What is medieval plainsong?

Plainsong or plainchant (calque from the French plain-chant; Latin: cantus planus) is a body of chants used in the liturgies of the Western Church. Their rhythms are generally freer than the metered rhythm of later Western music, and they are sung without musical accompaniment.

What is medieval plainchant?

Plainchant is a form of medieval church music that involves chanting or words that are sung, without any instrumental accompaniment. It is also called plainsong. Gregorian Chant is a variety of plainchant, although the two terms are often incorrectly referred to as synonymous.

What are the characteristics of plainsong in the medieval period?

Characteristics of Plainchant syllabic (each syllable of text set to a single note of music) neumatic (from two to a dozen notes assigned to a single syllable) melismatic (one syllable sung to many notes)

What is monophonic in medieval music?

Monophonic chant: Monophonic singing, which is based on a single unison melodic line, was popular from the very beginning of the Medieval era. In civilizations spanning from Rome to Spain to Ireland, somber religious chants—called plainchant or plainsong—dominated the early Medieval period.

What is the difference between plainsong and plainchant?

As nouns the difference between plainsong and plainchant is that plainsong is (music) a form of monophonic chant, sung in unison using the gregorian scale and sung in various christian churches while plainchant is (music) a form of monophonic liturgical chant employed in various catholic and orthodox liturgies.

Why is it called plainchant?

The word derives from the 13th-century Latin term cantus planus (“plain song”), referring to the unmeasured rhythm and monophony (single line of melody) of Gregorian chant, as distinguished from the measured rhythm of polyphonic (multipart) music, called cantus mensuratus, or cantus figuratus (“measured,” or “figured,” …

Why does medieval chant sound otherworldly or different to our ears?

Why does medieval chant sound “otherworldly” or different to our ears? The melodies use modes unlike the major and minor we mostly hear today.