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 plainsong, plainchant, a form of monophony, monophonic, unaccompanied sacred song in Latin (and occasionally Greek (language), Greek) of the Roman Catholic Church. Gregorian chant developed ma ...
[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.
See also
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Gregorian mode
A Gregorian mode (or church mode) is one of the eight systems of pitch organization used in Gregorian chant.
History
The name of Pope Gregory I was attached to the variety of chant that was to become the dominant variety in medieval western an ...
*
Tremolo
References
Musical performance techniques
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