Concerning where to place half, quarter bars, and double bars for chant: HELP PLEASE!!

achoyce91

Hello!

I need help with using half, quarter, and double bar lines in modern chant notation. I did a bit at the beginning of the score, but that's because I was going off of a sample of another Gloria.

Here's the link to the score: https://www.dropbox.com/s/tfsv8i2ie70sww4/Missa Sancti Ioannis a Cruce - Gloria - Score.pdf?dl=0

Let me know if there are any documents that discuss these matters.

Thanks!
- Alex

smvanroode

For existing texts, you can always look at an example from an authentic piece of chant, for example https://gregobase.selapa.net/chant.php?id=10798.

As a general rule, I would say:
- put a quarter bar at a point in a sentence, where there is a clear comma and where the singer can take a short breath
- put a half bar at a semicolon or semicolon-like place in the sentence
- put a single bar at the end of a sentence (or, in a psalm verse, at the end of the first half verse)
- put a double bar at the end of a piece or whenever the congregation takes over from the choir or vice versa.

achoyce91

The example you provided uses double bars a lot. I'm trying to use modern notation for the new Mass I'm writing.

achoyce91

Thank you for coming to my aid, fellow believer! It's exciting there's an organization like this one. : D

achoyce91

But yeah, the example didn't help too much. A lot of double bars and quarter bars.

smvanroode

You can also look at these modern mass settings; they're mostly chant based, but in modern notation. There's some variety in the use of bars, but you can certainly find a system that suits your composition: https://www.ccwatershed.org/mass/

ServiamScores

In the case of the example that you don’t find overly helpful, I suspect the double bars are due to smvanroode’s 4th rule: whenever you switch between cantor/schola and congregation.

achoyce91

https://media.musicasacra.com/books/chantsofchurch_modern.pdf

I'll use this. I'll have to redo the whole score but I like the system.

achoyce91

Hmm.... It'll fill the staves with eighth note flags disconnected due to the syllabic nature of the music and text. I'll just follow your guide, @smvanroode.

achoyce91

Here's what I did: https://www.dropbox.com/s/s6bpghaprtqp4g0/Missa Sancti Ioannis a Cruce - Score.pdf?dl=0

Let me know if that looks kosher to y'all.

Richard Mix

I don't see why you would want to use half and quarter bars in modern 5-line notation. Certainly a double bar after the priest's intonation would make sense, though.

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