Gregorian Plainchant Analysis

In the beginning of the first Gregorian plainchant, I feel my heart slowly ascends into the air with the music and harmonies, but towards the latter portion of the chant, the ascending feeling changes to a much stronger and forceful push that seems like it will never settle, as if I am not allowed to go back to where I came from or who I was before. The second Gregorian plainchant seems like it is sang by someone who has been through certain hardships, recovered from it, and is now helping others to get back on their feet. It gives me the vibe that I am not alone in whatever I am having a hard time with right now and can find support through this music. Both of these "sounds" remind me of religious ceremonies and, coming from a non-religious background, I don’t really feel a powerful connection to, perhaps, the first plainchant, which has a more holy tone than the second one. The background harmony that joins the main singer makes the second plainchant more down-to-earth than the first plainchant because, now, instead of having only one person to seek support from, I have a group of people to turn to.

43, par. 49). He believes that music is dangerous since music has the ability to mend or minds and to make the listeners lose focus and reasons. However, I do not think that music can be potentially dangerous the way Augustine describes it. Music sure has the ability to sway our emotion, but not to the extent that make the listeners lose their sense of control, at least not by music itself. The combination of music and peer pressure or purposeful man-made intervention, perhaps, may cause disastrous