New research in chant

Dr. Edward Schaefer gave a presentation titled “Recherches en cours sur le chant grégorien” (Current research on Gregorian chant) at L’École du Chant Grégorien de Choeur Grégorien de Paris; Paris, France, on March 8, 2018. In the presentation, he discussed a website that assists students in their efforts to learn the vocabulary and grammar (morphology and syntax) and the ancient neums of the St. Gall and Laon notation families. This website, gregoriansemiology.com, provides a foundation for exploring the nuances of interpretation that these musical languages can bring to modern chant performance. Schaefer also discussed new work on an Antiphonale Duplex, which contains antiphons in two notation systems, the “modern” square-note notation, and the neums from the Hartker manuscript. He also presented a system of chant analysis, along with a new notation system that shows the rhythmic indications of the ancient neums.