ChantHacks, Episode 4
[00:00] Like life, Gregorian Chant, has its ups... and its downs.
ChantHacks with Mark Emerson Donnelly.
[monks sing "Jubilate Deo"]
Peace and welcome to ChantHacks, where we discuss Gregorian chant and Classical Polyphony, and how to get you singing it well sooner rather than later.
Today we're going to discuss another simple neume called the Clivis, and how to sing it. But before we get on with that, I've been asked to give a little more info on the Podatus [01:00] If you were simply listening to the last podcast ,that is Episode 3, you wouldn't have seen the text graphic, which had the definition it. It said a Podatus is, "in Gregorian chant, a neume signifying two sequential notes sung on the same syllable, the second sung higher in pitch than the first." Now the name Podatus comes from the Greek root pod-, which refers to the foot. Hence, a foot doctor is called a podiatrist. Also, the basic musical rhythm or poetic rhythm is also called a foot.
Now the basic musical rhythmic foot in Gregorian chant is considered to be a single note followed by a higher note. Why it's not the [02:00] other way around, I don't know. Perhaps the medieval composers who wrote the chant considered music to be uplifting; therefore, the basic foot moved up rather than down. As with poetry, this is a basic notion or understanding of rhythm. As you get more experienced, I hope that your understanding and performance becomes more nuanced and intentional. That is, your performance comes off as being more thoughtful and prayerful.
One more thing. The Podatus is also sometimes called a Pes, which means foot in Latin. Now the name Pes is not used that often, but it is used from time to time, so it's good to know. Now, on to the Clivis. [03:00]
A Clivis is the opposite of a Podatus. A Clivis is a neume of two notes on the same syllable, where the second note is lower than the first note. The graphic shows you a few examples. This, again, is taken from Laus in Ecclesia [Level I], Lesson 11.
The word Clivis is the ablative of clivus. Clivus means slope. So clivis would mean with slope. So I guess the idea is that you are singing with sloping and in this case sloping.
Some have also said it comes from the Old English, uh, word cliven [also spelled cleaven], which means to split. We get the word cleaver from cliven also. One way that I used to remember the name [04:00] of the Clivis was to think of the neume as if it was kind of like a short black sausage, something like this [visual demo] and that when, uh, if you cut through it with a cleaver, if you cleaved it, you cut through but didn't cut it all the way through, so the casing was still there; you had something like this. So it would go like this, you cleaved, it went down like that, and that's what gave you the two notes. Okay. I don't know how sound that etymology is, but it certainly helped me remember the name.
So here's the passage from Laus in Ecclesia on the Clivis. This is from Lesson 11:
The Clivis is a descending neume; thus, it more readily expresses a falling, a certain repose. [5:00] And in fact, it often concludes an incise or a member of a phrase (an incise is a part of the chant that's set off by two bar lines), especially when it is marked with an epizema or is dotted. And again, you'll see that in the graphic. There's three examples of the Clivis without any extra notation or expressive marks, and then you have the fourth one with the epizema on the first note. Now you can get it on two notes. I'll have an example where it's over both notes later on. And then you can also get it dotted. Okay. [Continuing] Consequently, one might be well be inclined to treat the Clivis exactly like the Podatus with the first note stressed and the second lighter. Thus one would risk instinctively shortening the second note by sliding over it to the next [06:00] note. So you would sing it something like: [sung examples]
You don't want to do that. For that matter (going on in the text), this danger is encountered in executing all descending neumes (and we'll find that later on). But it would be just as deplorable to lean on the second lower note,even though rhythmically it is situated on the rise, that means it's going to be part (since it's the two beat), it's going to be part of the élan moving into the next rhythmic musical foot.
Now, as the text says there's a certain equality between the notes. I think it, uh, says that here. Yes, [07:00] the Clivis is thus a neume that requires a certain regularity in its lightness, a certain equality between the two notes.
Now, if you keep that equality, what naturally happens is the second note, without you trying to sing it lighter, will be lighter, Okay. That's simply because it's at a lower pitch. So if we were to sing these notes, which are in Laus in Ecclesia, in Lesson 11, it would be [sung example]
So you see, they're all quite even, I'm trying to keep them even. But the second one will have a "lighterness" to it, simply because it's lower. So if I [08:00] put it on a single syllable, [sung example]
So, then if we have the one with the horizontal epizema, the second note shares in the the warmth (as it says here in the text), not only the first note, but also the second so that the warmth is distributed equally on the two notes. But the second note will necessarily be somewhat lighter. [sung example] So there's a, a warmth there.
And then of course with the dotted note we get[09:00] [graphic & sung example]
And if that's concluding a phrase, then of course it will be lighter.
Here's a great example which I hope will show the intrinsic [expressive] character of the Clivis; that is, that kind of breadth, kind of a broadness over the two notes as they go down. If you can sing this well, this will set your chanting apart from many scholas and choirs that simply sing the Clivis as two pitches, the second one lower than the first, but not with any particular expression that is in the neume itself. This is from the Communion for the 18th Sunday after Pentecost. This is "Tolite Hostias", and in the fourth incise, there are several Clivis,[10:00] [counting] one-two-three-four-five; five out of the seven neumes are Clivis. And, not only that, but the second Clivis has a horizontal epizema over both notes. And then the third, fourth, and fifth Clivis have a horizontal epizema over the first note.
Now, just simply looking at it without considering the words. If we there were no epizemas, we would sing [sung example]I'll try and sing that even better. [sung example]
But we [11:00] have not only horizontal epizemas now, but if we consider the text: Adoráte Dóminum, Adore the Lord. Now instead of just simply having something that we try to round out and make, give some breath to and warm up, now we have something that gives us a little more profoundness. [sung example]So it quite markedly slows down the chant.
Now, the way most people would sing that would be [sung example];and I've heard it sung like that many times. In fact, I [12:00] probably sang it like that many years ago. But the fact that you have the horizontal epizema over the first note, and knowing that that affects both notes of the clivis, and the clivis already has kind of an evenness of expression, then instead of the [sung example], you have [sung example].
And then when you consider the next phrase in His holy inner court, we see that there are no [13:00] Clivis at all, and there are no horizontal epizemas at all. There's no, there's no indication that you add extra expression to any particular note or syllable. So what does that mean? Well, it could mean that we've, what we've done, is we've looked at, we've considered, or we've been told, by the imperative, Adore the Lord! Well, where? Where are we going to do this? Oh, in his holy inner court. Well, let's go there! So the chant quickens up. So right after the spreading out, the broadening, [14:00] the warm Adoráte Dóminum, and then Let's go, let's get there! [sung example]
It reminds me of the Laetátus sum in his quae dicta sunt mihi, I rejoiced when it was said to me, let us go unto the house of the Lord. Anyway, that's what's there in the chant.
So, that's it for today. Remember: The Clivis is sung with a breadth; don't rush it. And definitely don't rush the second [15:00] note! As Dom Gajard says, "Don't even hesitate to enlarge it to such a degree that you actually double the note." I would say be careful about doing that, but don't be afraid to. Dom Desrocquette says the same thing. Okay.
Anyway, please consider supporting us at LifeFunder.com/mdonnellymusic. This will help keep these podcasts going and give me time to compose. And on that note, if you'd like to commission a work for a special mass or occasion, or have me come and work with your choir for a weekend, please contact me at mark@vocalart.org.
On the next few episodes of ChantHacks we'll be dealing with the rules of style. But before that, I have another Organum Novi Mundi for [16:00] you. This one on the Regina Caeli. So you can sing it for the rest of Eastertide.
Till then, I'm Mark Emerson Donnelly. God bless! [Choir "Amen!"]
