PROLATION

PROLATION, a musical term signifying a series of notes, ascending or descending, which are to be sung to

one syllable. Anciently the word had a different musical meaning. Thus Morley, in his Introduction, page 14, tells us that prolation is the measuring of semibreves by minims, and is either greater or less. The greater prolation is when the semibreve contains three minims. The sign of this is $\backslash odot$ or $\backslash ominus$. The less prolation is when the semibreve contains only two minims. The sign of this is $\backslash odot$ or $\backslash ominus$. The old musicians called the ternary measure perfect, and the binary measure imperfect.