Introductory Assignment

MUMH 506
Due: Sunday, September 1st, 2019

Purpose: To gain tools for navigating CPDL and IMSLP effectively, and to learn some fundamental principles for
choosing high quality, public domain editions.

Directions: Answer the follow questions using the resource links to guide your knowledge
acquisition. You will be graded on the thoroughness and concision of your responses. Please type
your answers on this word document, save your changes, and upload to the assignment in Canvas for
submission.

Part 1: WHY – 25 points

Why do you believe it is important to expose our students to high-quality choral repertoire from the
past?

As music educators, it is our job to ensure that our students are exposed to repertoire that
not only serves their current level of musicianship but also challenges them to learn and grow. While
it’s possible to accomplish this with modern works, it can be difficult to discern a new piece’s
musical merit over the noise of commission driven publishers, selections by other conductors, and
opinions of your local audiences. Additionally, there is a heightened pressure to pick high-quality
repertoire as we know the caliber of choral literature selected for our groups directly correlates to
their abilities over time. So, in order to ensure their status as successful lifelong musicians, we look to
the past — finding selections that have not disappeared into a void of inconsequential material.
Works preserved by history are often done so due to their musical merit or historical impact, and
thus should be performed by our budding musicians. This will not only improve their skills, but also
provide experience with well-known works that are frequently programmed and can be performed
by them again even into adulthood.

Cynthia Bauchspies discusses the benefits of selecting high quality repertoire in the first
chapter of her dissertation titled “Teaching High School Students the Best Choral Repertoire from
the Great Composers: Masterworks Available for Immediate, Free Access from the Choral Public
Domain Library”. Here, Bauchspies considers what she calls the macro and micro levels of choosing
material. She describes macro as being the overall artistic integrity of a piece, its importance in
society and music history, and its emotional connection to the “human experience”. Micro focuses
on the true nuts and bolts of performance including the piece’s range, whether or not its textual
content is appropriate for your level of performers, how it fits in with the rest of your program, etc.
While many conductors might begin at the micro level, the author encourages the opposite —
allowing them to weed through insipid works before considering things like tessitura or difficulty of
the accompaniment. The importance at the macro level further supports programming historical
repertoire which is inherently impactful to society and is frequently held in high regard artistically.
Our students will most benefit from thoughtful consideration at the macro level and in turn the use
of timeless high quality choral repertoire.

To help answer this question, please read pages 12-21 of this dissertation:
https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/18ed/211bbac3b4d1b75b0542116b565078fd6c0d.pdf
(Disclaimer: this particular dissertation references “high school choral programs” throughout, but
the information/portions I’m asking you to read applies to choirs of all ages.)

 Part 2: WHAT – 10 points

What is CPDL and IMSLP? Read these links and offer a paragraph about new information you did
not yet know about each of these sites.

http://www2.cpdl.org/wiki/index.php/Help:Contents
https://imslp.org/wiki/IMSLP:FAQ

Both CPDL and IMSLP are free virtual music libraries that utilize the wiki format. Founded in 1998
and 2006 respectively, these pages host public domain scores, recordings, and important information
regarding pieces (original text, composer dates, etc). As wiki pages, these sites currently grow
material through mass submission by their users despite both being originally founded and curated
by individuals. They both are managed by administrators that frequently run checks on the accuracy
of information posted on the site.

Part 3: HOW – 10 points

What are the various ways to search for scores on CPDL and IMSLP? List them, and try them out
for yourself! Use these links for reference:

http://www2.cpdl.org/wiki/index.php/Help:Advanced_search#Multi-category_search_for_scores
https://imslp.org/wiki/Main_Page (hover over the book icon underneath the main search bar)

CPDL: IMSLP:
1. Title 1. Difficulty
2. Composer/Arranger 2. Composers
3. Time Period 3. Nationality
4. Musical Type/Genre 4. Time Period
5. Voicing 5. Instrumentation/Genre
6. Text
7. Language/Nationality

Part 4: CHOOSING AN EDITION – 25 points

Choosing an edition from the public domain can be challenging and sometimes unreliable. Read
pages 48-73 of this dissertation: https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/18ed/
211bbac3b4d1b75b0542116b565078fd6c0d.pdf

In this paper, the author provides a practical framework for judging whether an edition is accurate
and of high quality. In Renaissance music in particular, she asserts that we should be aware of the
following categories:
1. Pitch and clefs
• Prior to 1939, musicians did not utilize a=440 meaning that the very idea of pitch is up for
interpretation. A variety of different clefs were used, typically selected by church leaders in
order to encourage their congregations to sing along by avoiding high registers. This made
for a more pleasant experience singing and listening to mass celebration. While it can be
challenging to discern what the composers actually intended, this grey area surrounding keys

 is actually a boon — allowing conductors to play within a half or whole step range to
ensure the piece is set in a comfortable range for their performers. As a middle school choir
director, this is incredibly important when trying to support changing voices. The freedom
to play with a few notes that may be currently missing from “part 3” helps to improve the
overall sound of the choir and the confidence level of my performers. (Just as a personal
note, my collegiate chamber choir typically played with the key in a similar way whenever we
performed renaissance pieces. It’s incredible the difference a half step makes when
struggling with intonation!)
2. Musica ficta
• Music ficta is based in the musical time period where there were an “acceptable” grouping
of notes and then those that fell outside of that acceptable group. However, music ficta was
used by singers to maintain musical norms of time — avoiding things like parallel motion,
tritones, etc. They were not marked in the music, and it was up to the performers to make
the changes as they were singing. While there is no way to be sure that current performers
and making the correct changes, they can be guided by traditional voice leading rules and
high quality recordings. In my own teaching, I may be able to use this concept to help
further students’ understanding of music theory and how it actual impacts the way things
sound.
3. Notation and tempo
• Both notation and tempo have truly advanced overtime with monks creating the very
beginnings of notation by using neumes to denote higher and lower pitch values. Pieces
written during the renaissance period utilize a more complex form of rhythmic notation
which lacks measure lines — something modern musicians have become accustomed to. In
application, the article suggests avoiding the temptation to simply create bar lines. Instead,
performers should rely on the text — finding works that logically would have been
emphasized and using those to guide your singing. This is something easily translated to a
choral classroom and allows students to work on understanding and emotionally connecting
to their pieces.
4. Text underlay
• Text underlay can present a challenge in some older pieces, as they were not combined on
paper at the time of their composition. This leaves a lot up to the performance group to
figure out where certain words should lie. Comparing editions and consulting with other
musicians who may be more familiar with historical norms of the time will allow for a more
informed performance. Experimentation is something that would likely be used in the
choral classroom quite a bit. In this instance, have students try out a variety of different text
underlays to see what works best performance wise and historically.
5. Dynamic markings
• Dynamic markings were not in use at the time of composition for these pieces. Any music
found with markings have been added by an editor in recent times and may or may not be
historically accurate. It is best to find a copy free of dynamic markings. When performing
renaissance music, it is important to consider multiple factors when creating dynamics
including the rise and fall of the line and repeated text. In the classroom setting, it may be
interesting to split your choir into small groups and see how each group interprets those
guidelines.
6. Ensemble forces, use of instruments and types of voices
• As discussed in the article, ensembles of the time typically featured one performer on a
part and favored the use of male voices. In our own application of singing these works,
modifications will have to be made to accommodate the sheer size of our ensembles and
the inclusion of changed and unchanged voices regardless of gender. This may mean

 shifting parts to different lines than they’re used to in order to achieve a more historically
accurate sound. This is something that’s frequently done in middle school choir in order to
accommodate changing voices, and is a technique that can be easily transferred to the
performance of renaissance or baroque pieces.

For each of the categories above, summarize the application of each editorial “issue”, and share
how it may relate to your current choral program and students.

Part 5: PRACTICE – 25 points

Compare and contrast these three editions of Victoria’s O Magnum Mysterium. Which would you
choose for your classroom and why? Apply your knowledge gained from Part 4 in your reasoning.

http://www2.cpdl.org/wiki/images/0/02/Victoria-omagnum.pdf
http://www2.cpdl.org/wiki/images/1/1a/05-o_magnum_mysterium---0-score.pdf
http://www2.cpdl.org/wiki/images/5/50/Ws-vic-omm5.pdf

In comparing the three editions of Victoria’s O Magnum Mysterium provided, it is clear the
last version is the most modernized of the three. It features the addition of bar lines, modern
notation, use of key signatures and accidentals, include tempo markings, and is transposed up a
whole step. The other two utilize some present-day elements, but not nearly as many combined as
the version previously described. Between the two, Francesco Spiga’s typeset seems the most
historically accurate as it avoids the use of bar lines — though includes references to where they
might be as a guide. Additionally, Spiga’s version features the use of musica ficta in the “O beata
Virgo, cuius viscera” section. Garvin’s version has both bar lines and simply inserts the required
accidentals directly into the music.

In my own classroom, I would use a combination of two versions in order to properly teach
O Magnum Mysterium. The Spiga edition would be my preference in establishing the historical
nature of the piece as well as exposing students to the notation of the time. Additionally, this
particular publication has some helpful information regarding tempo and text setting at the bottom
written in a way that does not mar the historical accuracy of the actual sheet music. However, as a
middle school choir teacher — this edition might prove to be too overwhelming for my students at
this time. Additionally, the middle section is quite low and may need to be raised in order to be sung
in a comfortable range. Therefore, I would use the Spiga version in tandem with the most
modernized version of the piece. Students would learn their notes from the modernized version,
while studying its history from the Spiga.