The Gregorian modes

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Ite_ad_Ioseph

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I know it’s late when I wrote this but I can’t sleep and I figured eventually someone will help me out.
And I figure this is the right thread, you can correct me if I’m wrong.

I want someone to explain to me the Gregorian mode system. I have knowledge of music theory so get technical if you want but explain to me exactly what you mean, big words scare everyone off.
I know the Byzantine octoechos influenced it. I also know that modes 1 3 5 and 7 are the Dorian Phrygian (Spanish or as I say Arabic mode, I think it sounds Arabic) Lydian and Myxolydian, respectively.
What confuses me is the plagal variations of each, how they correspond to their authentic counterparts. Do they use exactly the same notes as the authentic modes? What normal modes could they correspond to, e.g. A plain major scale or a minor scale? The internets have no sources explaining them fully.
Pax
 
I know the Byzantine octoechos influenced it. I also know that modes 1 3 5 and 7 are the Dorian Phrygian (Spanish or as I say Arabic mode, I think it sounds Arabic) Lydian and Myxolydian, respectively.
Not quite.

The Gregorian modes are all diatonic–steps and half-steps.

The Byzantine tones have irrational, or microtonal intervals (such as the note between G and G#).
 
Using the Greek names the 8 modes would be Dorian, Hypodorian, Phrygian, Hypophrygian, Lydian, Hypolydian, Mixolydian, and Hypomixolydian. The Plagal mode has the same final, but is deeper in range moving form a fourth or fifth below the final to a fifth or sixth above. It should be noted that there is only one chromatic alteration allowed: Bb may be used in chants that give prominence to F (chant modes 1, 2, 4, 5 and 6).

As Cluny has noted, the Arabic tones do include microintervals (made my chanting in the Melkite church much more difficult as I had to learn how to sing those notes).

Does that help?

Deacon Ed
 
Cluny said:
Not quite.

The Gregorian modes are all diatonic–steps and half-steps.

The Byzantine tones have irrational, or microtonal intervals (such as the note between G and G#).
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Well…
Gregorian chant was categorized into eight modes, influenced by the eightfold division of Byzantine chants called the oktoechos (Source).
 
Deacon_Ed said:
Using the Greek names the 8 modes would be Dorian, Hypodorian, Phrygian, Hypophrygian, Lydian, Hypolydian, Mixolydian, and Hypomixolydian. The Plagal mode has the same final, but is deeper in range moving form a fourth or fifth below the final to a fifth or sixth above. It should be noted that there is only one chromatic alteration allowed: Bb may be used in chants that give prominence to F (chant modes 1, 2, 4, 5 and 6).

As Cluny has noted, the Arabic tones do include microintervals (made my chanting in the Melkite church much more difficult as I had to learn how to sing those notes).

Does that help?

Deacon Ed
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Not really, Deacon. By “final” do you mean the ‘tonic’ of the scale used? Am I right to believe the plagal variation is the minor/major variation of the authentic?

Do the modal pairs sound the same to where I could determine what mode a chant is in, and tell which one is authentic/plagal, like how one could tell if a piece is in a major or minor scale?
 
Ite_ad_Ioseph said:
Not really, Deacon. By “final” do you mean the ‘tonic’ of the scale used?
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It isn’t appropriate to use the term “tonic” because the scalar system of tonal music we know today, which uses a tonic, had not yet been developed. However, the final does, in a way, serve the same function as the tonic does in tonal music.

The final is simply the ending note, also called the “keynote” of the mode.
Ite_ad_Ioseph said:
Am I right to believe the plagal variation is the minor/major variation of the authentic?
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No, the distinguishing characteristic of the plagal variation is a different ambitus.
Ite_ad_Ioseph said:
Do the modal pairs sound the same to where I could determine what mode a chant is in, and tell which one is authentic/plagal, like how one could tell if a piece is in a major or minor scale?
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I don’t know enough about this to tell you for sure what the distinguishing tonalities would be, but I would say that probably yes, you can, if you had enough ear training. You would have to recognize the ambitus in relation to the final to determine whether a mode is authentic or plagal.
 
passus said:
It isn’t appropriate to use the term “tonic” because the scalar system of tonal music we know today, which uses a tonic, had not yet been developed. However, the final does, in a way, serve the same function as the tonic does in tonal music.

The final is simply the ending note, also called the “keynote” of the mode.

No, the distinguishing characteristic of the plagal variation is a different ambitus.

I don’t know enough about this to tell you for sure what the distinguishing tonalities would be, but I would say that probably yes, you can, if you had enough ear training. You would have to recognize the ambitus in relation to the final to determine whether a mode is authentic or plagal.
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What is the ambitus? And what is the relation of the final to the ambitus in the authentics and the plagals? Is it like the minor key’s tonic being the sixth note of the relative major?
 
Ite_ad_Ioseph said:
What confuses me is the plagal variations of each, how they correspond to their authentic counterparts. Do they use exactly the same notes as the authentic modes? What normal modes could they correspond to, e.g. A plain major scale or a minor scale? The internets have no sources explaining them fully.
Pax
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This is going to be a partial reply, (as I’m dredging it up from the depths of my memory) perhaps not very precise and echoing passus’ post a bit.

I find it unhelpful and maybe even misleading to try to find analogies for modal scales in the major/minor key system.

I suppose those of us who become fluent first and primarily in the major/minor system are tempted to try and think of modal scales only in relation to it. This is a mistake, as there is no “implied harmony” in modal scales.

When the key of musical piece changes from major to minor we hear a change in harmony, in chords which are multiple simultaneous relations between tones; but this change is roughly the same for every relative minor of a major key.

By contrast, I find (here’s the imprecision) that a listener distinguishes modal scales based on the final (the ending note, that determines the cadence and signals the end of phrase) and certain tones and intervals that are repeated and emphasized (the ambitus is one of these, but I have forgotten much of what I knew about it & perhaps passus will reply in more detail) not on recognizing a very familiar and orderly succession of chords.

So, each mode is more like a rhythm of speaking or a dialect than like a harmony. With practice it is possible to distinguish them. (Although, I wouldn’t say ear training is what’s necessary to learn to distinguish modes; all the ear training I ever took was centered on the key system and to try to listen to chant in the context of that system has always been like to trying to fit a square peg in a round hole for me.)

I can’t remember how one might determine if a mode is plaga or authentic, but I’m pretty sure cadences would be a big clue…
 
While the Byzantine tones are labelled First, Second, Third, Fourth, Plagal of the First, Plagal of the Second, Grave (or Barys), and Plagal of the Fourth by the Greeks, Slavic and Arabic simply number them 1 through 8.
 
Ite_ad_Ioseph said:
Not really, Deacon. By “final” do you mean the ‘tonic’ of the scale used? Am I right to believe the plagal variation is the minor/major variation of the authentic?
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No, the “final” is a fifth above what would be considered the “tonic”. As has been noted, we cannot think in terms of major or minor because those concepts don’t exist in Gregorian chant.
Do the modal pairs sound the same to where I could determine what mode a chant is in, and tell which one is authentic/plagal, like how one could tell if a piece is in a major or minor scale?
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In essence the only difference between the authentic and the plagal is where they start and end. For example, the protus usually has an authentic that runs from D to D (and would be Mode I). The pagal would be from A to A (Mode II).

Note that we are really talking about two groups of tetrachords in each case.

Deacon Ed
 
Deacon_Ed said:
No, the “final” is a fifth above what would be considered the “tonic”. As has been noted, we cannot think in terms of major or minor because those concepts don’t exist in Gregorian chant.

In essence the only difference between the authentic and the plagal is where they start and end. For example, the protus usually has an authentic that runs from D to D (and would be Mode I). The pagal would be from A to A (Mode II).

Note that we are really talking about two groups of tetrachords in each case.

Deacon Ed
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What is the protus?
I just read about tetrachords. So each mode is two tetrachords, right?
Why use a final instead of the tonic?
 
So when you say the only difference between modal pairs are where they start and end, why have plagals in the first place?
 
Ite_ad_Ioseph said:
What is the protus?
I just read about tetrachords. So each mode is two tetrachords, right?
Why use a final instead of the tonic?
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Sorry, the term “protus” refers to the first two modes (the Greek would be Dorian and Hypodorian). Generally you can call each mode two tetrachords, although that would be a little simplistic since it is possible to extend the modes beyond the octave. The concept of “tonic” rose after the development of Gregorian chant. The other issue is that all modes have not only a final but also a tenor or reciting tone.

We also have to be careful about intervals. Note that modes 1 and 2 have D as their final with a whole tone below the final and a tone and semitone above the final (corresponding to C below the D and E and F above). Modes 3 and 4 start on E, have a tone below and a semitone and tone above (D, F, G). Modes 5 and 6 start on F (E, G, A) and modes 7 and 8 start on G (F, A, B). These are, as you can see, the tetrachords. As I mentioned before, there is only one possible accidental – Bb.

Deacon Ed
 
So, again, what would be the point of having plagal variants?
 
Going back to your original question, the plagal scale is lower than the authentic – they do not use the same tones. You can think of it this way: the authentic uses the final as the bottom note while the plagal uses the final as the midpoint. The scales are the same, it’s just the range that changes. You have to remember that Gregorian chant is not written for instruments but, rather, for the human voice.

Deacon Ed
 
By tones do you mean notes? I can’t understand how the plagal would use the final in the middle but then not use the same notes and its authentic counterpart.
 
Ite_ad_Ioseph said:
By tones do you mean notes? I can’t understand how the plagal would use the final in the middle but then not use the same notes and its authentic counterpart.
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No, I mean tones. Here’s the reason for being precise. If we use the term “note” we have a problem in that there are only 7 of them (A,B,C,D,E,F,G). They then repeat up an octave.

In Gregorian chant the score is written on four lines because it is written for voice. The C Clef mark indicates where the C lies (an F clef marks where F is). However, that is not an absolute. The chanter can “adjust” what “C” means for him or her. It may or may not be “C” (or “F”).

Let’s get a little more technical (if I lose you, let me know). The actual names of the modes are 1) Protus Authentus (First Authentic), 2) Protus Plagis (First Plagal), 3) Deuterus Authentus (Second Authentic), 4) Deuterus Plagis (Second Plagal), 5) Tritus Authetis (Third Authentic), 6) Tritus Plagis (Third Plagal), 7) Tetrardus Authentis (Fourth Authentic) and 8) Tetrardus Palgis (Fourth Plagal). Each of these modes consists of 8 tones (two tetrachords).

Let’s look at the Protus. Protus Authentus has this range: D, E, F, G, A, B, C and D. That’s it. Protus Plagis has this range: A, B, C, D, E, F, G, A.

Each of the other modes has a corresponding range.

Where your confusion seems to be coming in is that you appear to be trying to fit this into your knowledge of later music theory. It doesn’t. You can’t fit the two together. Gregorian chant has its own rules and they predate modern notation.

Deacon Ed
 
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