The Infrequently Sung ‘a’ Instead of ‘A’ in ‘Alleluia’ According to the Coptic Tradition

Abstract

We attempted to study the hitherto unexplained phenomenon of the sung “a”, for one note, at the end of an “A” melody. We encountered this issue during singing the word “Alleluia” in the Coptic musical culture. We found that the transmission from “A” to “a” serves as an intermediary step before continuing to the “L”. It may also be an adopted habit by some singers, rather than a consistently inherited musical design with a clear pattern. However, further research is encouraged to decipher this phenomenon.