# Gregoriian music is a gift from god, thee shawll be said!



## deprofundis (Apr 25, 2014)

Ah .. yes i love gregorian music now more than ever, look, soundz cliché as hell.But once you indulged in sutch music , the more tthe better, because it's god driven, given light all mighty in all itt's glory , simplicity, pure chants monodic( i presumeed, if im accurated), Beside why not visit Gregoriaan era deep end, im purchasing two Lp in a while gregorian finest nothing can beat in my mind analogue Gregorian music, not cheap stuff , great godlike, in same league as holy,pure vocal ahhcievement, music is music, ii lovee Ambrosian, Sarum, Mozarabic Chants too, but Gregorian is music i learn to love over all , over the time, sacred music, Gregorian is pure artform straightfoward ,all does deprofuundis know there is a bit , a tad od gregorian music, deprofundis is aware of Fulbert de Chartres is it straightfoward gregorian nope perrhaps a paradoxal gregorian musician experimenting, so i would label this composer ars antiqua avant-garde prior to ars vetus, my primal observation.

But lets keep it simple, when you lisen to sutch wonderful music , one seem to travel trought space and time, trought dimensions, like takenn an elevator to the heavens of heavens.Marveleous for relaxation & introspection, the best the only way, a mind clenzer to cast out demons, pure devotion to the holy.


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## Mandryka (Feb 22, 2013)

Here's something about singing chant which I think is interesting. I'm on the lookout for recordings which are sung modally

http://www.cantusmodalis.org/



> A different definition of modality
> 
> In its most general context the word modus or 'mode' may be defined as 'amanner or way of acting, doing or being'. In this definition the emphasis is placed on the process of being or of moving toward a certain something which in itself, although constituting the sole reason for the process, can only be the passive result of the way the process itself unfolds. Purely musically speaking, this phenomenon can be defined as the actual manner through which primarily interlocking intervals and rhythms - and by extension, timbres and dynamics - form themselves into recognizable open-ended nuclei (the smallest possible identifiable melodic pattern or cliché) which in turn are transformed into other nuclei. In this process the ultimate 'point' of resolution is actually more one of dissolution. This so-called 'modal manner' of movement may be heard in its clearest and most elevated form in all essentially monophonic chant traditions which are theocentric and that therefore require an equally theocentric orientation in their performance. The singer of chant may thusly be said to be in a state of being in-chanted (see: incantarsi, which implies the condition or action of being sung).
> 
> ...


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## Mandryka (Feb 22, 2013)

Contd

...........



> 9. Pulsation
> 
> Although it may appear strange, the primary extra-lingual function of the vowels and consonants is to enhance the quality and variety of the vibration, not expressly the intelligibility of the verbalmessage. Because of this the element of stress accent is largely absent. (A stress accent is an essentially dynamic accent of weight, often elicited by a Glottisschlag on a consonant or a vowel, which causes the sudden cessation or distortion of vibration.) As a consequence of this fluidity of movement, rhythmic groupings are identified as beingadditive or irregular in length. However,the concept of unstructured or 'free' rhythm is foreign to chant: an audible and/or felt wave-like pulsation governs all movement. This is the natural result of feeling and working with harmonic vibration and therefore proportion. In this way tempo and 'measure' become one. The result is not strictly metrical and cannot be measured except in wave-like units.
> 
> ...


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## Manxfeeder (Oct 19, 2010)

That's quite a detailed exposition. It is deceptive to think of chant as simplistic compared to later developments in Western music. You've just shown that it's not. 

I have heard people say that a group chanting properly in the proper acoustic can produce overtones which they are not singing. I think that's remarkable.


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## Mandryka (Feb 22, 2013)

Nevertheless I think it's not so easy to find recorded examples of modal singing of chant, Rebecca Stewart recorded some as part of a performance of the Machaut mass but it was never released commercially. One idea I want to suggest is that the three CDs of conductus with Rogers Covey Crump are worth exploring in this respect, and possibly the chant recordings from Theatre of Voices.









If you look at the four CDs that Hilliard ensemble released of live concerts from the 1990s - Perotin, Ockeghem, Dufay and Mouton - then you'll see that Covey Crump contributes essays on tuning and harmony in each of them. my guess is that that's part of the reason why the chords with enharmonics, and harmonies which use overtones, seem to be part of the effect in the heterophonic music in those conductus CDs.


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