# Meane

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{{Short description|Voice type used in early English choral music}}
{{Choral voice classification}}
'''Meane''' (sometimes spelled '''mean''') is a [vocal music](/source/vocal_music) term used by English composers of polyphonic choral music during the English pre-Reformation and Reformation eras.<ref>{{cite journal|journal=Journal of the Plainsong & Mediaeval Music Society|year=1981|volume=2|page=52|title=Eton Choirbook}}</ref> At this time choral music written for the [Church of England](/source/Church_of_England) was often voiced in 5 parts, with MAATB (Meane, Alto, Alto, Tenor, Bass) or TrMATB (Treble, Meane, Alto, Tenor, Bass) being frequent voicings utilized by [William Byrd](/source/William_Byrd), [Thomas Tallis](/source/Thomas_Tallis) and their contemporaries. The meane part was typically sung by boys whose voices were not as high as a [treble](/source/treble_voice) or [boy soprano](/source/boy_soprano) but were not as low as a [countertenor](/source/countertenor), ''i. e.'' [Boy alto](/source/Boy_alto).<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AAE9AAAAIAAJ&q=%22meane%22|title=Music and the Reformation in England 1549-1660|pages=121–122|author=Peter Le Huray|year=1967|publisher=CUP Archive |isbn=9780521219587}}</ref> Occasionally the meane line would be sung by a combination of treble and countertenor voices.<ref>{{cite book|author=Peter Giles|author-link=Peter Giles (countertenor)|title=The History and Technique of the Counter-Tenor: a study of the male high voice family|publisher=Scolar Press|location=Ashgate|year=1994|pages=34–36}}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

Category:Voice types
Category:Pitch (music)
Category:Musical terminology
Category:Choral music
Category:Voicing (music)

{{Classical-music-stub}}

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