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Canticle s such as the Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis may also be sung in this manner.


HOW CHANTING WORKS


To explain how chanting works, it is best to use an example. Above is a single chant. Below are the first four verses of the Magnificat , with the text coloured to show which words correspond to which notes in the music ("the chant").
:1. My soul doth ' magnify the ' Lord : And my spirit hath re'joiced in ' God my ' Savior.
:2. For He ' hath re'garded : the ' lowliness ' of His ' handmaiden.
:3. For be'hold from ' henceforth : all gene'rations shall ' call me ' blessed.
:4. For He that is mighty hath ' magnified ' me : and ' holy ' is His ' Name.

Precise rules for chanting very according to the particular psalter in use. The rules used in the ''Parish Psalter'' (one of the most popular) are as follows:
  • The chant is sung to the words of one verse.

  • The barlines in the music correspond to the inverted commas (called "pointing marks") in the text.

  • The double barline in the music corresponds to the colon in the text.

  • Where there is one note (a Semibreve ) to a bar, all the words for the corresponding part of the text are sung to that one note.

  • Where there are two notes (two Minim s) to a bar, all the words ''except the last syllable'' are sung to the first minim. The final syllable is sung to the second minim. Where more than the last syllable is to be sung to the second minim, a dot is used (much like a pointing mark) in the text to indicate where the note change should occur.


There are various additional rules and terminology which apply occasionally:
  • Sometimes the second minim of a pair is replaced by two Crotchet s. In this case, the relevant syllable is slurred across the two notes. When the two minims are replaced with a dotted-minim and a crotchet in one or more (but not all) of the musical parts, the last syllable is sung by those parts on the note having the value of the crotchet, but in time with the other parts (and it is likely that a dot will be required in the text to move the other parts back from the last syllable so that the crotchet is musically functional). It is a common mistake to sing the crotchet as an isolated rythmic feature.

  • For longer Psalm s, it is common for two chants to be combined into a "double chant". In this case, verses alternate between the first half and second half.

  • A chant is divided into "quarters", each of which has the music for half a verse. Thus a double chant has four quarters (hence the name), whilst a single chant has two quarters. Somewhat rarer are "triple" or "quadruple chants", containing six or eight quarters spanning three or four verses.

  • Where a psalm has an odd number of verses, an odd numbered verse will be marked "2nd part". This means if the chant is sung to a double chant, that verse is to be sung to the 2nd half of the chant, rather than the first. After that, verses continue to alternate between chants. It is common for such a change to be used to signal a thematic shift in the words of the psalm.


The most common chants used are double chants, due to the extra musical interest they provide. It is only for very short psalms (half a dozen verses or fewer) that single chants are used.

A further stylistic technique is used in cathedrals and churches which use an Antiphonal style of singing. In this case, the choir is divided into two equal half-choirs, each having representation for the four musical parts, and usually facing one another. They are typically named ''decani'' (usually the half-choir to the south side) and ''cantoris'' (usually the half-choir to the south side). Then the choir may employ either of the techniques known as ''quarter-chanting'' and ''half-chanting''. In quarter-chanting, the side that starts (usually decani) sing the first quarter of the chant (and thus the first half of the verse). The side that did not start (usually cantoris) then sing the second quarter of the chant (and thus the second half of the verse). This sequence then repeats. In half-chanting (which is more true to antiphonal singing in the Gregorian Style ), decani sing the first two quarters of the chant, and cantoris the next two quarters (so that each half-choir sings a whole verse at a time).


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