Gregorian Chant vocal technique

Question

What are the following vocal techniques?

on the word Quantus at 0:17
on the word mi-rum at 0:36
on the word mundus at 1:30
on the word ju-dex at 3:14
on the word Et at 3:59
on the word O-ro at 3:12
on the word dona at 6:10.

I asked this question on this on the Gregorian Chant Facebook group, and one of the members thinks that what I'm hearing is reverb added to the recording! I don't think that is the case because Gregorian Chant has overtones and the men that sing Gregorian Chant are perfectly capable of producing them!

For an example of Gregorian Chant overtones, listen to Pater Noster from Gregorian Vespers in honor of Saint Vincent Pallotti (Vesperae de Confessore non Pontifice) recorded by Schola Gregoriana from Pallottine Seminary in Ołtarzew, Poland, conducted by father Dario Smolarek!

1) It's not a very good quality recording. 2) I don't hear those words being sung with a noticeably different technique. Can you describe what the technique sounds like to you? How do those notes sound different? What do you mean by "overtones"? — Todd Wilcox, Sep 28 '21 at 23:25
The overtones produced in Gregorian Chant are the result of many forces working together. First, the monks usually sing in the middle range of their voices, the baritone register. In this register it is easier to produce and to hear the nominally perceptible range of the overtone series. They also make use of what is known as “singer’s formant,” or the resonant frequencies in the range of 2,000-4,000 hz; this is what gives trained singers the pleasant “buzz” when they sing. By utilizing this singer’s formant, and by singing in unison, the chanters are able to reinforce the natural harmonics, — Ana Maria, Sep 28 '21 at 23:52
producing the overtones. In addition, the long melismatic lines on pure vowels help to bring out an awareness of the sounding of the overtones, as does the architecture of the church or cathedral in which the Chant is sung. The overtones of Gregorian Chant are produced by perfectly in-tune unison singing (this is also true with organum, a relative of Chant in which the music is sung in parallel octaves - this effectively reinforces the overtone closest to the fundamental). Singers of Gregorian Chant often practice for up to four years before they sing with a group; by this time, they are able — Ana Maria, Sep 28 '21 at 23:56
to sing the melismatic lines perfectly in-tune with the other chanters. The chanters must breath in the same places, attend to vowel unity, and articulate consonants in a uniform fashion. It is minute attention to these details which allows Gregorian Chant to resonate so well, and thus produce and reinforce overtones. — Ana Maria, Sep 28 '21 at 23:57
@AnaMaria I hear no overtones in either the wikipedia recording nor the youtube recording. — Aaron, Sep 29 '21 at 00:24
I would say that I hear no overtones in their voices that aren't present in every trained singer's voice, along with many untrained but experienced singers. Also, I hear the same quantity and quality of overtones during the entire recording, not just on the words highlighted in the question. So I still don't understand what is different about the moments in the recording that are in question from the rest of the recording. I'm assuming it's something I can't hear or that I don't know to listen for because I don't know what change in *sound* you are hearing. — Todd Wilcox, Sep 29 '21 at 01:00
Have you tried listening to this recording on a variety of headphones and/or speakers? I have found that the overtone content of some recordings, particularly of baritone voices, is highly dependent on the speaker acoustics. — phoog, Sep 29 '21 at 11:10

score 5 · Answer 1 · answered Sep 28 '21 at 23:28

There are no special techniques involved in this recording. There are three noticeable traits that occur at or near the time-points mentioned:

The natural reverberation of the space in which the recording was made (throughout the entire recording).
The interchange between the entire ensemble and a smaller subset.
Occasional vibrato.

Gregorian Chant vocal technique

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