<Li> collegiate a cappella </Li> <Li> puirt à beul </Li> <P> A cappella (a kkapˈpɛlla) (Italian for "in the manner of the chapel") music is specifically group or solo singing without instrumental accompaniment, or a piece intended to be performed in this way . It contrasts with cantata, which is usually accompanied singing . The term "a cappella" was originally intended to differentiate between Renaissance polyphony and Baroque concertato style . In the 19th century a renewed interest in Renaissance polyphony coupled with an ignorance of the fact that vocal parts were often doubled by instrumentalists led to the term coming to mean unaccompanied vocal music . The term is also used, albeit rarely, as a synonym for alla breve . </P> <P> A cappella music was originally used in religious music, especially church music as well as anasheed and zemirot . Gregorian chant is an example of a cappella singing, as is the majority of secular vocal music from the Renaissance . The madrigal, up until its development in the early Baroque into an instrumentally - accompanied form, is also usually in a cappella form . Jewish and Christian music were originally a cappella, and this practice has continued in both of these religions as well as in Islam . </P>

A cappella indicates a choral work performed with accompaniment