ch. 2: ancient & medieval religious music

Question 1

civilizations

Answer 1

city culture

Question 2

chant / chanting

Answer 2

used to refer to religious melodies and singing

Question 3

how does it work? (invoking the spirit of kindness through sound”

Answer 3

p. 39

Question 4

describe the lifestyle of Tibetan monks

Answer 4

semi-nomadic pastoralists

Question 5

who is the Dalai Lama?

Answer 5

the political ruler of Tibet; the leader of the Gelugpa sect of Tibetan Buddhism

Question 6

how does it work? (“quia ergo femina”)

Answer 6

p. 44

Question 7

choir

Answer 7

a chorus of singers supported by a church, school, or other institution often with a leader/conductor

Question 8

stepwise motion / conjunct motion

Answer 8

melodies that move thru adjacent pitches of a scale

Question 9

leapwise motion / disjunct motion

Answer 9

melodies that leap from one pitch to nonadjacent pitches in the scale

Question 10

syllabic singing

Answer 10

syllables set on just one or two pitches

Question 11

melismatic singing

Answer 11

syllables set on many pitches

Question 12

melisma

Answer 12

a syllable set to many pitches

Question 13

vibrato

Answer 13

a pulsating slight raising and lowering of the pitch of a tone

Question 14

what does the sound of Christian chant mean for believers?

Answer 14

• the calm, relaxed sound of monophonic chanting echoing thru a large church/cathedral creates a sonic icon of otherworldiness
• the chanting of the monks or nuns is resonating in heaven and God is listening to the praises in the sacred Latin texts

Question 15

liturgies

Answer 15

the ritual rules and practices for sacred services

Question 16

what service was “Quia ergo femina” used for?

Answer 16

“Ordinary of the Mass”; chant sung during every Mass, developed for the ceremonial life of monasteries and convents

Question 17

how does “quia ergo femina” create meaning for feminism?

Answer 17

• a woman composed it, and it’s sung by women -> existing in a strongly patriarchal tradition
• the text juxtaposes and exalts the two most important women in Christianity, Eve and Mary. Praises Mary in terms analogous to the way the Church praises Jesus
• Hildegard’s person and compositions argue for the perfection of women as well as men

Question 18

lyre

Answer 18

a stringed instrument with a resonating body and a frame holding five or six strings, which are plucked

Question 19

neumes

Answer 19

the curved lines and dots of early graphic notations which indicate how many syllables are sung to a pitch, hinting at the melodic shape of a melisma

Question 20

Gregorian chant

Answer 20

• Pope St. Gregory 1’s reforms of chant singing and their preservation in notation; likely were traditional chants with no known authors
• commonly used to encompass all monophonic Christian chanting

Question 21

modes

Answer 21

heptatonic scales with one pitch defined as the final/most important pitch

Question 22

scale degree

Answer 22

each pitch in a scale

Question 23

final

Answer 23

each mode has a final, the pitch on which a chant ends

Question 24

diatonic scales

Answer 24

modes based on scales consisting of whole steps and half steps. the distances b/w these scales are not equal, as they are in ‘Are’are music.

Question 25

solmization / solfege

Answer 25

system of note names based on the first syllables of a six-line poem {ut-re-mi-fa-sol-la}, invented by Guido of Arezzo (a Benedictine monk from central Italy)

Question 26

staff

Answer 26

Guido of Arezzo created the four-line staff, a set of four equally spaced lines

Question 27

how does it work? (“chanting (tartil) of the qur’an”)

Answer 27

p. 51

Question 28

when/where is Qur’anic chant performed in Muslim society

Answer 28

throughout
* Friday prayer service throughout the year
* daily prayers during Ramadan
* secular events to celebrate weddings, funerals, etc
* celebrate the opening of a shop/restaurant
* in gatherings of aficionados to listen to a skilled recieter

Question 29

what language is Qur’anic chant always performed in, regardless of native language?

Answer 29

arabic

Question 30

hafiz

Answer 30

someone who memorizes the entire Qur’an

Question 31

why are the words of the Qur’an and the sound of its recitation moving to believers?

Answer 31

together they recreate the moment of God’s revelation to Muhammad. they represent “divine and inimitable beauty”

Question 32

why is pronunciation so important to Qur’anic chant?

Answer 32

the very sound of the words come from God. rules, called tajwid, govern pronunciation and require lengthy study

Question 33

what is the significance of the pauses in Qur’anic chant?

Answer 33

they signal the reciter’s understanding of the text and give the listeners time to absorb and reflect on its meaning

Question 34

maqam

Answer 34

a melodic mode that specifies intervals b/w pitches, characteristic melodic gestures, the addition of chromatic pitches, and typical modulation to other maqamat

Question 35

how many heptatonic modes does the maqam system have?

Answer 35

over 50

Question 36

microtone / microtonal interval

Answer 36

smaller than a half step

Question 37

who performed “Invoking the Spirit of Kindness through Sound”?

Answer 37

8 Tibetan Buddhist monks from Drepung, once the largest Buddhist monastic university in Tibet

Question 38

who composed “Quia ergo femina”?

Answer 38

Hildegard von Bingen (1098-1179); a nun and founder of a convent

Question 39

Who recited the Qur’anic chant, and where?

Answer 39

• Sheikh Hamza Shakkur (1947-2008)
• the Great Mosque in Damascus, Syria