What Chant are You?

No, I have not found a new online quiz, though it would be a novel idea. Instead, I am reflecting on a conversations I have had with others regarding chant. Just in Western Christianity, chant is a broad term covering many styles and the constant elaboration on chants have obscured the difference between a "chant" and "song."

Here are some styles that have been used recently at my church:

• Anglican Chant (by far my favorite)
• Simplified Anglican Chant (now explain the difference to a lay person...)
• Plainsong (a unison psalm chant based on 8 tones, collect tones can be considere part of this)
  

These three all use a reciting note for most of a line with notes changing for the end of a line. Where Plainsong is unison, unless harmonized by a choir/organ, Anglican Chant is harmonized as for a choir.

Other styles act differently:

• Gregorian chant,
  
• Old Roman Chant
• Ambrosian chant
  

We call them chant, yet they are almost a stand alone tune. At one point, there was likely more repeating chant on a psalm, but that fell away as musicians added more complex improvisations to the chant.

• We have also used Taize chant which returns to the repetitive idea, yet it is a repeated line and not a "repeating note" for the text.
• We have not used chant style by Joseph Gelineau, which is its own style of psalm chant.

And now, the final exercise:

Attempt to explain "chant" in a few lines for a church newsletter.

Do I know you?

Some who once were my loyal readers (all 1-2 of them, including myself), have likely wondered (or not), whatever happened to him? The working world having called, I found myself procrastinating from using my procrastination tools.

It should be noted here that the working world not only took away some time, it appears to exacted a toll on any limited writing style I may have once exhibited in my brief return to academia. This should be obvious by the shear length of the prior overly complex and run-on sentence.

Ability to write coherently aside, here is my somewhat brief wrap-up.

1. Music Director - St. Lawrence Episcopal Church, Libertyville, Illinois (no change).
2. Operations Coordinator - The Rotary Foundation of Rotary International, Evanston, Illinois. I was doing "temporary" work at the same place but am now employed directly by Rotary International. Attempting to explain what I actually do is both futile and requires an overly detailed description. In short - donor operations/recognition operations stuff.
3. I have moved north to Libertyville so I can walk to the church. It is easier to take the Metra from Lake Bluff to Evanston five times a week than to drive up to Libertyville three times a week. It is also far calmer, and slightly cheaper.

Now the great mystery of life: will he ever post again? (or at least more than certain "Cowardly Seminarians")