Dictionary of Music - Birding America

326 proportionproportion In MENSURAL NOTATION, which wasthe system of indicating note values (how long notesmust be held) used from about 1250 to 1600, a wayof decreasing (or, less often, increasing) the timevalues of notes. For example, in a passage marked 4 3 ,each note was to be held only threefourths as long asit was held in the passage immediately preceding.Similarly, 2 1 (often marked ¢) meant that each noteshould be held only half as long as before. Thesesigns were later adopted for the present system oftime signatures. (See also TIME SIGNATURE.)Proportz (prô pôrts′) German.Another name for NACHTANZ.protest songSee under POLITICAL MUSIC.Also, Proporz.ps. 1 An abbreviation for PSALM. 2 An abbreviationfor POSAUNE.psalm (säm). A musical composition based on atext from the Book of Psalms, in the Old Testamentof the Bible. The 150 psalms contained there wereoriginally Hebrew songs. The early Christianchurches took over the poems, translated into Greekor Latin, and made them part of their liturgy (religiousrites). The psalms became the most importanttexts used in Gregorian chant, which also adoptedthe chanting manner of performance used by theancient Hebrews. There were eight melodic patternsused for reciting the psalms, called psalm tones (seePSALM TONE), one corresponding to each of theCHURCH MODES.The psalms are the oldest music used in Christianservices. At first they were simply sung orchanted from beginning to end by one or moresingers. In time, two other methods of performancewere developed. One, taken over from the Jewishservices, involved a short response, such as the word“Amen,” repeated after each verse of the psalm; theresponse was sung by the choir (originally, perhaps,by the congregation), and the psalm verses weresung by a soloist (in the Jewish services, the cantor).At the same time, the music began to become moreelaborate; instead of one note for each word or syllable,there might be many notes for a single syllable(see MELISMA), making the entire performance of apsalm much longer. As a result, part of the psalmbegan to be left out, and perhaps also part of theresponse. In time, so little of the psalm remained—perhaps only a verse or a phrase—that it scarcelyresembled the original. These responsorial psalms,so called because they involve a RESPONSE, are abasic part of the Roman Catholic liturgy.The second new method of performanceinvolved dividing the choir (or congregation) in half,so that the two sections might take turns in singing apsalm. Exactly how the psalm was divided betweenthem is not known; probably one group sang oneverse, the second group the next verse, the firstgroup the next, etc. Soon a small section was addedto the beginning and end of a psalm, to be sung byboth groups together. This method of performanceresulted in the antiphon, from which several importantparts of the Roman Catholic service are derived.(See also ANTIPHON, def. 1.)By the late Middle Ages the psalms had becomean integral part of Gregorian chant. With the developmentof polyphony (music with more than onevoice-part), composers began to write new settingsfor the psalms. Some wrote in the increasingly elaboratecounterpoint coming into fashion; others preferreda simple, homophonic style (melody in onevoice-part accompanied by chords in the othervoice-parts). Outstanding composers of the Renaissance(1450–1600) who used psalm texts in theirmotets are Josquin des Prez and Orlando di Lasso.Another new practice was using the Gregorianpsalm melodies as the basis for instrumental works.Antonio de Cabezón and others wrote versets fororgan, short pieces for the even-numbered verses ofa psalm; the odd-numbered verses would be chantedin plainsong, alternating with the even-numberedones played on the organ.With the spread of Protestantism and its emphasison church services in the language of the people(instead of in Latin), the psalms continued to be usedfor worship services, but in translation. A book containingthe psalms in translation is called a psalter. Ifthe translation was a rhymed, metrical poem (withregular meter), as it often was, the psalter was calleda metrical psalter. Psalters were used from the sixteenthcentury on by English, French, and Dutchcongregations. Music sung by the choir also made