Dr. Roxy Harriette Grove (1889-1952), professor of piano and chair of the Baylor School of Music from 1926-1943, orchestrated the purchase of the collection in 1935, thanks to the generous gift of Mrs. J. W. Jennings of Brownwood, Texas. Some of the collection had been on display in the Spanish Building of the Chicago World’s Fair in 1933. This small but impressive collection represents a general cross-section of the evolution of musical notation from the eleventh to the sixteenth century.

The Jennings Collection contains plainchants for the principal services of the western Christian rites: the Mass and the Divine Office. Chant notation appears in a variety of styles, Hufnagel and Beneventan among others. Much of the collection includes the square neumes and four-line staves that became standard in the late Middle Ages. Other parts of the collection contain two- or three-line staves. Some of the earlier manuscripts show nondiastematic, or staffless, neumes known as in campo aperto (in an open field). Still others demonstrate the use of dry-point lines scratched in the surface of the parchment, which function as the stave.

The Jennings Collection is equally treasured for its paleographic interest. Among the leaves of Latin liturgical texts one can find examples of Beneventan and Carolingian scripts and various Gothic bookhands. The exquisite work of scribes, rubricators, and illuminators abounds throughout the collection including decorative capitals, an occasional grotesque, and various types of initials: foliated, gold-leafed, geometric, inhabited. Manuscript preparation methods such as ruling (several styles) appear throughout the collection. In addition, the codices provide insight into two different binding styles among liturgical books.

Research Questions
How did chant notation change over time, especially with the introduction of a staff?

In manuscripts, what roles do the various colors of ink serve?

Each manuscript has its own idiosyncrasies due to its handwritten nature, including changes in neumes and lines. What does each difference show about the person who recorded or copied it?

What differences are observable between the same or different sections of the mass? E.g., how are different Kyries related?

Examining chants from various centuries, what innovations or changes occurred within the chant as the Renaissance developed?

Activity: Analysis in Context
Each student is assigned one source within the portal: a brief segment from a Mass or service. After exploring the item and what information is available on the digital site, ask students to provide more context to the few pages available: (1)What type of work is this from? What section of the larger work is this from?, (2) What occurs musically or liturgically before and after this section?, (3) What is the liturgical function of this chant, or what does it accompany in the service?

Next, find a full version of the service (or a close approximation), most likely in modern notation. It may be possible to also find an audio recording. When examining the entire work, explore questions such as: (1) What was the intent behind this specific piece? (2) What is the form? (3) Is the excerpt a repeated melody from a previous movement?

Finally, to best understand a single piece, the authority of the composer encompasses the authority of the piece. Explore questions such as: (1) Who composed this piece?, (2) When did they compose it?, (3) Were there any specific events that may have influenced its composition? (4) Is the composer known for using a specific compositional technique?

Activity: What is Notation?
Assign each score to a team of three students. Teams are invited to describe their selected score to the class, using their responses to the questions below and expanding the description as time and interest permit. The teacher invites supportive comments and questions. Students are asked to write their definitions of music notation, which are shared with the class. Answer the following:

1. Who composed the item?
2. Who else was involved?
3. Is there a text? Who wrote the words?
4. What performers does this piece require?
5. When was it composed? Published?
6. Are there written performance instructions?
7. Describe the notation, including any unusual symbols you see.
8. What performance details are specified in this notation? What performance details are missing? What would you need to know to be able to perform this music?
9. Based on this selection and your research, how do you define notation?

Activity: Chant Transcription
Using a chant notation guide and a guide to neumes, have the class transcribe a page of the manuscripts into modern notation (either with or without stems). This could be done electronically or by hand. After transcribing into modern notation, lead the class in reflection about not only the product but also the process of working with the early manuscripts. Possible questions include:

1. Were some manuscripts easier or more difficult to work with than others? Why was this the case?
2. What difficulties did you run into while transcribing?
3. How were you best able to handle the issue of syllabification? In other words, how intuitive was the process of making small melismas on one syllable instead of another?
4. In thinking back to the Medieval era or Renaissance, what kinds of problems could this notation cause? Were there advantages to keeping an oral tradition?

Thesaurus of Musicarum Latinarum
Aims to give free access to and make searchable every known Latin text on music from the late antiquity to the seventeenth century, in multiple editions and in transcriptions from original sources.

Gregorian Chant Home Webpage
A database of links to sources on chant, including research centers and organizations, regional chant traditions, medieval music theory sites, chant performing organizations, religious communities, and publishers.

CANTUS: Database of Latin Ecclesiastical Chants
A database of the Latin chants found in manuscripts and early printed books, primarily from medieval Europe. This searchable digital archive holds inventories of antiphoners and breviaries as well as graduals and other sources for music of the Mass.

Cantus Planus
Cantus Planus is a study group of the International Musicological Society dedicated to research on sacred song – or chant. It brings together scholars, performers, and other interested parties from around the globe. Includes recent news and publications.

MMMO Database
MMMO database is an international virtual library of music sources and gathers notated manuscripts of Western language from the medieval period up to 1600. A special effort is made to index the songs of the oldest sources contained in fragments, marginalia, and notated additions, incorporated in manuscripts that are not fully notated.

AISCGre: International Gregorian Chant Studies Association
Currently has German, Italian, and Spanish language sections, promoting the study and performance of Gregorian chant according to the “Gregorian Semiology” approach pioneered by Dom Eugène Cardine. The site provides a multilingual site with news of events, a bibliography, and fonts for chant notation.