Descant
Descant, discant, or discantus can refer to several different things in music, depending on the period in question; etymologically, the word means a voice (cantus) above or removed from others.
A descant is a form of medieval music in which one singer sang a fixed melody, and others accompanied with improvisations. The word in this sense comes from the term discantus supra librum (descant "above the book"), and is a form of Gregorian chant in which only the melody is notated but an improvised polyphony is understood. The discantus supra librum had specific rules governing the improvisation of the additional voices.
Later on, the term came to mean the treble or soprano singer in any group of voices, or the higher pitched line in a song. Eventually, by the Renaissance, descant referred generally to counterpoint. Nowadays the counterpoint meaning is the most common.
Descant can also refer to the highest pitched of a group of instruments, particularly the descant viol or recorder. Similarly, it can also be applied to the soprano clef. Descant can also refer to a high, florid melody sung by a few sopranos as a decoration for a hymn.
Descant (magazine)
Descant (1970-2015) was a quarterly literary magazine that published new and established contemporary writers and visual artists from Canada and around the world, reflecting "a cosmopolitan awareness." It was established in 1970 as a mimeograph. Based in Toronto, in its later years Descant published two themed issues per year, and a winter and summer miscellany issue. From 2007 to 2014, Descant sponsored the Winston Collins/Descant Prize for Best Canadian Poem.
The list of contributors to Descant includes numerous now-famous Canadian authors. Many of these are listed in Bibliomania (No. 133, summer 2006) and Bibliomania 2 (No. 135, winter 2006) and include: Margaret Atwood, bill bissett, Nicole Brossard, Anne Carson, Camilla Gibb, Barbara Gowdy, Dennis Lee, Daphne Marlatt, Anne Michaels, Michael Ondaatje, Al Purdy, Leon Rooke, Jane Urquhart and Jan Zwicky.
The last issue of Descant, No. 167, was launched at Supermarket Restaurant and Bar, in Toronto, in January 2015.
A final party was held at Revival Bar in Toronto on March 25, 2015.
Podcasts:
Descant
ALBUMS
- Mad Ambition released: 2006
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by Less Than Jake
Descant
by: Less Than JakeI won't change the world with a song
perhaps it's futile to comment
on a revolution somewhere else
I won't change the world with these words
but it's just like me
to observe the dissolution somewhere
The war of locked minds
has subsided to these very different times
with the burning conflicts smothered
who will throw in a match from behind, yeah
I won't change the sway of politics
but if I could
I just might pick a revolution somewhere else
won't change the sway of govemment
the choice was made
and lives were spent on dissolution somewhere
Prepare and defend
as history storms in once again
whether we want it or not
a change is what we've got