Guidonian hand

In medieval music, the Guidonian hand was an aid to orientation in the sound system; it served as a visual object and a memory aid. Each phalanx was assigned a certain tone of Hexachordsystems. Such a tool may have been already used by Guido of Arezzo, who wrote instructions for learning to read music and chorales. The hand as a demonstration appeared somewhere Guidos time ago in some writings; the final form is found only starting from the 12th century, such as Sigebert of Gembloux ( 1030-1112 ).

Operation

Guido of Arezzo put a six-step scale with the syllables ut, re, mi, fa, sol, la fixed ( Hexachordsilben ). These were the first syllables of each one tone higher beginning verses of the first verse of John's hymn.

The medieval music theory knew three hexachords ( durum, naturale, molle ), which, spread over three octaves, attacked each other. The change from one hexachord to the next was called mutation. The decisive factor was the position of the semitone, which had always fall on the syllables mi and fa. Even students who have had no musical training, could easily be taught with these Hexachorden the Gregorian chant.

The Guidonian hand is certainly strongly associated with the new music teaching and the new music teaching methods Guidos. The course also includes the ideas about the hexachords and also the one with solmization. The idea is that each specific part of the hand, a specific note within the Hexachordsystems represents that nearly three octaves extends from " Γ ut " (pronounced " gamma ut ", or " gamut ", which in turn refer to the entire range can ) to " ee la ". In modern Western music, this would correspond to a volume of G at the lower end to the high e ".

During class, the teacher or choir director was exactly specified by indicating the position on the left hand the ring pattern. This corresponded approximately to the method to solmisieren with hand signals. There were a number of variations in the position of certain notes on the hand, and none of the variants should be considered as a priority; in the attached example, the notes of the gamut were mentally placed on the limbs and fingers of the left hand. " Γ ut " (two G below middle C ) corresponds to the tip of the thumb of the left hand, "A Re" is located on the middle thumb member "B mi" to the inside of the ball of the thumb, "C fa ut " on the first member ( metacarpal ) of the index finger and so on, until reaching counterclockwise in a spiral line through the intermediate " c sol ut fa 'and further via the " dd la sol ", the " la ee ", which is nine tones over the center c is located. This " ee la " is the only touch on the back of the hand.

The guido African hand it allows to visualize pitches and to recognize at the same time, where the half steps are the melodies. Also, you could see where the connection points of the hexachords lie. The system was reproduced during the Middle Ages in many forms.

The stimulus link is also now the primary means of learning psychology of unconscious learning (conditioning). The singing, seeing and touching the sounds leads within the meaning of the word to comprehension. Today's methods of haptic sensing are the silent keyboard and flexible concepts such as Tontreppe or the sound column.

The hexachord

Main Post: Hexachord

The hexachord is an extension of the Greek tetrachord, which in the 9th century ( for example in Hucbald ) was a tone down, f and g are shifted to the Endtöne of the four modes ( church modes ) in the Gregorian chant d, e. Up and down a whole step was the tetrachord (d, e, f, g) added ( c and a). With a second constructed according to the same pattern Hexachord an octave could now be covered by overlapping the two hexachords. In any Hexachord the two middle tones (mi - fa) are a half step, whole step every other one apart. Thus, the largest possible section of the Tonvorrats (G -e " ) was the Hexachord achieved, which could reflect at least an octave with two identically structured overlapping scales Areas The hexachords were built on G, C or F, accordingly, there were three types of Hexachorden. : the Hexachordum durum (hard hexachord ) G -A -H -c -d -e, the Hexachordum naturale (natural hexachord ) c-d -e -f -g -a, and the Hexachordum molle ( soft hexachord ) f -g- a-b - c ' d'. (on g, c, f, g, c by a total of seven hexachords ', f 'and g ') was the gamut of medieval music of almost three octaves (G -e " ) covered and divided.

Guido of Arezzo highlighted the tones of the hexachord with the solfeggio and differ depending ut, re, mi, fa, sol, la, which he took from the John hymn Ut queant laxis. In Scripture Micrologus he explained in great detail how to sing in several voices and composed. From the names of durum Hexachordum and Hexachordum molle derive the names of today's major, minor, from.

Context

Main Post: Gregorian Chant

The Gregorian chant or the Western medieval music in general was influenced by Jewish music and the Eastern Church traditions. Also music traditions that can be found today in the Turkish and Arabic music, found their expression. This meant that it was difficult to develop a unified theoretical system. The passing on oral tradition and the use of hand signals had tradition. The decisive factor for the recording was also a political invitation of Karl the Great in his Admonitio generalis of 23 March 789, Et ut scolae Legentium puerorum Fiant. Psalmos, notas, cantus, compotum, grammaticam by Singula mona steria vel episcopia et libros catholicos bene emendate; [ ... ] Et si opus est gospel, psalterium et Missal scribere, perfectae Aetatis homines scribant cum omni diligentia. [ ... ] Charlemagne called for in this document to help to create a written basis for the transmission of the cultural heritage. " The best writers of the age to be dealt with great care so that, ..." After the church was used as an administrative body should be unified after the Roman model everything. Among them was the liturgy with their Gregorian chant. This meant that the been handed down in notation loose collections of vocal texts were provided from the 9th century with characters. these partially transferred from the rhetoric, partly associated with the conducting motions the Cantor neumes ( " hints " ) made ​​it possible for a competent singer, one in its melodic shape already before -. recall and learned melody Singing along with all the nuances to mind and carry forward was used a variety of differently designed Einzeltonneumen and Gruppenneumen also under discussion whether the writers were written, now -lost archetype existed..

In the course of a few centuries a fundamental change experienced this " accent notation " towards diastematic notations. Guido of Arezzo invented starting from the Dasia notation in 1025, the four -line system in the third interval and two clef, the F and the C- key. Assuming the notation developed for the square notation.