first of all, fred: i think ''melisma flatulence'' is the phrase of the century. consider it stolen and adopted from now on. [incidentally, who started the unbearable craze for this nasal, unbearable kind of melisma? my guess is whitney houston when she raped our ears and our brains with her version of ''i will always love you''.]
as to melisma, it is of course quite enjoyable when it comes to gregorian chant. in gregorian chant melismata [the plural of melisma] were more common in the alleluia section in sung masses. gregorian chant was modal, so the notes for the melismata were chosen from one of the 8 accepted church modes [scales using only the white keys of modern keyboards]. then one syllable was sung traveling along the preset scale [the melisma]. some melismata were preserved and carried from place to place and new syllables were set to them. the other two ways in which words were set to music in gregorian chant times were syllabic [one syllable per note] and neumatic [a couple of notes per syllable]. when you listen to gregorian chant, you notice that the melisma is never a frantic, wobbly race through an unnerving set of 16th notes but a restful glide that seems to emphasize balance and contemplation. by the way, the only scale that contemporary melisma exploiters seem to command is the pentatonic. if i were to make such an issue of melisma, i would at least learn other modes and REALLY show off. wally
