Mind-Body relations in Medieval Chant Performance.  / Kinesthetic Cognition
in Chant Performance / or some other such title...

When performing one piece of music, say a Bach Cello Suite, I have noted
that my performance of the work will change when performing the work on
different instruments due to the idiomatic characteristics of that specific
instrument.

Similarly, when improvising on bass, I have discovered that I create
different types of bass lines on my Hofner than my fretless electric and
different still on double bass, (i.e. would Paul McCartney has created the
same bass lines if he used a Fender Precision?) --- just as a keyboardist
would when switching between harpsichord, celesta, organ and piano.

If these examples of kinesthetic influence on performance are noted, then is
it reasonable to assume that kinesthetics of vision (or any of the other
senses and combination of them) should produce different performances as
well?  It is for this reason that I attempted the following experiment in
performance of medieval chant.

The following are recordings of transcriptions I made of two antiphons
written by Hildegard von Bingen and recorded in the Dendermonde Codex (ca.
1175) a gift to the Cistercian monastery in Villiers.

http://www.myspace.com/christianmcguire (Karitas habundat and Laus
trinitati)
 There is no existing performance of Hildegard's chant like this, and mine
arises from some basic disagreement with current transcriptions.

This recording was hastily thrown together (and granted, I'm not the
greatest singer) but the principle behind its performance is that I wished
to vocally inflect the quilismas, oriscas, liquiscents and other neumes
based upon their ligatured "St. Gall neume" appearance in the original
manuscript, rather than on modern or even Solesmes square note notation.
(Transcriptions made in the 13th century and after often seem to
ignore/exclude clues indicated by earlier signs/neumes and ligatures as to
what earlier performance practice may have been. --- There is however the
argument that ligatures are merely a scribal convention to make the task of
writing easier. (i.e. cursive vs. print))

Instead of the artificial "standard" performance practice of chant (which
seems to be debated at every medieval congress) where there is often no
audible distinction between virgae, puncti, quilismas, liquiscents, etc.  I
made an exaggerated distinction following the basic rules that initial notes
and virgae carry more stress; oricas and quilismas are treated as portamenti
or glissandi, and liquiscents rapidly close on m, n, r, l.

In my view, an important feature of monophony is the marriage of the words
with the music to create a diversity of sonic expressions at varying degrees
of open and closed sounds in a reverberating space (this contrary to the
aesthetic is that a uniform sound which minimizes diversity in rhythm et al
should be maintained).  My preference for pronunciation was based the modern
conventions of Classical Latin rather than ecclesiastical Latin. - Natural
accents and vowel shapes of these words were thus further treated in this
performance.

The result is a new interpretation of this chant full of portamentos, slurs,
and shakes which has more in common with treatment of "blue notes."  Or
following current academic trends in medieval music performance, adopting
quartertones and other intervals as found in Middle Eastern performance to
grow beyond the limits of the unnatural half-steps used in 12-tone equal
tempered instruments.

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Karitas habundat (D - f.157r)

(K)aritas habundat in omnia de imis excellentissima super sidera atque

((Caritas abounds in all things from the depths to above the most excellent
stars, and ))
((amantissima in omnia quia summo regi osculum pacis dedit.))

Most loving in all things because to the high king she has given the kiss of
peace.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

Laus trinitati (D - f.157r)

Laus trinitati que sonus et uita ac creatrix omnium in uita ipsorum est

((Praise be to the trinity which is sound and life and is the creator of all
the things of life itself.))

Que laus angelice turbe et mirus splendor archanorum

(([The trinity] is the praise of the angelic host and the wonderful splendor
of [sacred] secrets))

que hominibus ignota sunt, est et que in omnibus uita est.

((which humankind overlooks, what [the trinity] is, that is , the life in
all things. ))

=-=

K. Christian McGuire