Chanted prayers

[Robin Elizabeth]

Hello to all,

I'm new here and I hope I'm posting this in the right forum.

I would like to start chanting my private prayers instead of just saying them and I'm not sure how to go about learning how. I am talking about morning and evening prayers, although eventually I'd like to do Matins, Vespers etc.

Does anyone know of a CD that would have the daily prayers chanted? Or a book of instructions?

I'm not talking about anything really complicated, just something simple, but beautiful.

Thanks so much for your help.

[Katherine]

I ordered the following CD last year, and find it very helpful to listen to if I'm unable to say my prayers myself (due to health reasons). Nevertheless, the monks chant the prayers in English, and it will give you an idea on how to chant them yourself.

http://www.archangelsbooks.com/proddetail.asp?prod=HCMMORNPRY%2DCD

Over the past couple of years, I have been attending a convent in the southern parts of NSW, Australia, and the Abbess taught me how to chant the prayers / Psalter etc. Actually in essence, she didn't really "teach" me. The first time I read, I read the prayers like I was reading a book aloud. She then quietly said to me, "No, say them in one voice, one tone ..." So I opened my mouth and said them in "one voice" - and that was my lesson :-)

It's not hard. You can read them in the voice you are most comfortable in, I think. Hope this helps.

[M.C. Steenberg]

I would like to start chanting my private prayers instead of just saying them and I'm not sure how to go about learning how. I am talking about morning and evening prayers, although eventually I'd like to do Matins, Vespers etc.

Does anyone know of a CD that would have the daily prayers chanted? Or a book of instructions?

Dear Elizabeth,

Most CD's and recordings are of choirs singing the services in liturgical settings -- e.g. vespers in a church, a service of the all-night vigil, etc. But when one sings the prayers alone at one's prayer corner at home, one tends to use far simpler settings. Attempting to sing the services at home as you hear them on a CD can often become quite frustrating.

My recommendation is usually to find a recording of the simplest setting of the service you are able, and to use this to learn the melodies to two or three of the central prayers of your own home rule (or to take a tape-recorder to your church, with a blessing, to record these hymns as sung in your community - thus uniting the tunes you sing at home to those of your parish). Even among the most musically capable and typikon-orientated, the bulk of most services at home are chanted on a single note, rather than with full intonation. But to be able to mark the central moments of these services (e.g. 'Lord, I have cried...' and 'O Gentle Light...' at vespers; 'The Lord is God...' and the Doxology at matins, etc.) with the tones or common melodies can be helpful in one's prayers.

INXC, Matthew

[Robin Elizabeth]

Thanks to you all for your input.

"Attempting to sing the services at home as you hear them on a CD can often become quite frustrating."

That's been my problem. I have a lot of recordings that are beautiful and in my previous parish I was in the choir and I know a lot of the liturgical chants, but they aren't appropriate for at home.

Thanks for the CD recommendation sparrowshell - it sounds like what I was looking for.

[Herman Blaydoe]

There are many musical traditions. Greek chant is different from Russian is different from Carpatho-Russian is different from Arabic.

Of those I am familiar with, many choose to simply chant monotone. I like the Carpatho-Russian style which is very simple and easy to do. Basically, the first phrase is chanted monotone, the second phrase is sung one step higher until the last three syllables. The first syllable is up one tone, then descending down on the last two to the original tone. Or like this:

First phrase on G: GGGGGGGGGG (each letter is a syllable)
Second phrase on A until the end: AAAAAAAABAG

Then repeat as necessary. It may seem a little monotonous, but we should be concentrating on the prayer itself, not performing a concert!

[Mikhail R.]

If we chant our private prayers, is it preferred that the style/melody of our chant be an established one? Or is there no preference?

When I was a catechumen, I got so used to hearing prayers chanted in the liturgy that I naturally started chanting most prayers: morning, evening, meals, psalms, etc. I didn't try to follow a particular form of chanting, I just chanted however naturally flowed. I assumed most people chanted this way, unless they were trained. Was I wrong to assume this? Would it be better if I try to learn a standard chant?

To be honest, I like the way I chant already. It is simple and I really only have one melody, mostly. I especially like how it feels natural and organic. It's as if the words and chant were part and parcel. They seem to fit so well to me. :)

[Herman Blaydoe]

For private devotions, there is no general guidance that I am aware of. One might check with one's priest or spiritual father, otherwise what is comfortable is probably best.