plain song

noun. plain·​song ˈplān-ˌsȯŋ : a monophonic rhythmically free liturgical chant of any of various Christian rites. especially : gregorian chant.

music. Also known as: plainchant.

Characteristics of Plainchant

• monophonic in texture (a single line)
• sung a cappella.
• sung in Latin.
• non-metric.
• composed in modes, or modal.

Plainchant, or plainsong, is also known as Gregorian chant and forms the core of the musical repertoire of the Roman Catholic Church. It consists of about 3,000 melodies collected and organized during the reigns of several 6th- and 7th-century popes. Most instrumental in codifying these chants was Pope Gregory I.

plain adjective (WITH NOTHING ADDED) not decorated in any way; with nothing added: She wore a plain black dress. We've chosen a plain carpet (= one without a pattern) and patterned curtains. He prefers plain food - nothing too fancy.

In music, monophony is the simplest of musical textures, consisting of a melody (or "tune"), typically sung by a single singer or played by a single instrument player (e.g., a flute player) without accompanying harmony or chords. Many folk songs and traditional songs are monophonic.

In plainsong, the text is sung smoothly at about the same pace that it would be said, without forcing the text into a particular rhythm. A good breath should be taken between each half-line (where there are vertical bars in the notation).

The five characteristics of music are sound (overtone, duration, amplitude, pitch, timbre), melody, rhythm, structure or form, expression, texture, and melody.

Chant notation works in much the same way as modern music notation: it's printed on lines, and the higher up the page the notes are, the higher the pitch, and vice versa. One major difference is that the Gregorian stave has four lines, rather than five.

Examples from Collins dictionaries He placed the paper in a plain envelope. He wore a plain blue shirt, open at the collar. Bronwen's dress was plain but it hung well on her. It was a plain, grey stone house, distinguished mainly by its largely unspoilt simplicity.

Plain meaning refers to a judgment that whatever the text conveys in context is clear from the text. Thus, a term's ordinary meaning is also its plain meaning only when it is clear from how the term is used in the statute that its context is ordinary, as opposed to technical.

Texture in music refers to the number of musical lines and their density in a piece of music. In other words, texture in music is the relationship between the layers of sound or lines or voices. Some people will use the term “layers of sound” interchangeably with Texture.