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“What earlier generations held as sacred, remains sacred and great for us too…” Pope Benedict XVI (7 July 2007)

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Views from the Choir Loft

Lesson 3: Do Clef and Fa Clef

You are probably wondering, “How can one know where the half steps and whole steps occur?” The answer is that the “clef” tells you. Clef means “key,” and it truly is the key to discovering the melody. There are two kinds of clefs: a “Do Clef” and a “Fa Clef.” The Do clef tells you where Do is. The Fa Clef tells you where Fa is.

As you can probably guess, the placement of the clef makes a tremendous difference to the way the piece sounds. In the following video demonstration, notice how different a little tune can sound when the clef is moved:

The following is another example which illustrates how the clef really is the key to how Gregorian chant sounds. When the clef is changed, see if you can hear how different the piece sounds. It is all because changing the clef changes the location of the half steps and whole steps:

Finding the clef always works, no matter what ancient MS one is studying. However, sometimes the clefs are not easy to spot. Can you find the clef in this MS? To help, I’ve also included the Vaticana version for reference:

Sometimes the Vaticana pieces move the clef “mid-piece” (i.e. in the middle of the song) to make sure all the notes can fit on the staff. This was also done in the Mediæval MSS, for example at “adesse regum”:

Notice that the custos made this transition seamless. The custos (“guide” or “sentinel”) appears at the end of every line of chant. It is not a note, but a visual cue for the first pitch on the next line:

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Quick Thoughts

16 May 2022 • Harmonized Chant?

This year’s upcoming Sacred Music Symposium will demonstrate several ways to sing the CREDO at Mass. This is because—for many parishes—to sing a full-length polyphonic CREDO by Victoria or Palestrina is out of the question. Therefore, we show options that are halfway between plainsong and polyphony. You can hear my choir rehearsing a section that sounds like harmonized plainsong.

—Jeff Ostrowski
14 May 2022 • “Pure” Vatican Edition

As readers know, my choir has been singing from the “pure” Editio Vaticana. That is to say, the official rhythm which—technically—is the only rhythm allowed by the Church. I haven’t figured out how I want the scores to look, so in the meantime we’ve been using temporary scores that look like this. Stay tuned!

—Jeff Ostrowski
14 May 2022 • Gorgeous Book

If there is a more beautiful book than Abbat Pothier’s 1888 Processionale Monasticum, I don’t know what it might be. This gorgeous tome was today added to the Saint John Lalande Online Library. I wish I owned a physical copy.

—Jeff Ostrowski

Random Quote

“The following few hints on the selection of voices may be useful: (1) Reject all boys who speak roughly, or sing coarsely; (2) Choose bright, intelligent-looking boys, provided they have a good ear; they will much more readily respond to the choirmaster’s efforts than boys who possess a voice and nothing more; therefore, (3) Reject dull, sulky, or scatter-brained boys, since it is hard to say which of the three has the most demoralizing effect on his more willing companions.”

— Sir Richard Runciman Terry (1912)

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