Download Plainchant - Higher Music

Plainchant
Higher Music
Research Project
You are to analyse the impact of the external factors on the sound and
structure of Plainchant.
You should refer to:
 The impact of social influences of the time on the development of
specific music styles
 The importance of cultural identity and its influence on the
distinctive sounds and developments of specific musical styles.
For this assessment task your analysis should relate to the external factors
which influenced the development of Plainchant
The roots of Plainchant
Describe the background factors and explain the impact of these factors on
the development of Plainchant.
Influential Factors
Explain clearly the influence that the Christian church and religion had on
the sound and structure of the music.
Purpose in Society
Explain the purpose of Plainchant in society
Your project should be around 300-350 words and be submitted as an
Essay or Power Point Presentation in your own words. It should also
include a bibliography.
Checklist:
Plainchant:
Historical context
Gregorian chant
why?
Social/cultural reasons/external factors
Latin text
why?
Social/cultural reasons/external factors
Monophonic/unison
explanation
show understanding of concept
Simple melodic line
why?
Social/cultural reasons/external factors
Unaccompanied
why?
Social/cultural reasons/external factors
Syllabic
explanation
show understanding of concept
Melismatic
explanation
show understanding of concept
Tonality
explanation
why?
show understanding of concept
Social / cultural reasons
Your Essay should be around 300 - 350 words and should include a bibliography.
Plainchant
PASS
Plainchant is a style of vocal music used in the medieval Church. Little is known
about the church music of the first three centuries, however there are references made
in the writings of contemporary authors to show that the early Christians did sing in
private and when assembled for public worship.
The early Christians took their texts from the psalms and canticles of the Bible, but
also composed new songs which were generally called hymns. Singing was divided
into two forms: the responsorial and the antiphonal. The responsorial was solo
singing in which the congregation joined with a kind of refrain. The antiphonal
consisted in the alternation of two choirs.
Plainsong is monophonic, consisting of a single, unaccompanied melodic line. Its
unmeasured rhythm rises and falls with the natural speech pattern of the Latin text.
The choral compositions were of a simple kind consisting mainly of one note per
syllable (syllabic), the solo compositions more elaborate, using a larger compass of
melodies and longer groups of notes on single syllables (Melismatic). During this
early period, musical instruments were excluded from Christian worship as they were
associated with pagan worship. Christians also believed that music should make the
listener ‘receptive to spiritual thoughts and reflections’ and so the melody was kept
pure and unaccompanied (a capella).
Gregorian chant is named after Pope Gregory I, during whose papacy (590–604)
chants were collected and notated. During the 8th and 9th century, ‘Gallican’ (similar
type of chant) was assimilated with Gregorian chant and it is this form of plainchant
that has come down to the present day.
The tonality of plainchants was based on the eight modes: A mode is a series of seven
notes. Most church texts refer to the modes by number, but somewhere along the
line, the music theorists confused the medieval church modes with the Greek scales
and the modes ended up being referred to by the Greek names:
 Dorian
 Hypodorian
 Phrygian
 Hypophrygian
 Lydian
 Hypolydian
 Mixolydian
 Hypomixolydian
Performance of Plainchant is still practiced within the Roman Catholic Church and
monasteries today.
Bibliography
New Advent Encyclopaedia;
Wikipedia;
media.musicasacra.com/pdf/plainsong
Plainchant
FAIL
Gregorian chant is the central tradition of Western plainchant, a form
ofmonophonic, unaccompanied sacred song of the western Roman Catholic Church.
Gregorian chant developed mainly in western and central Europe during the 9th and
10th centuries, with later additions and redactions. Although popular legend
credits Pope St. Gregory the Great with inventing Gregorian chant, scholars believe
that it arose from a later Carolingians ynthesis of Roman chant and Gallican chant.
Gregorian chants were organized initially into four, then eight, and finally
twelve modes. Typical melodic features include characteristic ambituses, intervallic
patterns relative to a referential mode final, incipits and cadences, the use of reciting
tones at a particular distance from the final, around which the other notes of the
melody revolve, and a vocabulary of musical motifs woven together through a
process called centonization to create families of related chants. The scale patterns
are organized against a background pattern formed of conjunct and
disjunct tetrachords, producing a larger pitch system called the gamut. The chants can
be sung by using six-noe patterns called hexachords. Gregorian melodies are
traditionally written using neumes, an early form of musical notation from which the
modern four-line and five-line staff developed.[1] Multi-voice elaborations of
Gregorian chant, known as organum, were an early stage in the development of
Western polyphony.
Gregorian chant was traditionally sung by choirs of men and boys in churches, or by
men and women of religious orders in their chapels. It is the music of the Roman
Rite, performed in the Mass and the monastic Office. Although Gregorian chant
supplanted or marginalized the other indigenous plainchant traditions of the Christian
West to become the official music of the Christian liturgy, Ambrosian chant still
continues in use in Milan, and there are musicologists exploring both that and
theMozarabic chant of Christian Spain. Although Gregorian chant is no longer
obligatory, the Roman Catholic Church still officially considers it the music most
suitable for worship.[2] During the 20th century, Gregorian chant underwent a
musicological and popular resurgence.
 This Essay has clearly been plagiarized and is not the candidate’s own work.
 The candidate has failed to provide a bibliography
Plainchant
FAIL
Plainchant is style of unison unaccompanied vocal music used in the medieval
Church.
The early Christians took their texts from the psalms and canticles of the Bible
Plainsong is monophonic, consisting of a single, unaccompanied melodic line. It has
a free rhythm and the melody rises and falls with the natural speech pattern of the
Latin text. The main reason for this was that musical instruments were associated
with pagan worship.
Gregorian chant is named after Pope Gregory I
The tonality of plainchants was based on the eight modes: A mode is a series of seven
notes
 This Essay is too short and does not contain enough detail or explanation.
 There is little evidence that the candidate has an understanding of the cultural
and social influences on Plainchant.
 The candidate has failed to provide a bibliography