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Melisma
Melisma (, , ; from , plural: ''melismata''), informally known as a vocal run and sometimes interchanged with the term roulade, is the singing of a single syllable of text while moving between several different notes in succession. Music sung in this style is referred to as ''melismatic'', as opposed to ''syllabic'', in which each syllable of text is matched to a single note. History General The term ''melisma'' may be used to describe music of any genre, including baroque singing, opera, and later gospel. Within the tradition of religious Jewish music, melisma is still commonly used in the chanting of Torah, readings from the Prophets, and in the body of a service. Melisma is prevalent in many forms of Gregorian chant (see e.g. Jubilus) as well as late-medieval sacred polyphony, notably in works by Guillaume de Machaut, John Dunstaple, and many early Tudor composers represented in the Eton, Caius, and Lambeth choirbooks. Today, melisma is commonly used in Middle Eastern, ...
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Gregorian Chant
Gregorian chant is the central tradition of Western plainsong, plainchant, a form of monophony, monophonic, unaccompanied sacred song in Latin (and occasionally Greek language, Greek) of the Roman Catholic Church. Gregorian chant developed mainly in western and central Europe during the 9th and 10th centuries, with later additions and redactions. Although popular legend credits Pope Gregory I with inventing Gregorian chant, scholars believe that he only ordered a compilation of melodies throughout the whole Christian world, after having instructed his emissaries in the Schola cantorum, where the Neume, neumatical notation was perfected, with the result of most of those melodies being a later Carolingian synthesis of the Old Roman chant and Gallican chant. Gregorian chants were organized initially into four, then eight, and finally 12 mode (music), modes. Typical melodic features include a characteristic Ambitus (music), ambitus, and also characteristic intervallic patterns relat ...
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Roulade (music)
A roulade (from Old French ''roler'', "to roll") is a type of music ornamentation. The term has been used with some variation in meaning. While the term has had some usage in instrumental music">Ornament (music)">music ornamentation. The term has been used with some variation in meaning. While the term has had some usage in instrumental music, it is most frequently used in the context of vocal music to refer to a embellishment of several musical notes sung on a single syllable. The word has sometimes been used interchangeably with the term coloratura to refer to any difficult vocal run requiring great vocal dexterity, or as a synonym for or a specific type of virtuosic melisma. The term roulade has also been used more specifically to refer to the ornamental practice of splitting up the melodic line of a piece of music into many smaller notes. The term roulade has sometimes been defined as a vocal ornamental passage specifically limited to opera arias of the Classical and R ...
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Whitney Houston
Whitney Elizabeth Houston (August 9, 1963 – February 11, 2012) was an American singer, actress, film producer, model, and philanthropist. Commonly referred to as "Honorific nicknames in popular music, the Voice", she is List of awards and nominations received by Whitney Houston, one of the most awarded performers of all time. As Cultural impact of Whitney Houston, a cultural icon, her List of Whitney Houston records and achievements, chart achievements and Whitney Houston videography, music videos influenced the breaking down of Gender inequality, gender and Racial segregation, racial barriers. Known for Cultural impact of Whitney Houston#Impact on vocal style in popular music, her vocal delivery and List of Whitney Houston live performances, live performances, Houston was ranked second on ''Rolling Stone''s list of the Rolling Stone's 200 Greatest Singers of All Time#2023 list, greatest singers of all time in 2023. Houston signed to Arista Records at the age of 19. Her first ...
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Polyphony
Polyphony ( ) is a type of musical texture consisting of two or more simultaneous lines of independent melody, as opposed to a musical texture with just one voice ( monophony) or a texture with one dominant melodic voice accompanied by chords ( homophony). Within the context of the Western musical tradition, the term ''polyphony'' is usually used to refer to music of the late Middle Ages and Renaissance. Baroque forms such as fugue, which might be called polyphonic, are usually described instead as contrapuntal. Also, as opposed to the ''species'' terminology of counterpoint, polyphony was generally either "pitch-against-pitch" / "point-against-point" or "sustained-pitch" in one part with melismas of varying lengths in another. In all cases the conception was probably what Margaret Bent (1999) calls "dyadic counterpoint", with each part being written generally against one other part, with all parts modified if needed in the end. This point-against-point conception is ...
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Sean-nós Singing
singing ( , ; Irish language, Irish for 'old style') is A cappella, unaccompanied, Irish traditional music, traditional Irish vocal music usually performed in the Irish language. singing usually involves very long melodic Phrase (music), phrases with highly Ornament (music), ornamented and melismatic melodic lines, differing greatly from Folk music, traditional folk singing elsewhere in Ireland, although there is significant regional variation within Ireland. songs cover a range of genres, from love song to lament to lullaby, traditionally with a strong focus on conveying the relevant emotion of the given song. The term , which simply means '[in the] old way', is a vague term that can also refer to Sean nós (other), various other traditional activities, musical and non-musical. The musician and academic Tomás Ó Canainn said: ...no aspect of Irish music can be fully understood without a deep appreciation of singing. It is the key which opens every lock. The o ...
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African Music
The continent of Africa is vast and its music is diverse, with different regions and nations having many distinct musical traditions. African music includes the genres like makwaya, highlife, mbube, township music, jùjú, fuji, jaiva, afrobeat, afrofusion, mbalax, Congolese rumba, soukous, ndombolo, makossa, kizomba, taarab and others. African music also uses a large variety of instruments from all across the continent. The music and dance of the African diaspora, formed to varying degrees on African musical traditions, include American music like Dixieland jazz, blues, jazz, and many Caribbean genres, such as calypso (see kaiso) and soca. Latin American music genres such as cumbia, salsa music, son cubano, rumba, conga, bomba, samba and zouk were founded on the music of enslaved Africans, and have in turn influenced African popular music. Like the music of Asia, India and the Middle East, it is a highly rhythmic music. The complex rhythmic pa ...
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Jubilus
''Jubilus'' (plural ''jubili'') is the term for the long melisma placed on the final syllable of the Alleluia as it is sung in the Gregorian chant. The structure of the Alleluia is such that the cantor first sings the word "alleluia," without the jubilus, and then the choir repeats the word with the melisma added. It is traditionally repeated at the end of the chant as well, although it was frequently omitted in the Middle Ages and is still omitted when the Alleluia is followed by a Sequence.Hoppin, Richard. ''Medieval Music''. New York: Norton, 1978. The traditional story for the origin of the medieval Sequence In mathematics, a sequence is an enumerated collection of objects in which repetitions are allowed and order matters. Like a set, it contains members (also called ''elements'', or ''terms''). The number of elements (possibly infinite) is cal ... is that it came from text added to the jubilus syllabically. Notker of St. Gall is said to have invented this process, and ...
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African-American Music
African-American music is a broad term covering a diverse range of musical genres largely developed by African Americans and their African-American culture, culture. Its origins are in musical forms that developed as a result of the Slavery in the United States, enslavement of African Americans prior to the American Civil War. It has been said that "every genre that is born from America has black roots." White slave owners subjugated their slaves physically, mentally, and spiritually through brutal and demeaning acts. Some White Americans considered African Americans separate and unequal for centuries, going to extraordinary lengths to keep them oppressed. African-American slaves created a distinctive type of music that played an important role in the era of enslavement. Slave songs, commonly known as work songs, were used to combat the hardships of the physical labor. Work songs were also used to communicate with other slaves without the slave owner hearing. The song "Wade in ...
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African American Music
African-American music is a broad term covering a diverse range of musical genres largely developed by African Americans and their culture. Its origins are in musical forms that developed as a result of the enslavement of African Americans prior to the American Civil War. It has been said that "every genre that is born from America has black roots." White slave owners subjugated their slaves physically, mentally, and spiritually through brutal and demeaning acts. Some White Americans considered African Americans separate and unequal for centuries, going to extraordinary lengths to keep them oppressed. African-American slaves created a distinctive type of music that played an important role in the era of enslavement. Slave songs, commonly known as work songs, were used to combat the hardships of the physical labor. Work songs were also used to communicate with other slaves without the slave owner hearing. The song " Wade in the Water" was sung by slaves to warn others trying to ...
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Guillaume De Machaut
Guillaume de Machaut (, ; also Machau and Machault; – April 1377) was a French composer and poet who was the central figure of the style in late medieval music. His dominance of the genre is such that modern musicologists use his death to separate the from the subsequent movement. Regarded as the most significant French composer and poet of the 14th century, he is often seen as the century's leading European composer. Machaut, one of the earliest European composers on whom considerable biographical information is available, has an unprecedented amount of surviving music, in part due to his own involvement in his manuscripts' creation and preservation. Machaut embodies the culmination of the poet-composer tradition stretching back to the traditions of troubadour and '' trouvère.'' His poetry was greatly admired and imitated by other poets, including Geoffrey Chaucer and Eustache Deschamps, well into the 15th century. Machaut composed in a wide range of styles and form ...
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Singing
Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define singing as the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. Other common definitions include "the utterance of words or sounds in tuneful succession" or "the production of musical tones by means of the human voice". A person whose profession is singing is called a singer or a vocalist (in jazz or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung accompaniment, with or a cappella, without accompaniment by musical instruments. Singing is often done in an ensemble (music), ensemble of musicians, such as a choir. Singers may perform as Soloist (music), soloists or accompanied by anything from a single instrument (as in art songs or some Jazz, jazz styles) up to a symphony orchestra or big band. Many styles o ...
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Religious Jewish Music
This article describes the principal types of religious Jewish music from the days of the Solomon's Temple, Temple to modern times. History of religious Jewish music The history of religious Jewish music is that of the Jerusalem Temples, synagogal, and cantoral music composed for Jewish worship contexts since the period of the First Temple. The earliest synagogal music was based on that used during Jewish rituals performed in the Temple in Jerusalem. According to the Mishnah, the regular Temple orchestra consisted of twelve instruments and a choir of twelve male singers. A number of additional instruments were known to the ancient Hebrews but were not included in the Temple's regular orchestra: the ''uggav'' (a small flute) and the ''abbuv'' (a reed flute or oboe-like instrument). After the destruction of the Second Temple and subsequent Jewish diaspora, Jewish diasporization, music in religious contexts was initially banned. Later, these restrictions were relaxed—save for Y ...
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