxis": (1) Ut queant laxīs, (2) resonāre fībrīs, (3) Mīra gestõrum, (4) famulī tuõrum, (5) Solve pollūtī, (6) labiī reātum

Ideas and Concepts:

Medieval mnemonic via tonight's Western Music History class: "In Medieval music, the Guidonian hand was a mnemonic device used to assist singers in learning to sight-sing. Some form of the device may have been used by Guido of Arezzo (991-1033), a medieval music theorist who wrote a number of treatises, including one instructing singers in sightreading. The idea of the Guidonian hand is that each portion of the hand represents a specific note within the hexachord system, which spans nearly three octaves from "ut" to "la", in other words, from the G at the bottom of the modern bass clef to the E at the top of the treble clef. In teaching, an instructor would indicate a series of notes by pointing to them on their hand, and the students would sing them. This is similar to the system of hand signals sometimes used in conjunction with solfege, e.g. the Do-Re-Mi scale."

15th century Gregorian chant via tonight's Western Music History class: "O filii et filiae is a Christian hymn celebrating Easter as commonly found in hymnals today, comprised in twelve stanzas. The hymn was very popular in France, whence it has spread to other countries. The triple Alleluia is sung by one voice, is repeated by the choir, and the solo takes up the first stanza with its Alleluia. The choir then sings the triple Alleluia, the second stanza with its Alleluia, and repeats the triple Alleluia. The alternation of solo and chorus thus continues, until the last stanza with its Alleluia, followed by the triple Alleluia, is sung by one voice. It is scarcely possible for any one to imagine the jubilant effect of the triumphant Alleluia attached to apparently less important circumstances of the Resurrection. It seems to speak of the majesty of that event, the smallest portions of which are worthy to be so chronicled."