User:Mjolnir/Performance Practices

Preface

This page is a place to list tips and techniques for proper interpretation of music of various periods and places. Noel Stoutenburg

Chant

When singing Psalms to Gregorian Chant, there should be a slight accelerando and crescendo on the first few syllables of each half verse, and a slight decelerando and diminuendo on the last few syllables.

When the first note after a reciting tone is a higher pitch than the reciting tone, never accent it, even if it is an accented syllable. The change in pitch has already accented the syllable.

English Music

Anthems and Service music

The word "verse" in English music of certain periods denotes passages typically sung by soloists. Intervening passages sung by the entire ensemble are designated "full".

It is a feature of English Church music written for the Cathedral tradition that the music is sung antiphonally. The choir on one side, (typically the right side as one faces the front of the church) is called the decani choir (often abbreviated as dec., the name arising from the Latin word for "Dean", a cleryman in charge of the Cathedral, who typically sat in a chair on that side of the building. The choir on the opposite side, is called "cantoris", ( often abbreviated "can.", from the Latin word for Cantor, as the person in charge of the music typically occupied a chair on that side of the room. In music conceived for choirs divided into dec and can, the word "full" is often used to indicate both choirs singing together, though more rarely one sees "all", or "tutti".

Hymns

Hymns were often sung in four part harmony, though the use of descants, fauxbourdons, and reharmoniztions, either pre-composed or improvised, was common.

German Music

Chorales

Songs intended for congregational singing were generally sung in unison