AirMax 2011 Psalmody, Worship, Singing and Compos

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In particular [link widoczny dla zalogowanych], the unmeasured melodic tones of the older forms of chanting (e.g. eight psalm tones in Gregoian Chant) gave way to more secular, measured music applied to the poetic rhythms of the psalms, to bring them into the hands and voices of the whole congregation. Elements of rhyme and meter in the words of the common people's language were necessary to match the metric measure of the music: “Common Meter Short Meter and Long Meter (Richard C. Leonard, “Singing the Psalms: A Brief History of Psalmody.”)
Reformation and Renaissance Changes
In the early Christian era, though, psalmody continued in its evolution as a Christian observance for a long time without musical instrument accompaniment, but rather as spoken recitation. Music returned with Gregorian Chant and plain song [link widoczny dla zalogowanych], which follow specific rules of tone and unmeasured melodic form, with human voice being the only musical instrument.
Psalmody is both the singing of psalms in religious worship and the composing of music for the singing of psalms. In this context a psalm may be thought of as a “spiritual song.” Psalmody is a subset of hymnology, the scholarly study of religious song or hymns, particularly compositions for church choral groups and congregations.
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Leonard further notes that according to musicologist Henry Wilder Foote, “Next to the English Bible and the Book of Common Prayer the metrical psalms were the most influential literary contribution made by the Reformation to the religious life of the English people.”
Biblical references to musical instruments are clues to the likelihood of musical accompaniment and the “singing” of psalms in praise of God. In I Chronicles 23 (NIV), for example, King David assembles four thousand Levites and instructs them in their duty “to praise the LORD with the musical instruments I have provided for that purpose.” These instruments most certainly would have included harp, flute or pipes, cymbals and drum.
Psalmodic Compositions
In 1621 Thomas Ravenscroft published a psalter book of psalmody) containing both the words and 97 tunes to sing them. Leonard calls this book the “finest English psalmody available at the time.” According to Leonard, the Puritans’ Bay Psalm Book of 1640 was the first English book published in North America. It does not include music but refers to the Ravenscroft psalter, which does.
The roots of psalmody as a religious observance are ancient, grounded in the Hebraic celebration of God through recitation [link widoczny dla zalogowanych], often with music, of the writings preserved in the Old Testament’s Book of Psalms. Paul’s reference in Ephesians is a natural extension of this ancient tradition of praise.
The Protestant Reformation and the Renaissance (and the printing press with them) were corresponding intellectual and spiritual phenomena of profound influence on forms of worship. Church music expanded from the limitations of trained clergical choirs to whole lay congregations. Hymnology, and psalmody as a form of it, came into its own. An underlying doctrinal rationale for psalmody as a musical worship form is the concept of sola scriptura, the belief that the words of the Bible – scripture – are the complete and pure spiritual authority of worship. Nothing more is required.
Psalmody was not overlooked by the world’s classical great composers. A lovely example is “Hayden & his English Friends, The Six Psalms of 1794 and English Parish Church Music, Psalmody, the Parley o