I've pointed about 75% of the NAB psalms for anglican chant if that would help anyone.

Noel - could you put an example of your pointings up here? I find very little satisfaction in anything other than Coverdale, or, if one must have something more 'modern', the Rite II psalter of the 1979 BCP. I'm not congenitally opposed to modern translations: it's just that most of them seem really to lack the imagery and musical pace of older ones. Even King James or Douai have less of poetry and rhythmic spirit than Coverdale.

fnj

Thank you for the tutorial page on Anglican chant.

I'm working at a generically-contemporary Episcopal church. I know little about their Anglican heritage, but I'm working (with support of the leadership) to introduce traditional music (the blind leading the blindfolded). They responded well to a bit of Gregorian chant, but I think we need Anglican chant, of course- I just don't know how to do it.
We currently recite the psalm unison- I'd like to chant it, maybe starting in Advent.

Where else can I find good instruction on this?
Any multi-media?

I wrote the page of instruction one evening before a class teh next day, tried to cover everything you need to know....to teh best of my knowledge.

Artlessness...yes, a very good description...not as bad as the GOOD NEWS BIBLE....if I could find a copy it would be interesting to see what they did to the psalms.

The responsorial psalm has to be the biggest mistake made in the NO liturgy. Kind of decision you make then wake up the next morning realizing that expecting untrained parish musicians to sing the psalms is like expecting a priest to say Mass in spanish phonetically.

An embarrassment to all. But the priest can seek out training, talk with the people and develop fluency and understanding.

As far as learning how to sing Anglican chant there is a set of CD's from england....put them in the dar CD player and listen, listen, listen.

That's how I learned.


People singing the pulp missal psalms get nothing.

Re: Fr. Kelly Chant Accompaniments

The main issue here is that the antiphon texts are about to change, and Fr. Kelly will be updating the antiphons using the new texts. So the effort isn't being made right now to do much more with the antiphons, although the resource is obviously incomplete.

Look forward in the very near future to a free resource that sets the texts of the new translation, with accompaniments, and with psalm verses. I commiserate with Aaron above, as I am doing this work also for my own program, but I do it in sections of the year, tailored to the needs of my program. We also sing with accompaniment, but I mostly improvise this on the spot.

So we're stuck in a holding pattern for now, but look forward to great things in the very near future!

Adam - I checked the 1982 again and it seems I was mistaken. All the Anglican chants in it (found at the front of the book, in S- numbers) are genuine. I assume that this is the book in use at the Episcopal parish you are serving. If you spend some private time singing randomly through some of these chants you should soon begin to make sense of the genre. If your parish is using the 1940 hymnal, then the chants are in the back. The chants of the 1982 book are printed in halves and quarters, whereas those in the 1940 are printed in wholes and halves. This does not in any way affect performance practice. The speech rhythm remains the same regardless of the notation. If you follow Noel's tutorial above you should soon feel at home and begin to interiorize how Anglican chant works and how beautiful it can be as a vehicle for experiencing psalmody. It is essentially like a harmonized psalm tone. Recordings may be very helpful in becoming really familiar with AC. EMI has several volumes of AC as sung by King's College, Cambridge- (The Psalms of David, vol. 1, 2, etc.). You could also search out recordings by the choir of St Thomas' Church, NY, for an American performance. In addition to the hymnals 1982 and 1940, a very good source for Anglican Chants is The Anglican Psalter, edited by John Scott and published by Canterbury Press. You can receive it in one or two days from Lois Fyfe in Atlanta. This is the psalter in use at St Paul's Cathedral in London. I hope this is helpful in your situation.

A liitle addendum: Noel's tutorial uses a 'single chant' for an example, namely:
Recitation note | three . note | cadence || Recitation note | and . a | five . note | cadence ||.

You will notice many such single chants in your hymnal, and many that are twice as long and are called 'double chants'. These repeat the pattern of a single chant twice and are especially good for when one has a greater number of psalm verses; the single chant taking one verse to complete, and the double chant taking two verses to complete.

oh- and yes, the 1982 hymnal is what we have.

Is your choir 'up front' (actually 'in choir'), or in a west choir gallery?

I'm embarrassed to say that, because of the weirdness of our worship space (a wedding chapel we are renting) the answer is netiher.
The organ is on the left side of the "sanctuary" (as viewed from the pews) such as it is, and the choir sits in the first few pews of that side. When we sing a choir-only piece, we get up, walk around, and fill the very limited space between the front pew and the first step of the sanctuary. It is less than ideal.