Psalm sheet music: Go Thou And Do Likewise
  • amindthatsuits
    Posts: 860
    My (very young) choir director normally writes his own Psalm tones, and does so very well. Often enough, he includes others from composers he seems to know personally but I have never heard of. And I know a lot about Gregorian Chant. Whatever format, the verses can often be tricky, especially if the composer puts the melodic change (split point) at seemingly different point at the end of each line--if the logic of breaking up the word or phrase seems to shift, for reasons of melody or sense.

    This week he has me doing something by Jeff Ostrowski. All I can say is, "Go, thou, and do likewise."

    Yes, of course you should learn how to point Psalms. There is a lot of great music using the older system, and it will stay that way. But going forward, as everyone likes to say these days, this takes a burden off an inexperienced cantor, or even an experienced one.

    Kenneth

    http://www.ccwatershed.org/media/pdfs/12/05/21/09-38-25_0.pdf
  • BenBen
    Posts: 3,114
    Maybe it's just me, but this experienced cantor strongly prefers pointed texts in most situations. I would have loved if Jeff had done an edition without the music written out in the verses. Pointed text, to my eyes, is much, much easier to read.

    I also thought the same as a less experienced cantor, but I began my singing with things like this, so I may be a different case than many (most?) others.
    Thanked by 2Adam Wood Andrew_Malton
  • Richard MixRichard Mix
    Posts: 2,799
    It's not just Ben. The next step is to write the melody afresh for each stanza of congregational hymns umm, spell out the words phonetically...

    For those who can learn by making these versions it's bound to be a good exercise; they might also benefit from writing in time signatures and writing out transpositions.
  • Adam WoodAdam Wood
    Posts: 6,482
    This is going to sound like a commercial for my new employer, and I'm sorry about that. I know I have a conflict of interest in saying this, but this is a board full of opinions so, I'll just state my experience here. If you think I'm too biased, feel free to disregard.

    I have struggled with pointed Psalms forever, in both Roman and Anglican styles. I have always thought it was me. (There are several critical and relatively easy musical skills I lack, so one more seemed like just one more.)

    However, I have recently been using and exploring the books I am currently tasked with selling - the Lumen Christi Simple Gradual and the Lumen Christi Missal. I got a chance to sing settings from these books as part of a choir (in Phoenix, under @matthewj), as a director (at my own small parish), and on my own at home and in the office.

    I have found the pointed Psalms (found in the Choir Edition of the Simple Gradual), and the tones they are set to, to be easier to sing than almost anything else in this general category. They go beyond "intuitive" - they are better than my own intuition (at least) and rise to the level of near-perfection.

    I have always been a fan of Bartlett's work, but listening to him (and others) go on-and-on about how certain melodic formulae (from the Latin corpus) don't mesh with English well, and the problems of speech rhythm... well, frankly - I always thought it was basically a bunch of mumbo-jumbo. And, to some extent, I still do.

    But singing the tones and pointed Psalms crafted by Bartlett for the Lumen Christi series has really given me pause to think about the nature of text accents and melodic shape. He's really on to something, and the result is easier to sing than any pointed Psalm +tone I've ever used, and WAY WAY WAY easier to sing than syllabically-notated engravings like those above (which are darn-near required when the pointing is awkward or the melodic formula isn't suitable to English accent patterns).
  • donr
    Posts: 971
    Adam, I agree with you on the ease of singing the Lumen Christi series melodies.

    I can't wait for Adam's Full English Propers.
  • amindthatsuits
    Posts: 860
    Ah, yes, I see that things will always be thus on the list. Thanks for your opinions, but, you know, pointed Psalms aren't going anywhere. I am just saying that, as against ones that are badly set, the way that Jeff Ostrowski does it is infinitely more helpful. Yes, of course, properly set Psalms with gloriously trained singers are a wonderful ideal, but when I asked on this list some time ago what MDs want in a cantor, the most common reply was "that they show up." Given that that is the actual standard, I am merely saying that the MD prepared for any contingency might want to consider that someone with a nice voice whose main qualification is that they show up could use all the help the MD can provide.

    The perfect is the enemy of the good.

    Kenneth
Add a Comment