Talk:Anglican chant

Suggestions
I'd like to see more discussion on how text is pointed. For example, in the first phrase of sample text, the article points it as follows (my notation):

My soul doth | magnify the | Lord

According to the rules, it should be pointed as follows:

My soul doth magni- | fy the | Lord

I find this awkward; the first version flows better. However, one could make a case for pointing it this way:

My soul doth | magni- fy_the | Lord

I should think that the rules for pointing would take into consideration syllable stress.

Indeed, I have always understood Anglican chant to be based on accented syllable. In the first half verse, you shift off the first measure for the last three accented syllables.

My soul doth | magnify the | Lord.

The Sidney Nicholson rules say that in the second measure, all syllables are sung on the first note and only the last syllable on the second, but I have never found that in listening to many choirs and recordings.

Also, are there alternative syntaxes for pointing text? The traditional syntax is needlessly difficult to read, and very hard to render using HTML or a word processor.


 * What's difficult about using an apostrophe as a pointing mark? That's about as easy to render/type as it gets.
 * With regard to the recording issue: most recordings of Anglican chants are done by cathderal choirs, who often use vartiations on the system decsribed in the aricle. Also, please sign yoru ocmments with four tildes (the ~ symbol). Tompw 14:28, 3 November 2006 (UTC)


 * There are no set rules for how to point text - the only requirement is that the words flow well. A "default" has the last has only one syllable per note of any quarter, with all the rest sung on the first note (the intial semibreve, which is sometimes called the "chanting note"). However, as you point our, this can lead to somethign which doesn't flow. What often happens is that the point at which you change note moves back a syllable. Consider the second half of verse three. The "default" would be:

All generations ' shall call 'me bles'sed
 * ... which sounds terrible! So changing before rather than after "blesséd" gives:

All genera'tions shall ' call me ' blesséd
 * ... which improves the last bit, but leaves "generations" sounding weird. So moving the point of change back a syllable gives:

All gene'rations shall ' call me ' blesséd
 * ... and that sounds better. Often, when a verse doesn't "flow" it as result of a changing note on a syllable that isn't streessed within a word. "Gene'rations' " works because the accent lies in the middle (generations), and similarly for blesséd. I hope this helps. Tompw 16:36, 7 February 2006 (UTC)

Refs for "Roman Catholic" in the lead?
This is not a reliable source for the statement that "this type of chant is sung in Roman Catholic churches"; it specifically says that "the unique history of our Parish" is why Anglican chant is used in their church, and they give a link to their history page where they are described as an Anglican church that reunified with the Roman Catholic Church for conservative reasons. This implies that the only reason Anglican chant is sung in their church is because they were actually an Anglican church until fairly recently, and so the ref is certainly inappropriate for the claim that "Roman Catholic churches" sing Anglican chant. The other ref is inaccessible to me for some reason, but it looks to be also just a single church's website -- does it also say "our church uses Anglican chant, whether or not it is widely sung in other Roman Catholic churches"? Or worse -- "our church uses Anglican chant for Psalm 96 for one reason or another"? Hijiri 88 ( 聖やや ) 23:55, 4 March 2016 (UTC)