Cantus Firmus?
Well, can you?
I've been writing a cantus firmus for my counterpoint final. Actually, more specifically, I'm writing a "kyrie eleison" based on a paraphrase cantus firmus.
A little bit of history/ explanation.
Back in the good old days of music, when notation was finally introduced, the first things that were notated were the "proper" music of the church. Originally this was "plain chant," later, Gregorian chant. No matter the name of the chant, it was exactly that: one unaccompanied melodic line of text.
Many years later, polyphony (Greek for "many sounds") was invented in the church, when people started saying "we can do better than doubling the same melody at the octave or the fifth, let's really cut loose!"
A simplified history to be sure, but whatever. Anyway, people took these chants and started writing countermelodies against them, and constructed a whole series of rules on how to write these countermelodies, calling the collected rules "counterpoint."
I'm studying counterpoint because this is where Western music got its start, and it's a great tool to have in my toolbox. If I had to make a direct comparison, it's about as useful to have as a hammer, screwdriver, and a saw, combined.
Getting back to counterpoint for a moment though, after a while, people started getting tired of hearing the same old chants with different countermelodies. Due to the rules of counterpoint, all countermelodies are based off of the chosen melody, and the same ones get boring. These melodies, when used as the basis of a contrapuntal composition are called, singularly "cantus firmus" (Latin for "fixed melody." If you squint your eyes just right, you can see how the word "chant" and "cantus" are related to each other.), and pluraly "cantus firmi."
Because people were getting tired of these cantus firmi, composers started writing new ones, or finding popular songs and turning the melody of the song into a cantus firmus. The tune "Westron Winde" got a lot of settings in England; apparently it was quite popular.
In this grand tradition, I've turned Britney Spears "If You Seek Amy" into a cantus firmus and am using it as the basis for a Kyrie.
It's due Friday, and I don't have much yet. Counterpoint is not easy.
I've been writing a cantus firmus for my counterpoint final. Actually, more specifically, I'm writing a "kyrie eleison" based on a paraphrase cantus firmus.
A little bit of history/ explanation.
Back in the good old days of music, when notation was finally introduced, the first things that were notated were the "proper" music of the church. Originally this was "plain chant," later, Gregorian chant. No matter the name of the chant, it was exactly that: one unaccompanied melodic line of text.
Many years later, polyphony (Greek for "many sounds") was invented in the church, when people started saying "we can do better than doubling the same melody at the octave or the fifth, let's really cut loose!"
A simplified history to be sure, but whatever. Anyway, people took these chants and started writing countermelodies against them, and constructed a whole series of rules on how to write these countermelodies, calling the collected rules "counterpoint."
I'm studying counterpoint because this is where Western music got its start, and it's a great tool to have in my toolbox. If I had to make a direct comparison, it's about as useful to have as a hammer, screwdriver, and a saw, combined.
Getting back to counterpoint for a moment though, after a while, people started getting tired of hearing the same old chants with different countermelodies. Due to the rules of counterpoint, all countermelodies are based off of the chosen melody, and the same ones get boring. These melodies, when used as the basis of a contrapuntal composition are called, singularly "cantus firmus" (Latin for "fixed melody." If you squint your eyes just right, you can see how the word "chant" and "cantus" are related to each other.), and pluraly "cantus firmi."
Because people were getting tired of these cantus firmi, composers started writing new ones, or finding popular songs and turning the melody of the song into a cantus firmus. The tune "Westron Winde" got a lot of settings in England; apparently it was quite popular.
In this grand tradition, I've turned Britney Spears "If You Seek Amy" into a cantus firmus and am using it as the basis for a Kyrie.
It's due Friday, and I don't have much yet. Counterpoint is not easy.