Gregorian Chant Notation
Apropos of Mark P’s initial comment and Paul Rex’s post regarding the inaccessibility of neumes vs. modern music notation, here is a site that may help decipher the initially strange world of neumes. Those familiar with C and F clefs will seem to fare better than those who can only read G clef.
When introducing square notation, as with all things, it seems best to start simply. The dialogues, simple ordinaries of Masses XVI and XVIII, and simplified antiphons* seem logical places to start—none of the these require a knowledge of the more complex neumes. Constant exposure would give an aspiring chanter familiarity with the basic logic of square notation, as well as a foundation for learning more complex chanting from the Graduale Romanum.
*Propers from the Graduale Simplex and propers pre-set to psalm tones fall under this category.
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That is an excellent site. The material looks very much like the first handout my chant teacher gave us last year. I wonder if it is original to that site, or if it was borrowed from somewhere else.
That’s the site that got me started reading chant notation.
Have you tried just using the neums?
I’ve had good success with the St. Gall notation. People who start there sing differently than those who look at square notation.
I’ve done this with 2 grade-school choirs and two adult choirs. I’m posting some of the materials we us for rehearsal in my blog, hoping that if I do a little at a time on a semi-regular basis, I may end up with a body of useful material.
The blog is at http://randomlight.blogspot.com/ and my ongoing posting of recordings and materials is at http://www.iglou.com/watchmakerpress/chant/ChantIndex.html.
Now that I’ve found your blog, it looks as we are not as alone as I thought. Glad I found you.
pax,
maggie