What is the difference between gregorian chant and plainchant

I don't know a huge amount about plainsong however I can think of a couple of possibilities. The first thing to note is that there are definitely some differences between the two videos you post: the Kyrie has elements of polyphony whilst the Dies Irae seems to be mostly in unison.

Looking at the comment on the Kyrie video, 'Organum Era Notre Dame School' it seems we are dealing with a specific type of plainsong, Organum. Organum means plainsong with additional voices to add to the harmony.

The dates for when Organum music was developed roughly coincide with the Gothic period. The wiki page for the Notre Dame School and this page are both informative too. Note also that there is such a thing as 'Visigothic' or Mozarabic Chant , but this is a different style that developed on the Iberian Peninsula. Compare this clip to the ones you posted:. Indeed they are similar! What they did, back in the Middle Ages, was borrow it from Gregorian chant, slow it way down, and resurface it with a second voice in a medieval improvization technique called organum , a well-known feature of Notre Dame polyphony, as Christophe mentioned.

If you reverse the process by speeding up the Kyrie recording fast enough, the lower voice will sound nearly identical to this chant. Organum is considered accompaniment, so it does not technically classify as plainsong, though it is based upon the same. While there are simpler organal accompaniments in 9th and 10th century Gregorian chant, the more florid "Gothic" Kyrie leans far closer to the polyphonic side of the spectrum.

Keep in mind, at the time it was composed, plain vs. The term "Gothic chant" appears to be novel. I could trace it only back to Callixtinus' YouTube channel. I wouldn't be surprised if the term originated there. A web search reveals it hasn't been used in any context that wasn't influenced by Ensemble Organum's popularity on the web. Its rhythm is generally freer than the metered rhythm of later Western music.

The earliest recorded Christian monophony was plainchant or plainsong of which one well-known style was called Gregorian chant a single unaccompanied vocal melody sung by monks. Sung by multiple voices in unison i. In all, significant development was made in vocal music during the Medieval period, roughly , and the Renaissance period, roughly What started with a single melodic line in Gregorian chant soon developed into polyphony , which is music with two or more musical parts played simultaneously.

Learn about their contributions and key musical works in this lesson. This Frankish-Roman Carolingian chant , augmented with new chants to complete the liturgical year, became known as " Gregorian. Parallel organum is a style of composition based on plainsong or plainchant e. Gregorian chanting. Organum is a form of polyphony developed in the Middle Ages in which at least one voice is added to the melody to enhance the harmony. Gregorian chant is the central tradition of Western plainchant, a form of monophonic, unaccompanied sacred song in Latin and occasionally Greek of the Roman Catholic Church.

For centuries it was sung as pure melody, in unison, and without accompaniment, and this is still the best way to sing chant if possible. It was composed entirely in Latin ; and because its melodies are so closely tied to Latin accents and word meanings, it is best to sing it in Latin. Theravadin monks chant a text at sunrise and sunset called Pirith, protection. It is a protection and blessing towards unwholesome non-human Beings. They follow that by chanting a Sutra. A lot of Theravadin monks go through the whole Pali Canon, sutra by sutra.

Monophony means music with a single "part" and a "part" typically means a single vocal melody, but it could mean a single melody on an instrument of one kind or another.

Polyphony means music with more than one part, and so this indicates simultaneous notes. When a single syllable of text is spread over several notes in a chant , that section of the chant is considered to be. Many medieval secular songs were strophic in form, which means that. Requiem mass. This music consisted of a single line of melody with a flexible rhythm sung to Latin words by unaccompanied male voices.

There are three types of Gregorian chant: syllabic, neumatic, and melismatic. Usually they can be easily distinguished from one another by the number of notes that are sung per syllable. Gregorian chant consists of melody set sacred Latin text and sung without accompaniment. The chant is monophonic. It is named after Pope Gregory I. Medieval monks sang the chant. Plainchant is a form of medieval church music that involves chanting or words that are sung, without any instrumental accompaniment.

Gregorian Chant is a variety of plainchant, although the two terms are often incorrectly referred to as synonymous. Gregorian chant is also called plainchant.