The study of sacred polyphonic vocal music in undergraduate programs typically focusses on that of Western Europe. By centring pedagogy on Western musical traditions, others are neglected that could contribute to a more complete understanding of the diverse trajectories of polyphony. Among the many musical cultures not considered within the standard Western European musical narrative is the music of West Georgia, a predominantly Christian country located in the Caucasus region of Eastern Europe. Despite near-constant control by a world superpower until 1991—from the Roman Empire to the USSR — Georgia has maintained a deep-rooted connection to its traditions, folklore, and music. Drawing on scholarly sources that consider West Georgian polyphonic musical traditions, I will argue the importance of broadening the geographical scope of undergraduate music history education to include more non-canonic, non-embedded musical traditions.
Don Michael Randel discusses the neglect of musical traditions, like those of West Georgia, in his 1992 essay The Canons in the Musicological Toolbox, writing that “[music scholars] tend to constrain not only how things can be studied but what can be studied at all. We sometimes give the impression that other things are not even worthy of study” (Randel 1992, 11). This quote articulates the othering [note 1], and subsequent dismissal of many musical traditions including those in Asia, Africa, and the Indigenous cultures of the Americas, within educational contexts. This othering is described differently across disciplines, with terms like exoticism and appropriation frequently used. In order to combat these educational constraints, academics can take initiative and make edits and additions to curricula to normalize a broader range of musical traditions and thus destigmatize their study.
A brief outline of West Georgian chant developmentAccording to Georgian chanter and scholar, Malkhaz Erkvanidze, West Georgian polyphonic chant is believed to have originated in the seventh to tenth centuries in the region of Tao-Klarjeti, Georgia [note 2] and was unified at the Gelati Monastery school in the Martvili region from the eleventh to twelfth centuries (Erkvanidze 2006, 1). From these origins stem the three “modes” of Georgian polyphonic chant — Sada Kilo (7th-11th c.), Namdvili Kilo (11th-16th c.), and Gamshvenebuli Kilo (16th-19th c.), which translate to plain mode, true-simple mode and colourful mode, respectively (Erkvanidze 2006, 6-7). Throughout the development of kilo (modes) from sada (plain) to gamshvenebuli (colourful), chant increased in musical complexity and decreased in text-centricity.
|
,_X_c.jpg)
Figure 1: “Kingdom of Georgians (Tao-Klarjeti)
10th c.”, Wikimedia Commons. |
Aesthetic and structural differences between Western European and West Georgian polyphony
Figure 2: Current map of Georgia, with the Martvili region circled in red.“Large detailed map of Georgia”, OnTheWorldMap.
The inclusion of research and literature on West Georgian Christian chant and polyphony within European music history curricula is valuable for several reasons. A primary one is, of course, Georgian polyphony’s aforementioned c. seventh-century monastic origins that place its foundations 300 years before its Western European counterparts (c. tenth century). Another argument for the curricular inclusion of West Georgian chant and polyphony is its more static development in comparison to the supposedly more dramatic trajectory of Western European polyphony. Although, as in many Western European countries, Christianity has been the state-religion in Georgia since the fourth century, its sacred polyphonic music and practices have developed independently from those of many Western European Christian regions (such as the Italian, French, and German-speaking regions). Polyphonic choral music in these Western European locations changed steadily with the constant rotation of new composers leading to expanded ensemble sizes, and frequent experimentation with different styles of harmony, counterpoint, voice-leading, and musical structure.
Contrary to the musical and stylistic development of Western European polyphony, the West Georgian polyphonic tradition has remained relatively consistent — retaining roughly the same tonality, harmony, vocal technique, and three-part structure over its 1400-year history. Because of the significant differences in their developments, many recognized features of Western European polyphony are not shared by the West Georgian polyphonic tradition. Since the late 16th c. features of Western European polyphony have included primarily four to six-part textures, consonant harmonies, V-I cadences, and tapered phrases. In contrast, the West Georgian polyphonic tradition emphasizes features such as raw power, dissonance, equidistant heptatonic tuning [note 3], three-part harmony with the melody line constant in one voice, and heavy ornamentation in later chant modes (Graham 2010, 501).
|
"Ver shemdzlebet vart". 2018. Anchiskhati Choir and Malkhaz Erkvanidze. Georgian Spiritual
Music. ℗ Memo Media. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZtBzwEz_nRs |
Transmission differences: oral vs. written
Although these aesthetic and structural differences are notable, the method of transmission —oral vs. written —is among the most important distinctions to make in a comparative study of these polyphonic styles. While in Western Europe oral and improvisatory polyphonic activities were integral to and coexistent with its notated tradition (Cumming 2013), in West Georgia the oral tradition has continued as the dominant mode of transmission, with only a handful of notated chants found before the twentieth century, when master chanters began to collect and notate orally-transmitted chants (Graham 2010, 503). Despite this exclusively oral tradition, master chanters in West Georgia know thousands of chants (Graham 2010, 498). Their oral instruction method engages novice chanters in learning and memorizing melodies, followed by learning the rules of harmony and ornamentation so that a singer need not memorize every harmony and ornament to accurately sing the chant (Graham 2010, 499).
The greatest value of studying non-canonic, non-embedded musical traditions, like those in West Georgia, is their potential to disrupt embedded and oftentimes mono-cultural narratives that obscure diverse musical traditions. This path can bring these alternative narratives to music history education by providing a more nuanced perspective and accurate information on timelines and the development of traditions and ideas. A broader diversity of perspectives should be at the forefront of modern education, and teaching undergraduate students about topics outside of the standard curriculum is a step towards this necessary viewpoint. Education that accounts for alternative narratives like West Georgian polyphony underscores the importance of frequently updating curricula with scholarly research in lesser — known subjects to broaden the scope, geographically and culturally, of undergraduate music education.
|
Notes
[1] I use the word “othering” as the transitive verb, “to other.”
[2] The historic Tao-Klarjeti region is part of present-day Turkey, Southwest of present-day Georgia.
[3] Equidistant heptatonic means that each interval is 0.8 of a whole tone.
[2] The historic Tao-Klarjeti region is part of present-day Turkey, Southwest of present-day Georgia.
[3] Equidistant heptatonic means that each interval is 0.8 of a whole tone.
Bibliography
CUMMING, Julie E. 2013. “Renaissance Improvisation and Musicology.” Music Theory Online, Vol. 19, No. 2. https://mtosmt.org/issues/mto.13.19.2/mto.13.19.2.cumming.php.
ERKVANIDZE, Malkhaz. 2006. “Introduction.” In Georgian Chant, the Gelati Monastery Chant School, Liturgical Chant for the Twelve Immovable Feasts and the Twelve Celebrations of Our Lord, 2nd addition, Vol. 2, edited by John A. Graham. Tbilisi, Georgia: Georgian Patriarchate Press, p. 1-10.
GRAHAM, John A. 2010. “The Role of Memory in the Transmission of Georgian Chant.” (Transcription). The Fourth International Symposium on Traditional Polyphony. www.johnagraham.com/wp-content/uploads/Graham_RoleOfMemory_2010.pdf.
KAGANOVA, Marina. 2021. “Setting the Tone: Fluid Hierarchies in Contemporary Georgian Polyphony.” PhD dissertation. New-York: Columbia University. https://doi.org/10.7916/d8-4nn5-fw96.
RANDEL, Don Michael. 1992. “The Canons in the Musicological Toolbox.” In Disciplining Music, edited by Katherine Bergeron and Philip V. Bohlman. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, p. 10-22.
WEBER, William. 1999. “The History of Musical Canon.” In Rethinking Music, edited by Nicholas Cook and Mark Everist. Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 336-355.
ERKVANIDZE, Malkhaz. 2006. “Introduction.” In Georgian Chant, the Gelati Monastery Chant School, Liturgical Chant for the Twelve Immovable Feasts and the Twelve Celebrations of Our Lord, 2nd addition, Vol. 2, edited by John A. Graham. Tbilisi, Georgia: Georgian Patriarchate Press, p. 1-10.
GRAHAM, John A. 2010. “The Role of Memory in the Transmission of Georgian Chant.” (Transcription). The Fourth International Symposium on Traditional Polyphony. www.johnagraham.com/wp-content/uploads/Graham_RoleOfMemory_2010.pdf.
KAGANOVA, Marina. 2021. “Setting the Tone: Fluid Hierarchies in Contemporary Georgian Polyphony.” PhD dissertation. New-York: Columbia University. https://doi.org/10.7916/d8-4nn5-fw96.
RANDEL, Don Michael. 1992. “The Canons in the Musicological Toolbox.” In Disciplining Music, edited by Katherine Bergeron and Philip V. Bohlman. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, p. 10-22.
WEBER, William. 1999. “The History of Musical Canon.” In Rethinking Music, edited by Nicholas Cook and Mark Everist. Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 336-355.