Elements of Medieval Music on the 21st century

Assignment #2: Elements of Medieval Music present in the 21st Century Musical Notation Mostly liturgical music was transmitted orally and also memorized by monks and clerics; however, during this period musical notation emerged in differents ways and it was developed in with many characteristics notation from time to time, it was a process that occurred gradually. The earliest chant notation was notated on signs called neumes whose function was mainly to graphically provided a gesture or movement, not specific pitches yet. It was until the 11th century that these neumes were alligned according to the pitches to be sung in a one-line or two-line staff as reference of a fixed pitch. Then, in the 13th and 14th centuries as more lines were added to the staff, the Gregorian Chant was written down in tetragramma and movable clefs were placed at the beginning of the manuscripts (Bonds, 32 and 34). This is a practice that still persists in classical music to save its integrity and provides a primary source for performers. Another important point about neumes is that Serialism tries to incorporate this concept in its notation: lines that represent movements placed on a staff or no staff as well. The Serialism, mostly performed by electronics devices, has more complex notation but it is clear that the changing pitch is depicted in a single line that goes up and down. The next two illustrations show excerpts of these notations: Left, anonymous “Alleluia” (neuma); Right, “Kulmination” by Anestis Logothetis. Text Setting In the Middle Ages, music was under the patronage and, consequently, control of the Catholic Church, then its fuction was to project the message of God based on religious texts, more important the text than the music. In order to send God’s words to the congregation with no disturbance, the Church stipulated three ways to set the tex: syllabic, neumatic, and melismatic. Syllabic, as it sounds, happens when a syllable has one note;

References: All 7 Church Modes Music Theory Lesson! Perf. Julian Bradley. All 7 Church Modes Music Theory Lesson! Youtube, 7 May 2013. Web. 28 Aug. 2014. Bonds, Mark E. "Plainchant and Secular Monophony." A History of Music in Western Culture. 2nd ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 2006. 28-43. Print. Hinterbichler, Karl. "Text Setting in Medieval Music." Music History. University of New Mexico, Albuquerque. 20 Aug. 2014. Lecture. Logothetis, Anethis. Kulmination 1961. Digital image. Anethis Logothetis ' Catalogue of Works. IEMA 2012. Web. 27 Aug. 2014. Metzger, Richard. Neumes 2. Digital image. Music History Supplemental. N.p., 9 Apr. 2006. Web. 27 Aug. 2014.