SOPP717: How to Accompany Plainsong Chant on the Organ

Vidas: Hello and welcome to Secrets of Organ Playing Podcast!

Ausra: This is a show dedicated to helping you become a better organist.

V: We’re your hosts Vidas Pinkevicius...

A: ...and Ausra Motuzaite-Pinkeviciene.

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V:  Hi guys!  This is Vidas.

A:  And Ausra.

V:  Let’s start episode 717 of Secrets of Organ Playing Podcast. This question was sent by Pamela, and she writes:
I would be interested in tips on how to accompany plainsong chant. I know that many people do not like or approve of chant accompaniments but many USA churches use them. The organist often has to invent on the spot.

V:  So probably Pamela wants to know how to play Gregorian chant on the organ, right? Or other types of chant probably too.

A:  Yes. And that’s a very interesting and at the same time a very tricky question.  Well, because it’s a challenge actually to harmonize and to accompany plainsong chant or Gregorian chant. Because it has completely different tools from the common harmony - keyboard harmony, harmonizations.  How we harmonize hymns or songs, or other things where we use the traditional harmony.  It might not work for the plainsongs. Just recently, Vidas played for the poetic event.  He improvised in one of the little churches in Vilnius - Holy Cross in Vilnius, and I also had the chance to renew my acquaintance with that instrument, because this was the first organist position that I hold, held a long time ago, when I was a student at the Academy of Music.  And I wanted to play something on the spot, and I found a very thick book for organists with different hymns, liturgical settings, and also plainsong and Gregorian chant accompaniments.  And I tried to play some of them, and they just sounded so bad.  So bad. Because really they harmonized in a common way.

V:  Tonal harmony.

A:  Tonal harmony, like tonic, subdominant, dominant, tonic and that did not work at all. So…

V:  The suggestion probably would be to look at the mode of the chant.  First, first thing right?  Rule number one, to see what kind of mode is this chant written in.

A:  Yes, because the church, Catholic church used eight modes, and you need to determine for which out of these eight modes the plainsong belongs and then harmonize accordingly.  It might be hard to do it without any examples, so I would suggest you to find some printed versions of harmonized plainsongs and Gregorian chants.  For example, when I worked in the church in Lithuania many years ago, I used a copy of Liber Usualis.  It had like Daily Mass harmonized, it had Missa de Angelis harmonized, Requiem Mass harmonized, and some additional plainsongs harmonized.  It was really very nicely done, and my suggestion would be to look at that.  That score might be very useful.

V:  Good idea! Liber Usualis was published by the Abbey of Solesmes in France, compiled the middle of the 19th century, 20th century, sorry.  But the first edition was at the end of the 19th century I guess.  And there is an organ accompaniment, like a collection of the chants used in Liber Usualis.  Very useful collection to use.  And it’s actually probably even online available, because it might be out of copyright, too.

A:  Yes, because I had a very old version, it was like a printed, printed and reprinted, and not a very clear one.  Another thing you could also do, since we live in the 21st century now, you could modernize slightly your harmonization, too.  That wouldn’t hurt.  And for that I would suggest you to look at the compositions of Vidas, actually.  Because he harmonized also like Missa de Angelis, and he also composed Requiem based on Gregorian chant.

V:  Mm hm.

A:  And it sounds really nice. Nicely modern versions of Gregorian chant harmonization, so that might be an idea for you, too.

V:  You also created like Salve Mater…

A:  Yes, yes, but mine is very simple and not so much elaborated as yours.   So just check them out.

V:  So the main idea is to use the chords that are common to that mode, right?  And as Ausra mentioned, there are eight modes used in Gregorian chant notation, and I think the system is like this: modes 1 and 2 are built around the key of D, modes 3 and 4 around the key of E, modes 5 and 6 around the key of F, and 7 and 8 around basically key of G.  All without accidentals except B-flat.  There is no sharps or other accidentals in Gregorian chant except B-flat. So when you know this, when you can play the chant with the right hand from the beginning until the end, and you know what the starting pitch is, what’s the most common note is, and then what the ending is, you can see the entire palette of colors you can use.  Let’s say the first mode from D to D: we could give it another term, Dorian mode, right?  From D to D.  Because these church modes, they also are used in folk music, or ancient folk music, in Greek music.  And although in Greek, classical Greek times, the terms referring to these modes were different from today, but today we associate the mode of D without any accidentals as Dorian, right?  The mode of E without accidentals as Phrygian, the mode of F without accidentals as what…

A:  Lydian.

V:  Lydian.  G would be Mixolydian, A Aeolian, and one more - C, right - Ionian.  What is interesting, the mode of B is very unusual because it doesn’t have a stable major or minor root position chord, like a triad based on the first mode - first scale degree, B.  It’s a diminished chord, not a major or minor.  So it’s a rather unusual mode, but still used in folk music, called Locrian mode.

A:  Our Department of Theory, head of our Theory Department where I was working for many years, at the school where I actually also graduated from, art high school, hated this Locrian mode and he never taught it for his students.  That was really annoying.  Because I think people have right to know about Locrian mode.  It’s maybe not as often used as others, as Dorian for example.  Dorian is probably the most used.

V:  Mm hm.

A:  The most of times, and, but Locrian needs attention, too.

V:  And you can harmonize those chant notes with 3-note chords or even 4-note chords sometimes, which are common for that particular mode.  And you can use the same type of voice leading as you would do while harmonizing hymns. Except you can’t venture beyond the mode.

A:  Yeah.  And like in classical harmony, we often emphasize that relationship of dominant and tonic, which has leading tone in it, and then resolving it into a tonic chord.  Dominant leads into the tonic chord.  So in the church modes, there are no relationship as that, because they don’t have like 7 scale degree raised, like in minor mode.

V:  Like a leading tone.

A:  Yes.

V:  Half step relationship with the tonic.

A:  So it gives sort of that ancient sound, not having that leading tone raised.

V:  And when I say don’t venture beyond the mode, don’t use the harmonies foreign to the mode, it’s not completely true, because you can make your harmonies more colorful this way, if you’re brave enough to explore other sounds, which could be used that way.  But then if you want to try it out, you have to look at the fragment of the particular chant fragment, like phrase, and see if you can use any type of chords with accidentals let’s say, or flats or sharps, but then that particular note has to be omitted in the chant itself.  For example, if the fragment doesn’t have the note B, right, it has like CDEFG but no B, then you are free to use in your accompaniment the note B or B-flat, because it doesn’t clash with the chant itself, right? If you want to use advanced ways to color your chant accompaniment.  Or let’s say there is no E in that particular episode, right?  Then you can use either D - sorry, either E - in the accompaniment, or E-flat also.  It would work with the harmony.  And I demonstrated these techniques in my recent livestream tutorials “Learn with Vidas.”  For example, just last Sunday I improvised accompaniment and even meditations based on the chant “Salve Regina,” which is created on the first mode, based around the note D.  But at the end of the tutorial, I started using all kinds of chromatic harmonies, which basically just make the chant even more colorful.  But you don’t have to do that at first, you have to get acquainted with the mode itself.  And only later, as an advanced stage, add more colorful harmony if you want.

A:  Yes, that’s a very good…

V:  Does is make sense?

A:  Yes, that’s a very good suggestion.

V:  And that’s what let’s say the famous French school of improvisation is also famous for.  They play music around the Gregorian chant, but the colors of the modes that they’re using are much more advanced, right?  Much more advanced than those 7 or 6 notes of the white keys without accidentals.

A:  Yes, that’s true.  And you know, if you study French music or French organ music, it has so many compositions based on Gregorian chant, and it’s unbelievable how versatile the final result can be for different composers.

V:  Yeah.  But the basic way of playing with 3-note chords and their inversions around the notes of the mode is perfectly valid for starters.

A:  Yes.  And if you could get an access to that book, Liber Usualis, that would be really really helpful.  Because it’s a great source.  Unfortunately out of print as I understand, yes?

V:  Could be, yeah.  And also simply…

A:  But maybe like library, some library could have it and then you maybe could access it through Interlibrary Loan and make yourself a copy.

V:  You know what is even easier way to accompany the chant, but would sound still quite convincing?  Anybody could do, even a complete beginner could do.  If anybody could play the chant tune with the right hand on the solo registration, yes, imagine that.  And then play on the pedals the long, long pedal point of the main note of that mode, let’s say D, right?  Of the first mode.  The note would be D in the pedals.  And then in the left hand, you would only play open 5th around the note D.  D and A. This sound for entire chant.  It would sound very ancient, very archaic, and quite beautiful, too.  Very simple.  You don’t change anything.  Later you can experiment with changing other sounds.  But if you don’t know anything about harmonies, about chords, just play open 5th and hold the long, long pedal note.

A:  Yes, that’s very good advice.

V:  I think we heard something like this in one village of Lithuania.

A:  Yes, we did.  And it sounded not bad at all.

V:  That wasn’t very long accompaniment, very long chant, but you could do this for a minute or two.

A:  Yes.

V:  So, extra bonus tip for you.  So guys, hopefully this conversation was helpful to you and to Pamela.  And please send us more of your questions.  We love helping you grow as an organist.  And remember, when you practice,

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