HOW TO SING GREGORIAN CHANT
In addition to a few slight solfa notions together with a "moderately" harmonious voice, ten are the basic rules for a perfect interpretation of Gregorian Chant:
1. Interior attitude. The Gregorian Chant is a sung prayer. That is why a believable interpretation demands a basic spiritual attitude adapted to the texts and to his content (it is necessary to know some Latin and to enjoy a great spiritual peace).
2. Exterior attitude. The corporal language of each singer reflects his interior attitude. The self-discipline, the calmness and the tranquility, the attitude while walking, while standing up or sating down, the expression of the face ... they are essential factors. The nervousness, the slovenliness, the mimicry, the chitchat or a corporal forced time exposure translate absence in ripeness and lack of interest and provoke incredulity with regard to the singing.
3. Homogeneity. The monastic sung prayer reaches his summit on having fused voices. The homogeneity of the sound is an essential goal of Gregorian Chant interpretation. Only it is possible to reach by means of a consistent auto control, "be listened ones to others" permanently and a way of singing concentrated and essentially contained.
To sing without the director supposes in this regard a great challenge. The perfect intonation is a need. The vocal unitary coloration is essential for the homogeneity. To get dark the vocalization is not advisable provided that it disturbs the character of the chant and of the text.
4. Tie. To sing with ligatures facilitates very much the phrasing, avoids metric excesses and is irreplaceable for the reproduction of a real style of the elements of minor paraphrases composed from the pneumatic groups (the resolution of independent notes destroys the melody).
5. Dynamics and phrasing. The phrasing, in agreement with the text and the melody, generates alive music (the chant without phrasing is bored for the singer and for the listener). It is achieved by agile earnings and lengthened diminuendos; have in mind the local acoustics.
6. Respiration of the choir. The respiration must be carried out of the most silent possible form in agreement with the neighbor to make possible the continuity of the phrasing during long melodic arches.
7. Values of the neumas writing. The rhythm is ruled by the text and his syllabic accents. In the so called melismatic execution two or more notes are included on a syllable; an accented note is followed by one or two without accent; this originates a constant change of ternary and binary groups.
8. Pauses. The breaks are essential elements in music interpretation and they must be structured in a flexible way with the structure of the piece.
9. Text. The comprehension of the text according to the Latin requirements must make the contents believable. Syllabic accents must be necessarily in mind; inhaled "t" or sonorous "s" should be avoided.
10. Modes. For the election of modality a sequence of ecclesiastic modes is essential. To obtain a better comprehension of the text, especially in wide spaces, it turns out profitable that the choir possesses a voice of tenor in order to sing in a greeting ambience.