 ; gave the pitch or tone to the bishop and dean at Mass (the succentor performing a similar office to the canons and clerks); recruited and taught the choir, directed its rehearsals and supervised its official functions; interpreted the rubrics and explained the ceremonies, ordered in a general way the Divine Office and sometimes composed desired hymns, sequences, and lessons of saints.He was variously styled "capiscol" (from the Latin "caput scholæ", head of the choir-school), "prior scholæ", "magister scholæ", and "primicerius" (a word of widely different implications).Victor of St. Hugo tells us that in the care of the primicerius were placed the acolytes, exorcists, lectors, and psalmists (chanters).