The bulk of the Evensong service is chanted. So now we are going to learn Anglican Chant. Unlike advanced forms of Gregorian or Plainchant, Anglican Chant relies on simple chords that the whole congregation can sing with little musical training.
- Here is a great tutorial on how to sing Anglican Chant: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FdmyaixzDXs
- Here is a guide from The Church of St James the Greater in Leicester, which we will use during practice: http://www.adlibitum.co.uk/sjg/resources/Psalm_Pointing_Guide.pdf
Tuesday we will start expanding the simple chant pattern we use now to a fuller Anglican Chant, starting with single chant tunes.
I like to invite modern worshipers to embrace chant. If you look closely, the characteristics that make modern worship and praise songs so simple and uplifting share those characteristics with Anglican Chant. Try strumming the chords on a guitar while chanting - you'll see what I mean.
Chant adds a lot to my prayer time. I make my living writing and reviewing specs. "Reading" prayers easily becomes "skimming" prayers, which isn't an effective way to talk with God. Chanting the psalms helps me slow down and get focused on fully-present, undistracted time with God.
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