The congregation will chant the psalms for the four Sundays of Advent.  For the past several months, cantors have been chanting the psalms with the congregation singing a response (sometimes this is called an antiphon or refrain).  To help the congregation learn how to read chant, we will use the same psalm tone (melody) for each of the four Sundays. 

For many reasons, some practical, some historical, the notation for chanting psalms is different to that use to sing hymns.  The information below explains how the notation works and will help you prepare for chanting the psalms.

What is the difference between chanting and singing?

Hymn singing takes a text and sets a specific rhythm to the words that is repeated during each verse.  The rhythms tend to fall in a specific meter or set of time values which match the natural stresses and accents of the words.  Think of the song “Amazing Grace”.  The meter is in ¾ (Three/Four).  This means that if you repeatedly count 1, 2, 3…1,2,3… and place a slight stress or accent on the “1”, you will feel the underlying pulse of the song.  This meter remains steady and each verse follows suit.

Example:      1   2    3        1      2     3         1      2     3          1       2     3         1       2    3

                                    A-    maz-        ing    Grace     how   sweet          the     sound     that

                                 When we’ve      been   there       ten     thou -        sand   years,    bright

But in chanting, there is no forced meter or rhythm.  The musical rhythm of the text is the same as how you would naturally speak the sentence.  The lengths of the sentences vary and the amount of syllables between stresses varies as well. 

Example:  (Accents in bold letters)

I        was  glad when they    said  to      me, Let   us       go    to the house of   the Lord.

Now our    feet   are   stand-  ing  with-  in   your gates, O    Je- ru-  sa-   lem.

Since the pitches and rhythms are so repetitive in hymn singing, it is easy to notate the words against the notes.  With chanting, it is difficult to place the words against the different pitches, so the following practice of notation has developed.  The psalm tone (the actual pitches in order) is printed above the verse to be chanted.  There are special marks or points in the music and in the text that help one match the words to the appropriate pitch while keeping the natural rhythm of the words.

The first three notes are called the intonation.  For Advent, we will only sing these notes once at the very beginning of the Psalm.  Those notes and the accompanying syllables will be enclosed with brackets  [    ].

• The next note is called the Reciting Note (RN) and looks like this:  |=|   It is used for all text up to the / symbol.
• Words following the / symbol are sung syllabically to each note.
• Parenthetical notes are only used when needed.
• The asterisk in the text is equivalent to the barline in the music that divides the two musical sections.
• Notes indicate pitch.  Natural word accents supply the rhythm.

Example:

• [ I was glad]  when they  /  said to me, *

                                   “Let us go to the  / house of the LORD.

• Now our feet are  /  stand-ing *

                                    With-in your gates,  / O Je-ru-sa-lem.