1.
When you hear the organ chord, the "gathering chord,"
take a big breath and start chanting. Some others may choose to
enter with the organ, but all can be accommodated.
2.
The first couple of words should be sung fairly slowly, but then
you can start to pick up speed. The only exception to the rule
occurs when the half verse is very long. In this instance, begin
quickly and start to slow down as you approach the end of the
verse.
3.
Verses are often broken by commas and semicolons. There are two
schools of thought here. One school says that you must break after
every punctuation mark, even if there is only one word ("Lo!");
the other school says that we must observe the "sense of
the words." There will be different interpretations of the
"sense." All of the above options must be accommodated
in the same performance.
4.
As you reach the cadential figure, stop and take a breath even
if the sense of the words moves on-devotees of the "sense"
school will continue anyway. There are two schools of thought
here. The "Bump and Brawl" school sings the cadential
figure slowly, metrically and loudly.
The
"Speech Rhythm" school tries to sing the text in speech
rhythm. The members of this group can always be identified by
the way in which they roll their eyes at the B group.
The
"Speech Rhythm" group often has difficulty agreeing
how a passage should be read. They are fond of having the choir
recite the passage without music. The variety of results usually
makes the B group roll their eyes.
5.
Always be ready for the Anglican chant "wild card,"
which consists of the dreaded marginal rubric "2nd,"
directing that there is an uneven number of verses and the 1st
half must be dropped. The general result is usually 80% go to
the 2nd half, 20% forget and return to the 1st half. All choir
members agree that King David is at fault.
6.
Singers should be ready for Puccini-esque touches in the organ
accompaniment. The mention of a bird in the text will often produce
a twitter on a 1 2/3' Waldvogel, while the mention of any large
animal may produce a blast on the 64' Bombarde. The mention of
sheep always gets the Vox humana. Smiling knowingly at these touches
is considered sophisticated in most choir circles.
7.
All chanting should be concluded with the choirmaster running
his/her fingers through his/her remaining hair in despair and
the choir members sitting sheepishly with their heads bowed.
n
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