Simple Meinrad Tones?
  • G
    Posts: 1,397
    Does anyone know, is there a downloadable PDF anywhere of the simpler Meinrad tones, the ones with only 2 members as used in the Mundelein Psalter?

    TIA

    (Save the Liturgy, Save the World)
  • Adam Bartlett
    Posts: 533
    As a clarification, the psalm tones that you mention are not Meinrad tones. These tones have been composed by Fr. Samuel Weber, a monk of St. Meinrad Archabbey, but they are not used at St. Meinrad, although they are used at the Mundelein Liturgical Institute and in other places.

    I've attached a PDF that I have of these tones which, I believe, was included in Fr. Weber's distribution of his proper settings at one point.
    Samuel Weber Psalm Tones.pdf
    40K
  • G
    Posts: 1,397
    Thank you very much, as much for this: "the psalm tones that you mention are not Meinrad tones," -- as for the PDF.

    I had misunderstood, thinking Father had adapted the Meinrad tones in his work.

    (Save the Liturgy, Save the World)
  • francis
    Posts: 10,668
    These are great, Adam. Thanks for posting. I have another set that I thought were Meinrad too.
  • mjballoumjballou
    Posts: 993
    Thanks for posting these, Adam.

    Actually the preparatory material is more interesting to me than the tones themselves. I've been congitating about psalmody and what makes monastic chant so irresistible to listeners - even people who can't stand anything about religion. And I've come to the conclusion it's the pacing that makes the difference. Particularly note point 7 of Fr. Weber's guide to psalmody - pauses at the cadences. The middle pause is the key. Most psalmody outside monastic houses just barrels along to the end of each line. Yeah, there's a pause between lines, but I think the pause at the mediant cadence is crucial. There's the sense of repose that listeners are responding to.

    Note that Fr. Weber directs that the pause after the final cadence is only half the length of the pause at the mediant cadence. And that's a rhythmic distinction that is entirely different from the Western art music most of us are schooled in - in fact, it's the opposite.

    Try it. Because it's counter-intuitive, this pacing takes a real act of will on the part of the director and singers. However, the result is remarkable. You're no longer "chewing" your way through the verses.
  • Pes
    Posts: 623
    Adam

    That is a good little primer that, at least as far as I can tell from skimming it, is applicable to all psalm tones.

    MJ

    You're exactly right. The middle pause is crucial -- I've heard recommendations that it be as long as it takes one to say "Pater noster" silently. If you've ever sung in a resonant space with reverberation longer than two seconds, you also realize that the pause is often the length of time it takes for the sound of the first half of the verse almost to melt away. That, I think, aids comprehension. It also makes the psalmody much more conducive to reflection.

    Psalmody is a little like playing golf. If you're agitated, anxious, or "busy" internally, it will show up in your singing. The quiet and peaceful pace of the monks is a constant sign of contradiction to the anxieties of (especially urban) secular life.
  • mjballoumjballou
    Posts: 993
    Pes - that explains why I could never master golf, but love reading books about it.
  • G
    Posts: 1,397
    "Actually the preparatory material is more interesting to me than the tones themselves. I've been congitating about psalmody and what makes monastic chant so irresistible to listeners - even people who can't stand anything about religion. And I've come to the conclusion it's the pacing that makes the difference. Particularly note point 7 of Fr. Weber's guide to psalmody - pauses at the cadences. The middle pause is the key. Most psalmody outside monastic houses just barrels along to the end of each line. Yeah, there's a pause between lines, but I think the pause at the mediant cadence is crucial. There's the sense of repose that listeners are responding to."

    Fr Weber is adamant about the pauses -- I can't express it in anything like the terms he used, and I'm probably remembering it wrong, but it has to do with the chant, with two members, being a dialogue, that we have to stop and listen to what God has said before we know what to answer.
    And it is like pulling teeth to get my choir to do it.
    Because the big problem, at least IME, with most renditions of chant is that they drag, get slower and slower and slower and finally bog down utterly, I think we musicians have a tendency to try to drive it a little too fast.
    I think many years ago, Jeffrey wrote about how once his schola really KNEW a chant, they would sing it pell-mell if not reined in.

    I am struck, over and over, and over how the best liturgical practice, in music as other things, is about moderation, about checks and balances, about fighting ones natural tendencies, ones current affect; in short, about self-abnegation.

    Incidentally, anyone who has the opportunity to share in even a few hours of workshop, lecture, spiritual direction, WHATEVER, from Fr Weber? TAKE IT.

    (Save the Liturgy, Save the World)
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