Repercussion (latinized form of "repeating" or "rebounding") is a special vocal singing technique consisting on singing a tone with a constant pitch. The technique has been and is especially used in

Gregorian chant 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. Gregorian chant developed mainly in western and central Europe dur ...

Willi Apel ''Gregorian Chant'' 0253326508 - 1958 Page 107 "Another repercussion of seven notes occurs at the beginning of the Offertory Reges Tharsis 61 and one of nine notes in the Gradual Quemadmodum 478on “(siti)vit.” b. " where repetitions of sounds are prescribed by certain

neume A neume (; sometimes spelled neum) is the basic element of Western and Eastern systems of musical notation prior to the invention of five-line staff notation. The earliest neumes were inflective marks that indicated the general shape but not nec ...

s, such as a distropha or a tristropha. The vocals are modulated in volume, without necessarily resulting in a pitch fluctuation, or a vibrato. If the singing is not performed by a soloist, the singers modulate their voices in unison according to the direction of the

cantor A cantor or chanter is a person who leads people in singing or sometimes in prayer. In formal Jewish worship, a cantor is a person who sings solo verses or passages to which the choir or congregation responds. In Judaism, a cantor sings and lead ...

. The perfect singing of repercussion requires vocal training and appropriate respiratory support. A similar term, which means something different, is the word "repercussa". This is another name for the recitation tone, an important structural tone within the church modes.

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Musical performance techniques {{Music-stub

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