Basic Markup Principles
When marking up text for use in Rhythmic Chant, there are three decisions that, working together, can make for more natural English phrasing:
- Does the main note begin on an unaccented Pickup Note, or on the first full beat of the Main Note?
- Where do the three Ending Notes begin? Do they cover two, three, or four syllables?
- Where is a long (full beat) syllable needed in the Main Note phrase?
Remember that when marking text:
- A long syllable always begins on a beat
- Ending Notes always begin on a beat, so pickup notes and long syllables are combined to make that happen.
Often one or both of the first two decisions above look obvious when analyzing the text. Sometimes, however, they are not obvious, and all three decisions can be combined for a good effect. For simplicity in group singing, I prefer fewer long syllables when possible.
Important: A beat does not mean that that syllable has to have a strong accent—the words can just be sung evenly across beats in many cases. I will allow a slightly awkward phrase if it resolves quickly. If it is too awkward, then I use more long syllables. Adding a Double Ending can also reduce the number of long syllables.
Speaking Psalms as Rhythmic Poems
Speaking the text in rhythm is not only a good way to check the markup—it is another way to move through a Psalm as poetry to be experienced rather than a document to be studied. The main difference from singing is that syllables marked with a tilde (~) in the Ending Notes may not need to be held as long syllables when spoken.
Second Tunes Within a Psalm
Several Psalms have transitions in them that suggest use of a second tune. For simplicity, only two of the Psalms in this book, Psalms 22 and 89, have a designated second tune. This approach, however, should be considered for other Psalms as well.
Double Pickup Notes
Double Pickup Notes are two syllables sung over the last full beat before the accent of a line. (A normal Pickup Note is one syllable, a half-beat before the accent of a line—see page 8.) Double Pickup Notes may help with the placement of emphasis or the musical length of a line.
For example, Psalm 100 begins like this:
`Shout for joy_ to the LORD_ / all you lands!
If you start the line with a Double Pickup Note, the result has a natural-sounding emphasis, with “joy” falling on the first beat of the measure:
Shout for `joy_ to the LORD_ / all you lands!
Because Psalm 100 is used by some in daily liturgies, I’ve included two scores of alternate versions in the next section, both of which include Double Pickup Notes.
Additional Beat Divisions
The default length of a syllable is half a beat unless it is a long syllable marked with an underscore. Here are two examples, however, of where it might make sense to use triplets or even sixteenth notes.
Triplets
One of my favorite psalms is Psalm 130. This is the first line:
`Out of the depths I have cried to / you~, LORD.
I sometimes sing the first three syllables on one beat as a triplet. This is how I mark a triplet:
`{Out of the} depths_ I have cried to / you~, LORD.
It would look like this in music notation:
Sixteenth Notes in Performances
In performances, rather than group singing, there may be a place for using sixteenth notes, especially when singing long lines.
Here is a long line from the second stanza of Psalm 65:
`We will be filled with the goodness of your house, your / holy temple.
Here is a variation for performance, with sixteenth notes indicated by brackets [ ]:
`[We will] be filled [with the goodness of your] house, your / holy temple.
It would look like this in music notation:
Multiple Chords per Line
All of the tunes in this book are written with one chord per line. Ending a line on a second chord can make for a beautiful melody, but the variable line length and starting point of Ending Notes makes this challenging for Rhythmic Psalms. Markup can be adjusted for a more evenly metered result, but it also introduces complexity that I have decided not to add here.
Song Structure for Artistic Performance
Here are some possible variations for artistic performance:
- Experimenting with musical styles and spoken word
- Adjusting markup and accompaniment to result in four-beat measures
- Using multiple chords per line as discussed above
- Developing different tune structures and corresponding markup
- Marking up different versions of the Psalms
- Creating longer, Psalm-specific tunes