Plica

What it means

The plica — “fold” — is a sign of medieval notation that attaches an additional note to a written note. This additional note is not separately notated but indicated by a stroke on the note sign; its direction — upward or downward — results from the position of the stroke. It counts as a passing note or connection to the following note, not as an independent part of the melody.

In the notation

The plica is recognizable by an additional stroke on the notehead that goes beyond the usual measure; if it points upward, a higher additional note is meant, downward a lower one. In ligatures it appears at the initial or final sign. How far the additional note lies from the main note does not follow from the sign itself and must be inferred from the melodic context — usually a step of a second is assumed.

Musical use

The sign was widespread in the music of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, in monophonic chant as well as in early polyphony. A connection is suspected with a particular manner of performance: the additional note is thought not to have been attacked like an ordinary note but formed out of the main note, as it were as an afterbeat or gliding motion. What this sounded like exactly cannot be established with certainty from the sources; the interpretation of the sign belongs among the open questions of the study of notation. With the formation of mensural notation it lost its role.

The plica was notated as a stroke on a note and indicated an additional passing note.

Performance practice

If a modern edition writes out plica notes, do not treat them as melody notes of equal standing: they hang on their main note and lead on to the next one. Sing them lightly and without a new attack, with the weight on the main note. Check in the critical report whether the edition takes the pitch of the additional note from the source or has inferred it — both occur, and in the second case the reading is a suggestion.