Morning Prayer
Today I led my co-workers in Morning Prayer a la the Brotherhood Prayer Book.
I've posted the audio here. I did edit out a few comments between sections. Note that I really screwed up tone VIII for Benedictus (part 4). I'm not certain if I did the Lection correctly either. Let me know what you think.
I've posted the audio here. I did edit out a few comments between sections. Note that I really screwed up tone VIII for Benedictus (part 4). I'm not certain if I did the Lection correctly either. Let me know what you think.
posted by Kletos Sumboulos at 9:01 PM
2 Comments:
sounds pretty good.question: the prayer after the psalm, I'm assuming that's the psalm prayer?
just so you know, those are for private devotion, and wouldn't actually be said or chanted aloud. That's what Pr. Ben Mayes said at least (I'm fortunate to have a fair amount of correspondence with him and also I've attended a prayer retreat).
Your pointing on the lection sounds pretty good actually. I'm no expert, and I'm still not quite certain on the method to the madness. It's not necessary to point every single comma, but only the main inflections in the text. The one rule I remember distinctly is that the flexa comes before the metrum, the metrum before the punctum... you don't have to always have all three, but make sure they go in order? something like that :D It's more of an art, not a method.
check your half steps/whole steps. I noticed you were singing the pitch below the reciting tone on the lection tone flat. if you know solfege, it's do TI la do (metrum). the tone for the canticle was a little off like you said :) Sounded kinda middle-eastern Christian! cool! ;D
you said you did this with your co-workers? Where do you work? praying with the BPB is certainly a discipline. Someday when it's second nature for me, it will be great.
Thanks for your in critique, Sean. I'm sort of a Prayer Brother in absentia, since I'm in North East Ohio and the retreats don't tend to come this far east. I'm limited to learning about how to properly chant the offices based on the web site and the prayer book itself, which is pretty thorough. I sand and played guitar in college (this is our best recording) but I definitely don't have musical training, so I learn by making CD's of Father Mayes' chanting and listening on my way to and from work. I probably should have taken the time to plink out the notes on the piano before each part, in hindsight.
Thanks for the heads-up about the Psalm Prayers - I didn't realize that. I like them a lot.
Incidentally, I started with the Te Deum because it is customary here to start 5 minutes early with music so that people can hear it and realize that chapel is starting.
I work as an intern at a Christian mental health agency, and we have compulsory chapel on Friday mornings. We take turns leading. Most people give some sort of message, but because I am convicted that it is not my vocation to publically preach or administer the sacraments, I asked my pastor if I could chant the office. I work with American Evangelicals primarily Pentecostal, but with Baptists, Methodists, and a Roman-Catholic-Ex-Lutheran and other in the mix.
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