Anglican Chant for dummies

jefe

In my long life in the sacred music biz (conducting the Moravian choir; singing tenor in various professional choirs) I've gotten to use my extreme dependance on notation to guide my work. I played bass trombone in the L.A.Phil for 38 years (22K services) and played hundreds of movie soundtracks. In this part of the biz, you must be a reader. So I'll have to admit I'm unabashidly notationally dependent: a slave to notation. (I go to meetings of the NDI; Notationally Dependent International) Mea culpa. When I retired, there was no Moravian church handy so we joined the Holy Trinity Episcopal Church (est. 1854) in beautiful downtown Nevada City, Calif. At that time I happened to listen to Peter Hallock's Compline Choir broadcast and was hooked. The experience is mystical. Not in the here and now. I had to start and run my own groups to say good night to God. This is tough in a non-college town of 2500. I searched the internet for info and found a few examples of An Order for Compline. Most had an odd fit until finally, I found the 2005 edition of "An Order for Night Prayer, COMPLINE in traditional language published by the Royal School of Church Music for the Plainsong and Medieval Music Society" This one made sense. So I realized all the chant into a kind of Episcopal music notation that Peter Hallock and Carl Crosier used to good avail. Subsequently, I started, arranged for, and ran, four different Compline Choirs; not one is SATB. AATB/men's quartet; SSAT/all women; ATBarB/all men; AATB/family quartet(1 woman; 3 men).
It became immediately apparent that the most difficult 'part' to find of the Compline office were Psalm settings in modern notation. We use the St. Mark's Seattle paradigm with five changeable parts: Orison/Hymn/Psalm/Nunc dimittis/Anthem, sometimes not. The rest we do every time. I came onto this very site when I was grubbing around for Psalm settings. But you are all light years ahead of me. I tried to learn the ins and outs of Anglican Chant Psalter buying all the how-to books and collections. I'm thinking the few really great Anglican Chant Quires are dyed in the wool. For the rest of us who were not born into A.C.P. it is not worth the effort to get it right. My biggest reservation trying to chant the A.C.P. is the amount of mistakes (brass players call them 'clams') that wind up on the floor. I understand and can appreciate the concept. My groups are made up of mostly instrumentalists who can read music and read text but not both at the same time. So with the 10 chords on one page and all 56 verses of the Psalm on another page, it was hopeless. Instrumentalists need the text right next to the notation to function adequately. Also, time is so short with one rehearsal for Compline, so I had to devise something they could read down pronto. I started using Peter Hallock's Psalm Settings along with my own 10 chord chants that were developing, and an upgrade to BCP 1979 spec of Friere's 1902 Plainsong collection, plus a whole lot of Gregorian Chant. I finally attempted to put the Anglican Chant Psalter down into a notation more familiar to instrumentalists. I call it Anglican Chant for Dummies (who can read western music notation). Below is the list of Psalms I've arranged for our various groups. If you send me a street address I will send a thumb drive of everything I have. There is no cost involved.
regards, jeff reynolds ("jefe")

Psalm settings, most realized by Jeff Reynolds:
There are at least three types of settings: 1. realized Anglican chant; 2. realized Gregorian chant tones, some harmonized: through composed in plainsong style or harmonized.
Psalm 2:1-2 Tallis The 3rd tune ATTB
Psalm 3 Battishill Anglican chant ATTB realized JR
Psalm 4 JR TBarB trio through composed
Psalm 4 JR ATBarB through composed
Psalm 4 antiphon
Psalm 5 Walmisley Anglican chant ATBarB realized JR
Psalm 9 Luther SATB w/divisi/pf.
Psalm 16 Bairstow Anglican chant ATBarB realized JR
Psalm 20:1-9 JR Anglican chant ATBarB realized
Psalm 22:22-30 Tallis Anglican chant SATB realized JR
Psalm 23 Takis Orthodox chant tune and drone bass line
Psalm 23 in French through composed
Psalm 25:1-9 JR SATB
Psalm 30 in plainsong chant, old notation.
Psalm 30 JR Anglican chant SATB realized JR
Psalm 31:1-5 in plainsong, tone III realized JR
Psalm 31:1-5, 15-16 tone VIII-1Anglican chant realized JR
Psalm 31:1-6 plainsong tone III-5 realized JR
Psalm 31:1-5 JR realized chant mode I
Psalm 32 harmonized Anglican chant realized JR
Psalm 34:1-8 Ritchie Anglican chant SATB realized JR
Psalm 39 C. Hylton Stewart Anglican chant realized JR
Psalm 54 C. Hylton Stewart Anglican chant realized JR
Psalm 56 Hurd ATBarB Anglican chant realized JR
Psalm 65 1st half chords by Walmisley
Psalm 65 2nd half chords by Cruickshank
Psalm 68:1-10, 33-36 JR Anglican chant realized JR
Psalm 80:7-14 EFGH JR chant SATB realized JR
Psalm 84:1-6 Anglican chant tone I-2 use on Feb 2nd at Candlemas realized JR
Psalm 85:1-2, 8-13 harm JR SATB
Psalm 86 JR ground through composed ATBarB realized JR
Psalm 88 unfinished JR ATBarB
Psalm 91 Plainsong chant chords ABCD JR
Psalm 91 Farrant Anglican chant ATBarB realized JR
Psalm 91 Stanford Anglican chant ATBarB realized JR
Psalm 93:1-6 JR plainsong chant harm. SATB
Psalm 96 Hurd Anglican chant AATB realized JR
Psalm 99 Friere tone IV-4 plainsong brought to BCP text JR
Psalm 103:1-5, 8, 22 JR through composed ATBarB
Psalm 104:25-35, 37 JR plainsong mode 8 good on Pentecost
Psalm 105:1-6, 37-45 JR plainsong EFGH SATB
Psalm 114 Gregorian chant, tone tp realized JR
Psalm 117 JR harm. in whole tone scale
Psalm 118:1-10 Holy Cross Hermitage ATTB Russian Ortho JR
Psalm 119:17-24 plainsong tone VI realized JR
Psalm 121 Davies AATB Anglican chant realized JR
Psalm 121 Nicholson SATB tone V realized JR
Psalm 122 Nicholson SATB tone VIII-2 realized JR
Psalm 128 Hurd Anglican chant
Psalm 130 JR Orthodox chant harmonized through composed in the style of Igor Stravinsky ATBarB
Psalm 130 Part TTBB no acc.
Psalm 134 Tordoff Anglican chant realized JR
Psalm 134 Palestrina contrapuntal arr. ATBarB JR
Psalm 134 JR harm. plainsong tone VIII-1 realized JR
Psalm 134 JR 2 part harm. Gregorian chant mode I-1 JR
Psalm 138 Briggs plainsong tone III-2 brought up to BCP text JR
Psalm 148 & 149 Greek Ortho Plagal 2nd mode T/Bass drone JR
Psalm 149 Stanford SATB harm. Anglican chant realized JR
Psalm 149 Briggs Friere 1902 plainsong tone III-5 old notation
Psalm 149 Briggs Friere 2011 plainsong tone II-5 updated to BCP
Psalm 150 Goss Anglican chant SATB realized JR
Psalm 150 Villanueva down a whole step for ATBarB JR

Psalm settings for Voces angelorum, unison to SSAT:
Psalm 4 JR SSAA through composed
Psalm 4 JR BCP 1979 plainsong tone II-1, trebles
Psalm 8 PRH unison through composed chant, trebles
Psalm 23 PRH SSAT through composed
Psalm 25:1-9 BCP 1979 unison plainsong tone II-1 appropriate on Advent I
Psalm 31:1-5 BCP 1979 unison plainsong tone III-5 two keys: G and A
Psalm 31:1-5 BCP 1979 unison with Gloria Patri
Psalm 33:1-11 PRH BCP 1979 SSAA with antiphon
Psalm 72:1-7, 10-14 Spriggs BCP 1979 unison chant
Psalm 84:1-6 plainsong tone I-2 unison use on Feb 2nd for Candlemas trebles.
Psalm 91 BCP 1979 JR harmonized (SAA) tone VIII-1
Psalm 93 BCP 1979 JR harmonized (SA) tone VIII-1
Psalm 104: 25-32, 35-37 BCP 1976 PRH SSAA through composed use at Pentecost.
Psalm 107:1-7, 33-37 BCP 1979 update Friere unison tone I-2
Psalm 116:1, 10-17 BCP 1979 Blow assigned for Maundy Thursday, unison trebles
Psalm 118:1-10 Russian Ortho SSAA
Psalm 121 BCP 1979 Davies SSAA with Gloria Patri
Psalm 126 BCP 1976 PRH SSAA
Psalm 130 BCP 1976 PRH unison trebles
Psalm 134 BCP 1979 Tordoff Anglican chant SSAA
Psalm 134 BCP 1979 JR trebles (SA) tone I-1
Psalm 134 BCP 1979 unison trebles tone I-1
Psalm 149 BCP 1979 upgrade from Friere 1902 unison tone III-5
Psalm 134 & 4 BCP 1976 PRH SSAA

chonak

To pique interest, would you care to post a psample psalm or two?

M. Jackson Osborn

Singing chant at top of page or facing page with text below or on facing page is not at all difficult. One simply memorises one's part of the chant and then concentrates on the text with its pointing. I'm surprised that this would be a stumbling block to anyone with the background that your people seem to have.

Do, though, post some examples of your work. I'm sure that they would be of interest to many.

jefe

Osborn, you forget that instrumentalists are monodexterous: notes or words; take your pick. Here are some samples:

Richard Mix

notes or words; take your pick.

I think that was MJO's precise point. ;-)

Steve Collins

Here is an example of Anglican chant as we use it here. (I may have posted this on another discussion previously.) Through-composing takes way too much time and paper. It is MUCH easier to memorize the notes (as MJO suggested) whether it's a single vocal line or the entire accompaniment, and then simply follow the pointing within the text.

N.B. NONE of the note values are strictly observed! Nor are all syllables treated as exactly the same beat value. Speech rhythm is used. The "whole note" is a reciting note, just as in Gregorian Psalmody. The notes in each cadence can each have as many syllables as suitable, or can keep the same syllable for multiple notes. The text rules the flow - smooth, and simple duple/triple subdivisions.

All of the "pointing" is available in MS Word and virtually all TrueType fonts. The vertical lines represent the bar-lines, as do the double vertical lines, and the "degree" symbol denotes movement between the notes within a measure of the cadence. It's really quite simple!

CHGiffen

The pointing system that Steve Collins uses is quite similar to the one I use. However, I use a bullet (•) instead of the degree symbol as it seems much more legible when singing. Note also that when one syllable is assigned to both notes of a measure that syllable is best rendered in (bold) italic. Thus, pointing as Steve Collins does, I would have:

Eripe me, Dómine, ab | hómi•ne | malo:
a viro in-| í•quo | libe•ra | me.
Qui cogitavérunt mi-| lítias • in | corde:
tota die | consti•tu-| é•bant | prǽlia.

Notes:
1. Rather than type "hyphen space bullet space" between syllables of a word, as in "libe- • ra", I prefer to type only a bullet (with no space before and after): "libe•ra".

2. When a bullet comes between syllables of two words, then it is typed as "space bullet space", viz.: "lítias • in".
However, in this example, I would prefer to avoid three syllables "lí-ti-as" followed by one syllable "in" and move the "-as" syllable to the next note, obtaining: "líti•as in".

Here is an example (in English) of how I do things:

The sorrows of my | heart • have in-| creased; *
bring me | out | of • my | troubles.
Look upon my ad-| versi•ty and | misery *
and for-| give • me | all • my | sin.

M. Jackson Osborn

...ad-| versi.ty and | misery *

I will quibble ever so respectfully with this on a minor point (pun intended!).
Puntting '.ty and' on the second note here puts an automatic accent on 'ty'.
In my opinion 'ad-|versity . and | misery*' would be preferable - this way 'adversity' is sungen as a graceful triplet and 'and' bounces then to 'misery'. Do you see my point? It's always (or nearly always) better to change notes as well as 'measures' on an accented syllable, or, at least to avoid doing so on the unaccented syllable of a multi-syllable word.

CCooze

I think that that could very well depend upon the music that it is going with.
I automatically thought of the chant verses for the Lenten introits, and "-ty" (at least in th soprano part) would not be receiving any sort of accent.

Oh course, one can always sing things incorrectly, but hopefully a MD would instruct to smooth out such a syllable, as sometimes has to be done with plenty of classical music when people aren't giving the text the attention to detail that it is due.

M. Jackson Osborn

...the music that it is going with.

The music under discussion is Anglican chant.
Therefore, I shall stick by my point, borne of long experience and usage.
Of course, your observations in the second paragraph are spot on.
Except that, in the case of Anglican chant (or, for that matter, Gregorian psalm tones) I have seen enough highly amusing pointing to conclude that too many choirmasters, whether Catholic or other, are pitifully artless and ignorant in the correct matching of psalms to chant - not to mention a beautiful rhetorical delivery of text.

CHGiffen

I will quibble, ever so slightly, too. In examining 'Look upon my adversity and misery' for the accents, whether principle or secondary, and following the axiom (which I don't entirely agree with) that there is an accent every two or three syllables in common speech, I read this as:

Look upon my adversity and misery.

So, yes, I sense an accent (albeit secondary) on 'ty' of 'adversity' ... while 'and' is unstressed (in my reading of the text). Hence, my choice of "ad-! versi•ty and |misery" ... and I don't feel bad about putting 'ty' as the first of two syllables on a note which is the second beat of the measure in question, where the note itself is not as strong as the note on the first beat.

If one is to choose Jackson's pointing, then it seems to me that either
(1) The two or three rule for accents is being violated (I'm more or less okay with this), with the next accent after 'ver' in 'adversity and misery' occurring four syllables later on 'mi':

Look upon my adversity and misery.

(2) We have back-to-back accented syllables 'and' (presumably weak) & 'mi':(strong)in 'adversity and misery';

Look upon my adversity and misery.

Like it or not, Jackson's suggested pointing, with 'and' assigned by itself to the second note of the measure tends to suggest this interpretation of an accent on 'and' (as well as the accent on the following syllable 'mi' of 'misery'). The unfortunate effect is to promote what is a weak accent on 'and' to what sounds (at least to me, when it is sungen this way) like a strong accent:

Look upon my adversity and misery.

While my preference does put a (weak) accent on 'ty', I do feel that, with the following 'and' on the same note, this accent does not get promoted to a strong accent musically. And, as Corinne points out, a careful MD could indeed try to get singers to lessen any tendency to over-stress the 'ty'.

This is a situation, I believe, in which YMMV.

CCooze

The music under discussion is Anglican chant

Agreed. That's the (style of) music I was referring to, as well.

But I was (I thought obviously) referring to specific music, not simply the style.

CCooze

By the way, I do appreciate the bullets for pointing, Chuck.

I really don't like the use of italics, for any form of chanting psalms, as I always have to go through and underline them with a pencil so I can more-easily see what's going on.

Sometimes, though, the barlines (|) can be confused with the word "I", and so I often wish peop would use thicker/bold barlines to add contrast.

jefe

It looks as if I:
1. Opened a can of worms or
2. Kicked the ant farm.
I've had some folks PM for the list above and I will be supplying them with my wholly inadequate Psalm Settings. If you want the goods, PM me and specify whether you have Sibelius and if so, what version: i.e. Sib. 6 or Sib.7.5. If not, pdfs will be a much smaller file to send to you (without the possibility to transpose), by degrees as my Satellite Internet has a puny bandwidth. (my entire Compline file is 3 gigs, a large file)
I tried to open the files I posted above and could only access the first page. What's up with that? Can you open all the pages of the 9 files I posted? Lehmee noh if you can, or have a solution to posting multi page files.
jefe

CCooze

They each open without delay.

CHGiffen

Jefe, apparently the JPG file conversion only creates the first page and not the rest of a multipage score. Can you create PDF files and post them instead?

jefe

Charles, I tried posting pdf's long ago on here and they were rejected. What am I missing here? I'll give it another go with pdf's.
jefe

jefe

Alright, I replaced all the jpegs with pdf's and they will open on my computer. Yours? I'm not sure yet.
Thanks, Charles for the tip.
jefe

chonak

The PDFs look good here. Thanks.

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