Tone 6

Here is an mp3 of Psalm 112 sung to Tone 6 from the Lutheran Liturgical Prayer Brotherhood Psalmody page. The translation is the King James Version; the mp3 includes an antiphon on either side of the Psalm.

1 Praise ye the LORD.
Blessed is the man that feareth the LORD,
that delighteth greatly in his commandments.

2 His seed shall be mighty upon earth:
the generation of the upright shall be blessed.

3 Wealth and riches shall be in his house:
and his righteousness endureth for ever.

4 Unto the upright there ariseth light in the darkness:
he is gracious, and full of compassion, and righteous.

5 A good man showeth favor, and lendeth:
he will guide his affairs with discretion.

6 Surely he shall not be moved for ever:
the righteous shall be in everlasting remembrance.

7 He shall not be afraid of evil tidings:
his heart is fixed, trusting in the LORD.

8 His heart is established, he shall not be afraid,
until he see his desire upon his enemies.

9 He hath dispersed,
he hath given to the poor;
his righteousness endureth for ever;
his horn shall be exalted with honor.

10 The wicked shall see it, and be grieved;
he shall gnash with his teeth, and melt away:
the desire of the wicked shall perish.

Tone 5

Here is an mp3 of Psalm 142 sung to Tone 5 by the St. David's Episcopal Church, Austin, Compline Choir. The translation is from the 1979 U.S. Book of Common Prayer; the mp3 includes an antiphon on either side of the Psalm.

1 I cry to the LORD with my voice; *
to the LORD I make loud supplication.

2 I pour out my complaint before him *
and tell him all my trouble.

3 When my spirit languishes within me, you know my path; *
in the way wherein I walk they have hidden a trap for me.

4 I look to my right hand and find no one who knows me; *
I have no place to flee to, and no one cares for me.

5 I cry out to you, O LORD; *
I say, "You are my refuge,
my portion in the land of the living."

6 Listen to my cry for help, for I have been brought very low; *
save me from those who pursue me,
for they are too strong for me.

7 Bring me out of prison, that I may give thanks to your Name; *
when you have dealt bountifully with me,
the righteous will gather around me.

EDIT: The following content was written before I added the sound file and the Psalm text above, so is actually redundant at this point; since you can hear the music and follow along with the words above, you can see for yourself how the singing of Psalms works. I'm leaving it in, though, because it's been there a long time now, and because there is a bit of relevant explication. But singing is the best way to learn, so just go right ahead and sing along with the mp3 above; you'll have it down before you know it.

------------------------------------------

OK, this is a good tone in which to talk about "how to sing," because there's only one ending and one alternate.

See where the do clef is located? On the third line of the staff? Think of that as "C" in the C Major scale. So this tone begins on F in the Intonation (that's what "Int." stands for at the very left) and rises in a major triad (F-A-C) to C as the "reciting note." (The repetition of the reciting note is what you see in the "Tenor and Flex" section. The "flex" is what you're supposed to do on very long lines; you would sing the reciting note (the Tenor) until you reach a certain point, then you'd sing the Flex note - in this case, A. Then you'd return to the Tenor for the rest of the phrase. In practice, the Flex is not used, though - at least, not at the monastic houses I've visited. This makes it easier, in fact, because all you do is sing the Tenor note straight through the first phrase, ignoring the "Flex" note; to me this makes sense anyway in terms of symmetry, because there's never a corresponding "Flex" in the second line. Also, the chanting of the one note is meditative, and you don't have to be busy trying to figure out where to "Flex.")

OK, so: you begin with the first two or three words (or so) of the Psalm, using the Intonation, i.e.: "The LORD is....", and with the word "is" you are now on the reciting note, and you sing that for the rest of the first line of the Psalm: "....my shepherd; *," right up to the asterisk. At that point, you've reached the "Mediant," which is where you sing the word "Shepherd," with the rise in tone on the "Shep" syllable. (The pointing of the Psalms is different for different tones, because there are different numbers of notes in the Mediant. Here, there's only two, so the word "Shepherd," with its two syllables, takes care of the whole deal.)

So here's the sequence: you sing "The LORD is" on F-A-C, and then "my Shepherd" on C-D-C. And now you're finished with the first line and have sung up through the Mediant. (Normally, you'd be chanting on one note much more than this, but this is a short line.)

On Line 2, "I shall not be in want," you begin again on the reciting note (the Tenor), C. And again, this is a very short line, so you'll only sing the reciting note (the Tenor) once and then will move immediately to the ending. So the sequence will be this: "I" is sung on C, then "shall not be in want" is sung on D-B-C-A, with both words "in want" sung on A. (The pointing for this could be different, actually; since there are 4 notes in the ending in this tone, you'd normally sing only the last 4 syllables on the ending, i.e.: you'd sing "I shall" on the Tenor, C-C, and the "not be in want" on the ending, D-B-C-A. But I think that makes the phrase too choppy and weird, so I pointed it differently. It's a matter of taste, but usually you really do go by syllable. You run into this weird/choppiness a lot, actually, because many of the Gregorian Chants were written specifically for certain Verse/Responses in Latin, and English is really different. For instance, the tunes for "Benedicamus Domino" - "Let us bless the Lord" - were written specifically for Latin, and the English words just don't match properly. Oh, well.)

So now you know! And to make life even easier, you never use the intonation again after the first line; all the rest of the verses begin on the reciting note (the Tenor). This is the note around which the whole Psalm revolves; you chant it insistently, and when you leave it soon enough are back singing it again.

At the end, you sing the Gloria Patria the same way: "Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit; As it was in the beginning is now, and ever shall be. Amen."

Here is another nice web resource on Psalmody, and particularly on how to sing. In fact, it's much easier to do all this - to actually sing the Psalms themselves - than it is to talk about it!

Psalm 23 Dominus regit me

1
The LORD is my shepherd; *
I shall not be in want.
2
He makes me lie down in green pastures *
and leads me beside still waters.
3
He revives my soul *
and guides me along right pathways for his Name's sake.
4
Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I shall fear no evil; *
for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.
5
You spread a table before me in the presence of those who trouble me; *
you have anointed my head with oil, and my cup is running over.
6
Surely your goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, *
and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever.

Tone 4

Here is an mp3 of Psalm 113 sung to Tone 4 from the Lutheran Liturgical Prayer Brotherhood Psalmody page. The translation is the King James Version; the mp3 includes an antiphon on either side of the Psalm.

1 Praise ye the LORD.
Praise, O ye servants of the LORD,
praise the name of the LORD.

2 Blessed be the name of the LORD
from this time forth and for evermore.

3 From the rising of the sun
unto the going down of the same
the LORD's name is to be praised.

4 The LORD is high above all nations,
and his glory above the heavens.

5 Who is like unto the LORD our God,
who dwelleth on high,

6 who humbleth himself to behold
the things that are in heaven, and in the earth!

7 He raiseth up the poor out of the dust,
and lifteth the needy out of the dunghill;

8 that he may set him with princes,
even with the princes of his people.

9 He maketh the barren woman to keep house,
and to be a joyful mother of children.
Praise ye the LORD.

Gregorian melodies are written on a staff of four lines and three spaces (as opposed to modern music, which is written on a staff of five lines and four spaces). The notes indicated on the lines or in the spaces of the staff represent those of the sol-fa system (the usual do re mi deal). The sol-fa scale consists of eight notes comprising an octave; each of the eight notes is one whole tone from the one before it, except for fa and do, which are only a half-tone higher than mi and ti respectively. This is the regular major "doe-a-deer" scale; nothing complicated about it, really.

The notation uses one of two clefs to designate either do or fa on the staff. These are moveable and not fixed as they are in modern notation: the do clef may appear on the second, third, or fourth line from the bottom (but is usually found on the third or fourth); the fa clef may appear on the third or fourth line (but most often on the third):





The choice and position of clef are determined by the range of the melody. A particular clef is chosen and located so that the melody will fit conveniently within the lines of the staff. It all sounds very complicated, but really it's done simply for convenience. One more interesting point: there are no sharps in Gregorian Chant, and only one note - ti - may be flatted. When it is, it's called te instead.

Below are some staffs that show the various positions of the clefs and their influence on the notes:

Tone 3

Here is an mp3 of the first 17 verses of Psalm 139 sung to Tone 3 by the St. David's Episcopal Church, Austin, Compline Choir. The translation is from the 1979 U.S. Book of Common Prayer; the mp3 includes an antiphon on either side of the Psalm.

1 LORD, you have searched me out and known me; *
you know my sitting down and my rising up;
you discern my thoughts from afar.

2 You trace my journeys and my resting-places *
and are acquainted with all my ways.

3 Indeed, there is not a word on my lips, *
but you, O LORD, know it altogether.

4 You press upon me behind and before *
and lay your hand upon me.

5 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; *
it is so high that I cannot attain to it.

6 Where can I go then from your Spirit? *
where can I flee from your presence?

7 If I climb up to heaven, you are there; *
if I make the grave my bed, you are there also.

8 If I take the wings of the morning *
and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,

9 Even there your hand will lead me *
and your right hand hold me fast.

10 If I say, "Surely the darkness will cover me, *
and the light around me turn to night,"

11 Darkness is not dark to you;
the night is as bright as the day; *
darkness and light to you are both alike.

12 For you yourself created my inmost parts; *
you knit me together in my mother's womb.

13 I will thank you because I am marvelously made; *
your works are wonderful, and I know it well.

14 My body was not hidden from you, *
while I was being made in secret
and woven in the depths of the earth.

15 Your eyes beheld my limbs, yet unfinished in the womb;
all of them were written in your book; *
they were fashioned day by day,
when as yet there was none of them.

16 How deep I find your thoughts, O God! *
how great is the sum of them!

17 If I were to count them, they would be more in number than the sand; *
to count them all, my life span would need to be like yours.

As I read the music, I realize I've heard (and sung) all the endings at one time or another, but didn't know what they were. I was actually learning chant the way people did, probably, in the monastic communities of the Middle Ages - by listening to it and following along. I can easily now pick up one of these tones and sing the various endings - and I can point-as-I-go, too. I'm totally Psalm-proficient!

We (the officiant and I, the only two there) sang the entire service of Evening Prayer the other night. He loves to sing and he knows I like to sing so we just had at it. We sang #25, "O gracious light" for the Phos Hilaron (and we sang it as a round, just the two of us - and let me just say that we were good, my friends!); we sang #S242, Magnificat (Tonus Peregrinus); we sang #S196, Nunc Dimittis (Tone 7); we sang S62 and S63, the Salutation and the Suffrages B, Tone I (at which point I got lost - this was going further than even I ever had). I got to choose the hymn after the prayers, and I picked #504, Veni Creator Spiritus. (In fact, ironically, the only thing we said - was the Psalm.)

And there was that really bizarro reading from Matthew about the fish with the coin in its mouth; I'm not sure I've ever heard it before. (But it could be, instead, that it's so strange that each time I hear it, I think I've never heard it before.) After he read it, he stood there for awhile, looking puzzled. Then we both looked at each other quizzically for a few minutes. Like, "What the....?"

Then we went on with the prayers.

Tone 2

Everybody's favorite Maundy Thursday-Psalm 22 tone. I use it on somber holidays, and on Fridays. I'd thought for awhile that certain Psalms were "joined" to certain tones, but that isn't true. I don't think Psalm 22 is in the Lectionary except on Maundy Thursday, though; of course, if you sing the Monthly cycle from the BCP, you do get it at other times.

Interesting that for this tone, there is only one termination; I wonder why. My guess is that they knew a good thing when they heard it, and decided not to mess.






Here is an mp3 of Psalm 129 sung to Tone 2 by the St. David's Episcopal Church, Austin, Compline Choir. The translation is from the 1979 U.S. Book of Common Prayer; the mp3 includes an antiphon on either side of the Psalm.

1 "Greatly have they oppressed me since my youth," *
let Israel now say;

2 "Greatly have they oppressed me since my youth, *
but they have not prevailed against me."

3 The plowmen plowed upon my back *
and made their furrows long.

4 The LORD, the Righteous One, *
has cut the cords of the wicked.

5 Let them be put to shame and thrown back, *
all those who are enemies of Zion.

6 Let them be like grass upon the housetops, *
which withers before it can be plucked;

7 Which does not fill the hand of the reaper, *
nor the bosom of him who binds the sheaves;

8 So that those who go by say not so much as,
"The LORD prosper you. *
We wish you well in the Name of the LORD."

I actually haven't figured out how to sing the tones variously. What happens during the real Office at a convent or monastery is that there is an Antiphon proper to the day of the calendar year, and that Antiphon determines which tone is used for the Psalms that day. But of course, I don't have all that stuff when I do my commute-sing; I just wing it. It's not a bad system, and I still can't get over how much it improves my life to sing Morning Prayer every day. If I'm going through a hard time, I become calm and serene, and it seems to be an almost-permanent condition these days. I rarely get angry anymore, and that's a huge thing.

Which is why I want to come up with a reasonable system for others to use. Singing, rather than saying, the Office makes a big, big difference for me. I don't have to push myself to do it; I look forward to it every day. And it's definitely partly about the breathing, too; singing forces you to breathe deeply and be consistent and steady.

Tone 1

Spurred on by Derek's incessant nagging, I've begun some serious research on the topic of chant. I'll post an essay soon, but in the meantime, here's a .gif of Psalm Tone 1, with all its thousands of endings, courtesy of the Order of St. Benedict.







Here is an mp3 of Psalm 41 sung to Tone 1 (using termination "g", according to the OSB chart) by the St. David's Episcopal Church, Austin, Compline Choir. The translation is from the 1979 U.S. Book of Common Prayer; the mp3 includes an antiphon on either side of the Psalm.

1 Happy are they who consider the poor and needy! *
the LORD will deliver them in the time of trouble.

2 The LORD preserves them and keeps them alive,
so that they may be happy in the land; *
he does not hand them over to the will of their enemies.

3 The LORD sustains them on their sickbed *
and ministers to them in their illness.

4 I said, "LORD, be merciful to me; *
heal me, for I have sinned against you."

5 My enemies are saying wicked things about me: *
"When will he die, and his name perish?"

6 Even if they come to see me, they speak empty words; *
their heart collects false rumors;
they go outside and spread them.

7 All my enemies whisper together about me *
and devise evil against me.

8 "A deadly thing," they say, "has fastened on him; *
he has taken to his bed and will never get up again."

9 Even my best friend, whom I trusted,
who broke bread with me, *
has lifted up his heel and turned against me.

10 But you, O LORD, be merciful to me and raise me up, *
and I shall repay them.

11 By this I know you are pleased with me, *
that my enemy does not triumph over me.

12 In my integrity you hold me fast, *
and shall set me before your face for ever.

13 Blessed be the LORD God of Israel, *
from age to age. Amen. Amen.

And here is a really good, quick-and-dirty tutorial on chant notation. On the left is the old Gregorian style; on the right is modern musical notation.

In my opinion, one of the most important things to know - and one of the only things you can't figure out on your own without hearing the music - is the "podatus." Here it is, first in Gregorian notation:




As the tutorial says: "When one note is written above another note like this, the bottom note is sung first, and then the note above it." Here's the modern notation:





That one is used over and over again, and many other neume-types are created from it.