So what’s in a chant?

October 8th, 2019

It’s often said ‘what’s in a name?’

But how about this question: what’s in a chant?

At first glance it’s just dots – and no expression markings – allegro, lento, rallentando. And there’s no accompaniment – just a single melody.

But what if we leave our modern viewpoint and cease looking at it through prisms of our own time…and just let ourselves be open to its timelessness – after all, it’s been present in our Catholic collective consciousness for centuries – in fact, over a millenia.

It’s interesting to note the popularity in recent years of recordings of Gregorian chant – its wide appeal obviously reflects some deep resonance we humans have with it. It probably best echoes the human being…inhale-exhale….arsis-thesis…each phrase rising – sometimes billowing higher and higher … then it finds it way down again – almost like incense – or clouds. But can anyone really control the way incense billows…can anyone move a cloud…or indeed catch it?

A chant melody needs to be encountered delicately and discovered as to ‘how it ticks’ – how does it need to expressed – its ‘barlines’ resulting in ‘gaps’ where we can breathe and its momentum tells us how to ebb and flow through the phrases. then its true magic can unfold.

It leads to the discovery that each chant is really like a microcosm – a mini universe.

Its own world.

And it somehow makes us realise that we are part of a continuum – centuries of prayer and devotion connecting us to our forebears who sang the very same words with the very same melodies…

Perhaps it’s like a precious heirloom – not archaic, but timeless – connecting us to the Communion of Saints. Possibly it makes us realise that we are connected to something…Someone…far greater that ourselves…

So, what’s in a chant?…