Gregorian schola range
  • henrik.hank
    Posts: 103
    What Is the vocal range in your Gregorian schola? I have mostly sung non-gregorian music. I am a tenor who thought I should study Gregorian chant as well. The choir director I met told me they sing as low as A2. I dont like lower notes than B2.
    Is Gregorian chant too low for tenors?
  • Jeffrey Quick
    Posts: 2,086
    I consider my group's "golden octave" to be D-D. I expect my group of amateur baritones to sing up to F (we vocalize to Ab). We go down to A when necessary, but no lower; I've got people with problems getting a good A.

    In a way though, your question is irrelevant. Chant is a group activity, so higher voices will be stronger on the high notes, lower ones on the lower notes, and it all evens out. And pitch is arbitrary in chant anyway; I usually pitch the reciting tone to either A or Bb. If you're cantoring something solo, and it's too low for you, just pitch it where it sounds good.
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  • Chris Garton-Zavesky
    Posts: 6,902
    Henrik,

    "Gregorian Chant too low for tenors" is too broad a statement, but the following are all true:

    a) some chants have a very wide range (Lauda Sion from the feast of Corpus Christi comes to mind)

    b) even with a moveable clef, and the fact that most people treat "do" as a moveable pitch, it isn't possible to shrink the range of some chants

    c) some choir directors believe that top pitch should be comfortable for non-trained altos or basses, and so their individual choice of "do" may be contributing to the low pitches in chant.
    Thanked by 2tomjaw CCooze
  • VilyanorVilyanor
    Posts: 388
    I've usually had the opposite problem, of the range set by directors being too high for me as a bass. I tend to set the pieces much lower when singing on my own.
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  • StimsonInRehabStimsonInRehab
    Posts: 1,933
    Try not always to set the range solely by the highest note in the piece - take note (no pun intended) of where the dominant note in the mode lies. Sometimes, especially in the graduals where the clef moves down for the response, there has been a tendency to pitch it down - which results in a very low tessitura during the first half of the chant. This is where learning more about modes is very helpful, I've found!
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  • Chris Garton-Zavesky
    Posts: 6,902
    Stimson,

    How do you propose to get around the "very low tessitura during the first half of the chant"? My solution (when I'm the lone cantor) is to pitch do on C and accept wherever the chant takes me.
  • StimsonInRehabStimsonInRehab
    Posts: 1,933
    CGZ,

    The high points of the second half of the chant are usually at the apex of a neum and aren't of very long duration, so I usually don't mind pitching up at the very beginning of the gradual. For example: for Immaculate Conception and the gradual Benedicta es tu,, the high fa's of the -ru in Jerusalem are fleeting, so as to be lightly touched on, and won't really strain the voice. If that makes sense.
  • CHGiffenCHGiffen
    Posts: 5,193
    Both Lauda Sion and Benedicta es, tu have a range of a perfect 11th (an octave plus a perfect fourth) ... Re-Sol and Do-Fa respectively. If Do for the former is pitched on B-flat for the former and for the latter on C, then the ambitus (range) is C to F a perfect 11th above. A better choice might be to pitch Do on A for the former and on B-natural for the latter, producing an ambitus from B-natural to E an 11th above.

    Vocalization exercises aimed at settling on an acceptable range of a perfect 11th (or even a perfect 12th for the entire group, as in the National Anthem) should be part of any schola training if there seems to be a problem.
    Thanked by 2StimsonInRehab tomjaw
  • Chris Garton-Zavesky
    Posts: 6,902
    May I put in my oar for teaching choirs how to sing high notes without sounding like a cross between drunken Irishmen and Prussian soldiers on parade? My best expression when it comes to reaching high pitches has to do with a change of an octave: "don't count, shift." Float, or soar, or something like that seems appropriate for the intended result of a high section.
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  • M. Jackson Osborn
    Posts: 8,416
    .
  • Chris Garton-Zavesky
    Posts: 6,902
    Yikes!
  • M. Jackson Osborn
    Posts: 8,416
    In addition to Chuck's examples there is the well known offertory, Jubilate Deo, with a range of a tenth. I can no longer sing it starting on C and have to start at least on A. Such wide tessituras, though, are exceptional.
    Thanked by 2tomjaw CHGiffen
  • Chris Garton-Zavesky
    Posts: 6,902
    Whew! I thought you were upset, Jackson, with the point I was making.
    Thanked by 1M. Jackson Osborn
  • narfie13
    Posts: 18
    greetings and happy feast of St Stephen! It is always good when singing chant to have a tenor and a baritone sing together. That way they can shine at what they do and not squeak or croak. If you listen to the propers at ccwatershed sung by monks, you can hear what singing sensitively together, to benefit the hearers, means. I love singing with an alto, being a soprano.
    Thanked by 1Vilyanor
  • M. Jackson Osborn
    Posts: 8,416
    Chris -
    The point or the period merely means that I erased what I had written. It's the only way to erase (that is to say 'expunge') what was already posted. Now, the yellow box - that is another matter entirely.
    Thanked by 1CHGiffen
  • SponsaChristi
    Posts: 402
    Is Gregorian chant too low for tenors?


    It depends where you pitch it. I’m a woman who sings tenor and sings in the Schola with the men, and generally speaking, I have no issues unless something is written pretty low and gets pitched low. I can comfortably sing down to G2, and a little lower depending on the week.
    Thanked by 2CHGiffen tomjaw
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