Recent observation and experimentation in cathedrals and abbey and priory churches of Southern England (In particular, Salisbury, Wells, Chichester, Exeter, Winchester, and Christchurch Priory) has shown that the various spaces in which music was performed for the liturgy show remarkably different acoustics.
This paper explores the relation between these differing acoustics, the groups who performed in the particular spaces, and what they performed. Most notable is the difference between the acoustic of the choir stalls and that of the Lady Chapel. The choir stalls are unexpectedly problematic acoustically-reinforcing the lower voices and suppressing somewhat the higher voices. This should not have been a particular problem in the middle ages, for the principal music to be sung there was plainsong, by a rather large group of singers. The Lady Chapels, on the other hand, exhibit a remarkable acoustic-resonant and focussed at the same time. These chapels were the location of the Lady Masses, sung by just a few singers; by the fourteenth century, it was the Lady Mass for which much of the three-part polyphony was suitable. Experimentation has shown that the focussed, resonant acoustic is ideal for the singing of three-part polyphony, one-to-a-part.
Processions move from one space to another, and this motion is underscored by changes of acoustics, most notably, the change is sound as the procession passes through portals and into a new and different acoustical space. A particular contrast is that between the cloister and the nave; the cloister is generally a space at once enclosed and elongated, producing a very immediate sound, yet with a back-up of resonance; passage into the nave opens up the sound, much as the vision of the nave in passage from the cloister is an experience of expansion.
These observations will be correlated with information about liturgy and repertory from period documents and illustrated with slides and recordings.
The Amish chants date from the 16th century, and their practice reflects a >medieval view of the role of music. The songs have been transmitted in an >oral tradition, with many parallels to the Gregorian chant repertory. The >texts to these chants are preserved with no music notation.
Many people, when first hearing this unaccompanied monophonic chant, assume that it dates back to the Catholic plainchant. When hearing field recordings from the 1930s and later, many musicians also comment on how “bad” the performance is, using modern aesthetic standards, which they have seen justified in recordings of plainchant. The Amish melodies have been altered, typically involving the addition of notes that allow for a stepwise motion. There is no set meter, and the notes vary in length, with no sense of a pulse. There is variation in intonation and rhythm in performance. The Amish believe that “artistically poor singing” is acceptable to God, as men and women are made to sing an “inner song.”
This paper chronicles the change of singing in the Amish community as the method of transmission changes. Among the Amish, communal singing has always been part of every aspect of life. In recent years, the melodies for the slow songs have been written down, and, in the last few years, recorded for commercial purposes. With the new methods of transmission, the melodies are beginning to be stabilized according to individuals’ ideas about the melodies. The memory of some tunes is being lost as the singers rely on the written notation, which doesn’t really capture the unique articulation and phrasing. There are fewer embellishments and a standardized pulse. It would seem that by relying on the written transcription, they have lost in a few years many of the qualities that prevailed in an oral tradition for many generations. The recordings for commercial purposes use only a few singers, and they imitate the sound associated with modern plainchant recordings. Trained musicians will appreciate the “better performance,” but I believe the performance represents a loss to the character of the Amish slow songs. I also submit that when the medieval chant repertory was regulated by the written notation, it too lost some special qualities that may have once characterized it. Furthermore, like the Amish, this will have been compounded by the recording industry of the 20th century.
Abstract forthcoming.