'Krojenje' in Serbian chant: Application of cognitive structural models of improvisation

Abstract

Serbian chant, which was formed on the territory of the Metropolitanate of Karlovci in the late 18th century, has been transmitted primarily by oral tradition for a long time, despite numerous attempts to make church melodies available for liturgical use by producing miscellaneous collections. In the process of the oral transmission of the melodies belonging to the so-called short chant (i. e. less melismatic chant), hymns of the Osmoglasnik (Octoechos) serve as a basis for krojenje (literally: tailoring), which means the adaptation of the melody to a text. Since the procedure of krojenje involves simultaneously detaching Osmoglasnik melodies from their original texts and attaching them to the texts from other liturgical books without notation and realized orally, improvisation is an inherent feature of the krojenje process. Improvisation is an integral part of the creative procedure during the act of performing, even in cases when the musical work is not altogether created by improvisation, as is the case with hymns of contemporary Serbian chant. The relation between krojenje and certain levels of creation, initiated our interdisciplinary - musicological and psychological - research, with the aim of determining the structure of the improvisational process in shaping the melodies in Serbian chant, based on the analysis and application of musical-cognitive structural models.