English Psalm Tones - Criticism Needed
  • awilliamsawilliams
    Posts: 101
    Here are the English psalm tones (and accompaniment) I have been working on lately. I would appreciate criticism. Feel free to use (and maybe send me a PM if you do).

    They are designed so that a psalm may be pointed once and the pointing apply to each tone.

    Thanks,
    Aaron

    Updated with fixed accompaniments 8/6/2014
    Updated with editorial recommendations 8/7/2014
    English Psalm Tones_accompaniment(Revised).pdf
    58K
    English Psalm Tones (Revised).pdf
    88K
    Thanked by 9CHGiffen lagunaredbob M. Jackson Osborn smvanroode Ben_Whitworth Andrew Motyka BGP Aristotle Esguerra Ben
  • M. Jackson Osborn
    Posts: 8,424
    Beautifully done!
    An Anglican couldn't have done it better!
    Every Catholic choirmaster and cantor should know all these by heart and be able to sing psalms to them pointing at sight.
    Thanked by 1awilliams
  • BGP
    Posts: 219
    Can you describe how the pointing of English is intended to work for these specific tones?
  • awilliamsawilliams
    Posts: 101
    Sure. Generally speaking, you find the final stress and count back two syllables.

    So, for example: (final stress in bold, count back two syllables.)

    I love the Lord for he has heard,
    the cry of my appeal.


    But, if the final stress falls on the penultimate syllable of the phrase, then you get:

    Glory to the Father and to the Son,
    and to the Holy Spirit.

    In this case, if the tone places more than one note on the final syllable, the termination formula is divided as noted in the footnotes.


    However, if the mediant faces a similar situation, like:

    The Lord is my light and my salvation,
    whom should I fear?

    Then no alteration is made to the mediant. Instead, both syllable (-va-tion) are sang on the same pitch.


    Finally, the flex is intended to be pointed by sight while singing. Basically, it always falls on the final stress of the line but if the stress falls on the penultimate syllable it is sung in a manner like the mediant.

    The Lord has sworn and oath he will not change: +
    "You are a priest for ever,
    a priest like Melchizedek of old."
  • BGP
    Posts: 219
    Thanks, that helps a lot, I will likely be using them. I like how they retain the Gregorian charicter while adapting to English.
    Thanked by 2awilliams Salieri
  • Andrew Coyne
    Posts: 42
    Why isn't your attachment visible? I would like to see it!
  • Andrew Coyne
    Posts: 42
    Oh I figured it out. Couldn't see from my mobile device. Can see now from m PC.
  • Aristotle EsguerraAristotle Esguerra
    Posts: 1,186
    Might I suggest this different treatment for terminations with a final two-note neume, so as to allow a less abrupt landing?
    1a2-proposal.pdf
    10K
    Thanked by 4CHGiffen awilliams M. Jackson Osborn Ben
  • awilliamsawilliams
    Posts: 101
    I had considered that but I worried that it would seem in discontinuity with the alteration of the three-note terminations and thus render the system less intuitive to those with no musical training.

    Still, it isn't really that difficult to comprehend and it does tend to smooth out some sections. I will play around with it a bit.

    Thanks for the recommendation!
  • CHGiffenCHGiffen
    Posts: 5,199
    Ari's suggested termination is quite idiomatic and has a much better "feel" to the singer, at least in my opinion.
    Thanked by 2awilliams M. Jackson Osborn
  • bonniebede
    Posts: 756
    I appreciate the work which has gone into this. Please forgive the basicness (if that is a word) of this question but I am confused and not very skilled. I understand the words you put under the psalm tone to explain the parts. The word 'towards' is only given one note, but it has two syllables. Is it your intention that the tone should have two notes at this point, and is this how you would then point the psalm? Sorry if this seems like a daft question, but I got confused at that point. Help?
  • chonakchonak
    Posts: 9,220
    This may be another case, bonniebede, in which we Americans and Britons are "separated by a common language". Some of us USians pronounce "towards" with one syllable as [tords].

    In any case, if you use two syllables for "towards", you can substitute "to", and the illustration will work properly.
  • bonniebede
    Posts: 756
    Thank you, that makes sense.
  • MarkThompson
    Posts: 768
    I also thought "towards" was a bad choice for the illustration. I'm from the Midwest and exclusively pronounce it with two syllables (/ˈtɔːərdz/, i.e. toh-erds). It took me a couple of seconds to figure out what was going on.
  • awilliamsawilliams
    Posts: 101
    I will change it to "to" and alter the two- note terminations this afternoon.

    We here in the South like as few syllables as possible. "Tords" "Mis'sippi"
  • CHGiffenCHGiffen
    Posts: 5,199
    We here in the South like as few syllables as possible. "Tords" "Mis'sippi"

    Depends upon what part of the South. There are "hills" and there are "hee-uls" ... but this reflects the tendency not to combine syllables (as in the examples heretofore given) but rather the tendency to make diphthongs out of simple vowels ... and to make them so drawn out that the diphthongs become, in effect, two syllables. Sometimes you just have to get in the car and "rah-eed" around and listen to what they-em thar others is tryin' to say-ee.
  • awilliamsawilliams
    Posts: 101
    I posted the updated PDF.

    Thanks for the recommendations. Keep them coming.
  • love_to_sing_psalms
    Posts: 22
    I like how you put the words that explain how the tones are used as the text. You will know by my following question that I am from a non-liturgical denomination. May I ask what your work/intent/purpose was in these scores? Are they a teaching tool for the traditional tones, is it a new way of dividing the score or pointing the text, or are they an innovation of your own inspired by the Gregorian tones?
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