42 Spirituality Studies 9-2 Fall 2023 flow of music to advance. The modal system, on the other hand, offers a sense of spatial circularity, introspective capacity and of suspension or acceptance of the present that are very pertinent to contemplative practice. The profound listening and silence referred to above are also articulated in this very context, where the homogeneity of the modes, a free rhythm and a monadic texture predominate. At the same time, drawing on such elements of a modal system as Gregorian chant – historically and culturally distant in time from the tonal system that is much more common in both classical and popular contemporary music – reinforces the relevance of this type of chant to contemplative practice: individuals place themselves on a new, existential plane, to which the absence of normal sound references contributes. Moreover, soon after Gregorian chant emergence, melismas appear, which we call vocalizes: the free performance of many notes on a single vowel. This also meant an opening towards liberation from the constraint of regimentation, and emancipation from the servitude of the text for the sake of a greater expressiveness in the praise. As Alcalde says, quoting St. Augustine, “he who rejoices does not utter words: it is the voice of the heart” (Alcalde 2007, 147). This statement supports our proposal to deconstruct Gregorian chant, as it is not oriented to the exclusive literalness of the fixed text. And on the other hand, it connects with one of the contemplative traditions that speaks of contemplation as “prayer of the heart” [16]. Moving now towards a practical proposal, contemplation that filtered through singing could begin with vocal sessions interspersed with long moments of silence, during which the deep listening that we have already mentioned, would be practiced. This listening, which projects attention on to different planes of sound in function of the subject, permits a particular self-perception that prepares the ground for using the voice differently. It can also be accompanied by a guided meditation that allows the attention to slowly move towards the elements of the phonatory apparatus: the nose, from the flaps to the top; the paranasal sinuses; the pharynx, the larynx, the trachea; and the whole respiratory movement in a resting phase, with the inter-costal expansion and the movement of the diaphragm visible. The first sounds could be articulated using Latin words typical of the ritual Christian tradition in which we are moving. As we have pointed out, it is logical and culturally significant that the chosen words possess a resonance that promotes stillness because of their link to the sacred text. Moreover, their segmentation or syllabic deconstruction would be carried out with a slow and attentive pronunciation that, in terms of technique, favors vocal resonators and vocal projection. Among these words would be some of those that enjoy the greatest universality due to the extent of the shared cultural codes in which they have been used: Amen, Alleluia, Kyrie, or Kyrie Eleison [17]. They could simply be pronounced in spoken form at first, and then intoned on two or three notes, which could be repeated in imitation. Another option, also viable, would be to use them with the freedom of the early medieval vocalizes or melismas. In principle, this is a communal practice, so one participant would improvise on these terms with just a few notes, and the others would respond in a question-answer cadence-mode. If the level of performing group allows it, the improvisations can be longer, or the answers might be carried out in retroversion. The latter involves attentive and concentrated listening, relevant only if the musical level of the meditator allows it. Consequently, is only advisable as a practice if it is formulated in a perceptive way, letting oneself be carried along rather than as a strenuous exercise. Another possibility would be to emit a single phrase from a psalm or any other Gregorian chant form as responsories, sequences, antiphony, etc., which would also be repeated in response to a question, interspersed anew with moments of silence, in which deep listening is exercised. In the second stage, replicating communally the historical evolution of the birth of the polyphonic organum from Gregorian chant, we might proceed to create a vocal and auditory space on two levels: voice against voice. That is to say: half of the group holds a drone or pedal note while a participant improvises on it, to return to deep listening and even to a new moment of attentive breathing with the phonatory apparatus, which is now perceived in a new way, with a renewed self-awareness of how the contemplative voice is exercised. A more detailed scheme for applying this practical methodology as an activity of contemplative chanting, and for providing an adequate guide to carry out sessions according to the objectives of our research, could be as follows, in a session lasting approximately one hour and a quarter to one hour and a half. This scheme is intended for group practice, but it can also be carried out individually, adapting the parts in which an imitation or a basic polyphony is proposed: These are, in any case open-ended proposals, which would always have to be adapted to the particular community and individuals in order to be truly effective as a chant used as a formative path to reach a state of contemplation.
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