Tricia Adams Blog #1 Discussion Question #2 from Week 1-2

2. The Rhapsodes were the oral publishers and professional interpreters of classical epic poetry who recited their own works or works of a poet. They were born of oral tradition, performed in oral tradition, and were shaped and preserved via a written story. Their works of Homeric Hymns were accompanied by music. Therefore, it is logical to use the term "sing" to describe the method of recitation employed in the Odyssey. Although, the singing was not in a context we would understand today and it also did not have the same meaning. The mode of recitation was singing in contemporary terms and by the time of Homer it may have been a patterned "chant" with inflections and modulations determined by the text.
The term Rhapsodes meant "song-stitcher," which implied that they took various poetic lays and sewed them together into a continuous whole to create a story. Thus, they only strung the greatest part of an epic together to create a continuous recital. In essence, it had some resemblance to the characteristics of the "talk-song," which is common on a contemporary musical comedy stage.
By "singing" rather than "speaking" their texts helped and created emphasis to certain areas of the performance. In addition, when reciting these texts in a specific tone of voice, this initially helped with the memorization during delivery and practice. Hargis and Bahn emphasized the difference on whether the Rhapsodes sang or spoke their texts because this facilitated and reified unison and harmony of speech. Thus, singing rather than speaking delivered reifying messages to the people during performance. This easily persuaded the people because singing gives the sensory impression of empowerment to their culture generating the pleasure and feeling of communitas.