Simple English psalm tones without a moving tenor, reciting tone?
  • Michael_Osborne
    Posts: 29
    Preferably inspired by the Gregorian Tones.
  • chonakchonak
    Posts: 9,272
    The late Fr. Columba Kelly, OSB, created these psalm tones inspired by the Gregorian modes for singing with Office psalms in the Grail translation:
    https://www.saintmeinrad.org/media/1478/meinrad_psalm_tones.pdf
  • GerardH
    Posts: 678
    The Meinrad tones have a moving reciting tone, so don't fit what OP describes. I have definitely seen a collection as described, but I can't remember where. I'll have a trawl through my files when I get the chance. I recall "Way of Beauty" tones being a collection of tones for English, but I don't remember what they were like.
  • davido
    Posts: 1,213
    Check out the tones by Aristotle Esguerra.

    There was also a set by Sales and Gertkin that went along with a Liturgical Press missallette. Not sure where you would find those
  • GerardH
    Posts: 678
    I found the ones I was looking for - the tones by forum member Fr Aaron Williams ( @awilliams ). There's a previous discussion here, and the same tones are used in his Vesperal, discussed here. I've attached another version also by him, but I can't find where I found it. The project went through a few revisions.

    Hopefully it's useful to you!
    Psalm-tones-Adapted.pdf
    38K
  • Aristotle EsguerraAristotle Esguerra
    Posts: 1,190
    Here are my versions in both modern and square notation.
    English-Gregorian-Psalm-Tones-Esguerra.pdf
    193K
    Thanked by 4CHGiffen Roborgelmeister Marc Cerisier cantarealseñor
  • Michael_Osborne
    Posts: 29
    Thanks for all the resources everyone!
  • chonakchonak
    Posts: 9,272
    Sorry for my misunderstanding!

    Just to check whether I'm catching on to Michael's request:

    Are you looking for psalm tones in which the reciting note is the same in both halves of the tone? That's easy enough: the eight standard Gregorian psalm tones have that feature.


  • CantorCole
    Posts: 85
    Why were so many English tones composed with a moving/shifting tenor? It doesn't make sense to me. Is to accommodate the prevalence harmonics?
  • chonakchonak
    Posts: 9,272
    Some of the English tones were composed with more than two segments, in order to accommodate the formatting of the Grail-translation psalms in the LOTH in stanzas up to six lines long. A pattern with four to six segments, all on the same reciting tone, probably did not seem very appealing.
    Thanked by 1Liam
  • Michael_Osborne
    Posts: 29
    I'm planning on using a Gregorian tone for the introit antiphon and then a very simple English tone for the psalm so people can join in on the introit at daily Mass on Fridays. I always use Gregorian tones at all other times.
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