Playing with a Kyrie on Gregorio
  • JPike1028
    Posts: 95
    As the title says, I'm playing with an original Kyrie on Gregorio. All these people posting compositions is making me want to write again. I'm not necessarily looking for compositional advice, as I don't think this will ever see the light of day, but does the notation look clean enough? What would you change notationally to make it cleaner looking?
    Missa.pdf
    8K
  • chonakchonak
    Posts: 9,220
    (1) If you would like each asterisk to stand apart from the next word, you can code it in GABC as

    *() e(hvGF)le(fgh gh)i(iv)son.(h.) [for example]

    (2) The trailing dash after each "eleison" is happening because the period of the text is being placed in a less than ideal manner. Put it before the notes of the last syllable/ For example, the final word would be

    i(h)son.(hgh.) (::)

    and not

    i(h)son(hgh.). (::)

    (3) If you want to have each section ("Kyrie eleison","Christe eleison") repeated, you can specify this with a "bis" marking under the bar line:

    bis(:)

    (4) Some of the figures are notated with note combinations that look unconventional. For instance, I would tend to think of the first syllable as KY(hhGfh), so the note combination on the score suggests that you want to present a particular logical organization of the notes.

    --
    Hope this helps!
  • JPike1028
    Posts: 95
    Thank you, Chonak, it was quite helpful. I have taken the night and written out the Sanctus and Agnus Dei. They have all been through a first edit, so I feel I can open it up to some compositional critique now. I've decided to put this out eventually for use so criticism is helpful from more experienced composers and singers. Let me know what y'all think!

    P.S. - this is my first attempt at writing a mass setting, but I am fairly pleased with what I've done through one edit.

    E.T.A. - I have not yet sat down at a piano and played through or really sung through this yet. It is simply from my head to the paper (I'm at work at can't sing much while here).
    Missa Annuntiatio Christi.PDF
    570K
  • BenBen
    Posts: 3,114
    I would suggest including your GABC code. It will help us troubleshoot.
    Thanked by 1Adam Wood
  • SalieriSalieri
    Posts: 3,177
    Are you familiar with the Messes du Plainchant my Henri DuMont? Stylistically very similar.
  • Adam WoodAdam Wood
    Posts: 6,482
    (3) If you want to have each section ("Kyrie eleison","Christe eleison") repeated, you can specify this with a "bis" marking under the bar line:

    bis(:)


    or with the (more traditional?) "ij" (roman numeral two)

    either way, I would italicize:

    <i>ij</i>(:)

    or

    <i>bis.</i>(:)
  • JPike1028
    Posts: 95
    Salieri, I am not familiar with the DuMont settings. I'll have to look them up.
  • chonakchonak
    Posts: 9,220
    "bis" is not an abbreviation, so it does not need a period. It's just the Latin for "twice".
    Thanked by 1Adam Wood
  • RomanticStringsRomanticStrings
    Posts: 340
    If you feel comfortable with compositional critique, my only comment is that stylistically for chant, there seem to be a number of instances where fa-ti is emphasized. Int he original Kyrie, it was explicit at one point, but it seems to be smoothed out in the full version. However, a few places with fa-sol-ti make for an uncharacteristic sound (chant-speaking; JPike1028-speaking, it may be exactly what you want). Some judicious use of te (fa-sol-te or even switching to fa-la-te) may make the sound more characteristically chant-like. Again, you may want it to be a bit unique, since we are allowed nowadays ;)
  • JPike1028
    Posts: 95
    Thank you RomanticStrings, I finally got a chance to play and sing through the setting and the te instead of ti makes a lot more sense.
  • MarkThompson
    Posts: 768
    P.S. - this is my first attempt at writing a mass setting, but I am fairly pleased with what I've done through one edit.


    Reading through the Kyrie, can I suggest Missa Toni Diabolici as a title?
  • JPike1028
    Posts: 95
    Thank you Mark, for that insightful critique. I am working my way through a second edit and am changing some things that I noticed in singing/playing through it that gave me pause.
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