Léonin

Madrigals were usually love songs. Motet A motet is a polyphonic work with four or five voice parts singing one religious text. They are similar to madrigals, but with an important difference: motets are religious works, while madrigals are usually love songs. Mass A musical mass is like a motet, only longer.

The fourth voice (highest) in a polyphonic composition ( organum) having four or more voices.

Sometime during the ninth century, music theorists in the Church began experimenting with the idea of singing two melodic lines simultaneously at parallel intervals, usually at the fourth, fifth, or octave. The resulting hollow-sounding music was called organum and very slowly developed over the next hundred years.

11th century

central tradition of Western plainchant

One of Shur’s most notable works is the song “Smooth”, which he co-wrote with Matchbox 20’s Rob Thomas for Santana’s Grammy Award winning album Supernatural.

The texture is monophonic (even though several singers are participating, there is only one melody), there is no consistent pulse, and the melody is based on a church mode (Dorian to be specific).

A neume always starts at the beginning of a syllable. A neume is always read from left to right (like in modern notation) but from bottom to top when notes are written on the same column. For example : Here are three notes in modern notation.

However, even though chant notation had progressed in many ways, one fundamental problem remained: rhythm. The neumatic notational system, even in its fully developed state, did not clearly define any kind of rhythm for the singing of notes.

Gregorian chant is monophonic rather than polyphonic (one part vs. several parts) and is sacred in theme. Renaissance madrigals are secular (non-religious) and have multiple voices. Both are primarily a capella, though madrigals sometimes have one or more parts played on instruments.

neumes