HEAR IT SUNG
The music on the manuscript is a single melody line with a the key indicated by a C clef with the second line of the staff being C.
Dr. Marjorie Seymour Callaghan is Associate Professor of Music at WCSU.
Dr. Callaghan teaches horn, music history, music theory and sight singing/ear training and is a member of the faculty brass quintet and faculty woodwind quintet. Dr. Callaghan performs regularly with the Ridgefield Symphony Orchestra, the Fair Winds Brass Ensemble and the Nutmeg Brass Quintet and freelances in the Connecticut/New York area. She has also performed with the New World Symphony Orchestra in Miami and the Bermuda Philharmonic as well as played in the orchestra for the Irish Tenors, Peter Cetera and the rock group “Yes”. Dr. Callaghan earned a D.M.A. from Manhattan School of Music, a M.M. from Hartt School of Music and a B.A. in music and Spanish from Gettysburg College. Dr. Callaghan has maintained a private studio since 1984. Her book, The Horn Guide: A Reference for Solving Technical Problems, is published by T.D.Ellis Music Publishing. She has presented clinics on teaching beginning horn students and solving technical problems on the horn at the CMEA conferences in Danbury, Stamford and Hartford.
According to Alejandro Planchart, author of The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, Gregorian chants were always sung by members of the clergy, typically men except in convents, and were usually sung in unison.
Starting in the 9th century the use of tropes became quite popular in gregorian chant. There were three basic types of tropes: changing the melody of pre-existing verses, changing the verses of a pre-existing melody, or changing both the verse and the melody.
Occasionally, the choir would also perform the verse in a round (each section of the choir starting the verse at a different time) or repeat previous sections of the hymn at different octaves to add depth to the song.