Chant modulation
  • GavinGavin
    Posts: 2,799
    So I was wondering, since it comes up from time to time, how does one "modulate" between modes? That is to say, without organ accompaniment how would you follow a Mode I chant with a Mode IV? Does one keep the final the same? The tenor? Use the tenor of one as the final for the other? This comes up with chanted prayers and a sung dismissal; something just doesn't sound RIGHT about how my priest sings the dismissal, but I haven't come up with anything that sounds better. And when you reply, are there actual theoretical rules on this or are you just speaking from experience?
  • Michael O'Connor
    Posts: 1,637
    Well, that wouldn't be modulating in the conventional sense. If it were me, I would bring the mode VI chant down a third to a D final if you must have the same one. IIRC mode IV chants tend to be set rather high and most often require transposition down anyway. Maybe someone else has more experience here. I don't worry too much about tonal unity across a Mass, but rather a comfortable singing range.
  • Jevoro
    Posts: 108
    I was teached to keep always the same note for the tenor (dominant recitation) around la.
  • IanWIanW
    Posts: 762
    I've always thought of chant pitch notation in relative, rtaher than absolute terms. If a change from one chant to another requires a change of absolute pitch to bring it within a manageable singing range, just do it. If the second chant follows the first directly, then there will Ideally be a comfortable tonal relationship between the two, to avoid oddness on the ear.
  • GavinGavin
    Posts: 2,799
    Well the idea is to avoid having to give a new pitch when necessary. I don't MIND organ intonations, I just try to avoid them unless 100% necessary. The example I gave is the dismissal sounding WAY different from the blessing. Also my choir sung the Ubi Caritas followed by Mandatum Novum, so I kept the F from the Ubi Caritas as the F in the Mandatum, even though they were in different modes. It sounded good to me.
  • Michael O'Connor
    Posts: 1,637
    Gavin,

    That does sound right to me too. Especially with consecutive chants.
  • Steve CollinsSteve Collins
    Posts: 1,022
    Adjusting "Doh" from one chant piece to another, to meld them together, is what the movable Doh system is all about. I love organ accompaniment of chant, but not drawn out intonations. Dr. Marier was very consistent in "Hymns, Psalms & Spiritual Canticles" to give the starting melody note just one beat before the singing began, but in the tenor. I try to do this even with English Responsorial Psalms to this day.

    Modulations, OTOH, happen within some longer pieces of chant, especially Introits and Offertories. I find that one of the best points of the "Nova Organi Harmonia" accompaniments is precisely that the accompaniment prepares you just a couple of notes before the melodic change with a small shift in the harmonies below. Thus, when you go to sing the first note after the mode change, you "feel" right at home!
  • Michael O'Connor
    Posts: 1,637
    I guess my only reservation would be that some chant texts like Jubilate Deo kind of ask for a slightly higher pitch to underscore the text a bit. For Easter 3 (EF calendar) we are taking the Lux et origo Mass Ordinary with a consistent DO on G (my folks are mostly altos and basses), IOW the C line is now G below middle C for men and above for the women, no matter the mode. We are keeping the Propers at the written pitch because all the alleluia refrains don't quite sound right at the lower pitch. It doesn't sound bad to me at all and the higher notes of the introit (Jubilate Deo) and Offertory (Lauda anima mea) are "semiologically", to borrow a term, more satisfying.
  • Steve CollinsSteve Collins
    Posts: 1,022
    Michael, you have some good arguments for what you are doing. And the bottom line is - it works. But even the A=440 International pitch is elusive, and no longer actually mandated. "Standard" pitch has moved up and down by more than a 1/2-step over the centuries. But there is not a syllable of the solfege that can be linked either historically or practically to any pitch whatsoever.
  • Michael O'Connor
    Posts: 1,637
    Yes, I quite agree. I don't think I was speaking about standard pitch and solfege. As a practical matter I do need to know where my transposition is on a week to week basis so that I don't confuse my amateur schola. BTW pitch has varied even more than that. 17th Century Venetian organs have sounded A=460 which matches some surviving cornettos. This, btw, further supports the need to transpose polyphonic pieces set in high clefs downward. French pitch during the late 18th and early 19th century was often A=430 and British "Old Philharmonic pitch" was A=442 for many years. Many old brass band instruments on Ebay are pitched that way. Only in 1931 did the U.S. and Britain finally get on board with A=440, but I'm rambling...
  • Michael O'Connor
    Posts: 1,637
    Oh yes, American brass band pitch varied from A=450 to A=458. I have the instruments to prove it!
  • mjballoumjballou
    Posts: 994
    Last evening in rehearsal, I lowered the pitch, maybe a whole step, of a couple of pieces we were working on at the behest of the first sopranos. All the brightness just disappeared. The sopranos just had to suck it up and sing those notes (which they did, of course).

    What is it that makes certain keys or modes more attractive? Is it a function of the physics of sound, of how the sound is perceived? Any thoughts or interesting references on the subject?

    I know "concert pitch" has wandered up and down over the centuries and I wonder about vocal tastes as well.
  • GavinGavin
    Posts: 2,799
    Mary, I also accidently lowered my Alleluia by a half step on Sunday. It's a kind of "jazzy" setting in 6/4 by Proulx in the "Gelineau" psalm book, not sure if anyone knows it. Anyway, it's a great setting but just that half step made it so very depressing sounding. Ordinarily I don't know a D from a Db, but somehow it was just.... dull.
Add a Comment