Gregorian%20Chant

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Gregorian Chant

• The Origins of Written Music

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The History of Gregorian Chant

• Named for Pope St. Gregory the Great (540-604).
• It is believed that Gregory did not write any
  chants, but instead organized the many different
  schools of chant into one coherent form by
  developing the Antiphonary (written music).
• The Antiphonary is the oldest surviving form of
  written music.

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What does Gregorian Chant look like?
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Gregorian Chant uses a four line staff - instead
of the modern day five line staff

• A Benedictine Monk Named Guido DArezzo is
  believed to have created this staff, although
  there is some debate over whether or not he
  actually did it.

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The beautiful artwork and decorations found
throughout most chants gives them the name
Illuminated Manuscripts.Monks often spent months
creating one chant. After all, what else was
there to do?
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What are all those squiggly bits?
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Those squiggly bits are called NEUMES.

• Neumes are like musical notes without stems. The
  shape of each neume determines the rhythm and
  pitch of each note.
• Neumes eventually became modern day notes.

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Where is the key signature, the clef, and the
time signature?
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The Clef is there, but the time signature and key
signature arent.

• Gregorian Chant uses a clef that looks like the
  letter C. The clef actually curls around the
  line that is middle C.
• Gregorian chant does not use a time signature.
  It is sung as the words dictate.
• All Gregorian chant is sung in a certain mode,
  not a key signature.

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What language are they singing in?
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Latin

• All of the text is in Latin. The reason for this
  is that Gregorian Chant is completely based in
  religion (Christianity).
• The text is directly from the Bible and sung
  during religious services. Each chant has a
  specific function, much like Hymns do.
• Today, chant is still used in the Catholic and
  Eastern Orthodox churches.

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Why are there only men singing?
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Women were not allowed to participate in any part
of a religious ceremony in 10th Century Europe.
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Lets look a bit closer atNEUMES