Does anyone know of a good resource — online video especially desired — about Anglican chant? Either a how-to (better) or an explanation?
Anglican chant: how to?
Personal and cultural reflections, plus the District of Columbia and some Esperanto
You could do worse than printing Brien K. Meehan’s transcripts of a couple of Master Singers pieces, then singing along to it:
http://www.youtube.com/user/brienkmeehan
Regrettably, I don’t know of one online. If you were to go to the ‘berry, my father probably has some samples in his vinyl collection, and possibly sheet music. Maybe you could e-mail the music director for a local Anglican church?
If you do find anything online, I’d love to hear it!
By the way, got your phone call, sweetie. We are about to head out for vacation in the mountains, but will be sure to call you when we return. *hugs*
The basic idea is simple: the rhythm of Anglican Chant is the rhythm of natural speech. Begin by just reading the line to be chanted out loud. Then chant it, using the same rhythm.
@Kevin. I get the natural rhythm piece, but not how the tones fit the text. I always get off-kilter.
I’m going to look into this, because I’m a lover of Anglican chant and I think you’ve asked a darned good question. Yes, the chants are sung more or less to the rhythm of natural speech. They’re not difficult to sing if one understands that.
But the way they’re presented in many hymnals makes the process very confusing. Our new Congregational (NACCC) hymnal, Hymns for a Pilgrim People, has a wonderful psalter — the most comprehensive that I’ve seen in any of the newer hymnals — but the editors used diacriticals to indicate the rhythms of the chants. The accent marks are so tiny I can hardly read them, and in my opinion the use of them just muddied the waters. If I recall, the editors of the UCC and United Methodist hymnals employed the same process. Hymns of the Spirit (AUA, 1937) and the ’35 and ’48 Pilgrim Hymnals have very good, and much easier to comprehend, psalters.
All that having been said, there’s gotta be a good how-to-do-it resource somewhere. I’ve actually thought of compiling an easy-to-read psalter myself.
Kevin: Are you the former rector in Bangor? Hello from Maine.
Hi Scott,
What you want is Cynthia Bourgeault’s book Chanting the Psalms with the CD in the back. The link is: http://www.amazon.com/Chanting-Psalms-Practical-Guide-Instructional/dp/1590302575/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1241481608&sr=8-1. It has examples of Anglican chant as well as other varieties.
That said, I still can’t figure out how the Plainsong Psalter works, but maybe someday…
Blessings,
Nurya
@Nurya — thanks: I ordered a copy.