The phrase Christian music. The first thing that comes to mind is organ played in churches, monks chanting gregorian or nuns singing in chorus. Perhaps there is some truth in this common everyday image, however it probably isn't waterproof if you ask theologians or historians. This article aims to provide a brief guide of christian music throughout history. To my help, I will use a reliable free source called Wikipedia.
After reading a bit from Wikipedia already, I forgot to mention the 'obvious' worship songs played in service. That is, when attending church. Lets see. If if we take into account what I wrote above, I discover that maybe I had a point. In today's time, modern influences have given rise to Gospel, Contemporary Christian Music, Southern Gospel, Country like version, Christian rock, pop, metal, punk, hip hop and variations thereof.
These would denote the genres of today. With an historical background, (considering church and movements) there are hymns, gregorian chant, antiphons and psalmody. Two of these sound familiar to me, a third I might guess, but there is still some research to do.
Hymns These songs can be based on Bible passages (i.e. The Lord is my Shephard), but are often written by writers within Evangelical churches (i.e. Methodist or Baptist). Hymn is imported from Greek and translates directly to "song of praise". From what I gather, they can be accompanied by ordinary piano, organ or sung in a capella. Within the Catholic Church and various Protestant congregations, they are written with thought to individual saints (Catholic church), celebrations like Christmas, Lent, Easter. As a sacrament, they're also used in baptism and Holy Communion (or Eucharist). In a general statement, modern genres are deemed to be inspired from modern music forms of today. That's the reason many prefer to not incorporate new songs to given hymnal (list of hymns, collective, or collection), according to Wikipedia.
Someone who writes these type of songs is referred to as hymnist. Using inflection, we also derive hymnody for its practice. The hymn doesn't necessarily always have any music, but can also be recited as prayer or used in a cappella as mentioned above.
Before piano and organ, medieval and people of Ancient Greek employed lyte, harp or lyre which categorize under stringed instruments. No clear melody can read from notations since they weren't founded at the time.
Gregorian Gregorian chant (its genre named after Pope Gregorian, although experts contend it owes its form to Carolingian background. However, it has also been spotted in published work of historical figures William of Hirschau and Leo IV.) was performed by monks (monastic) choir in the Middle Ages. The chant sung in unison yields a powerful and pervasive sound. Performed inside a church or chapel, the echoing and vibrant sound lend the highly religous air to the score. The music is considered monophonic, which at the easy level denotes a very simple melody.
The work within the genre is considered to be a form of hymnolody and is originally in Latin. Recordings (or notations) date back to the 10 century. However, the GC was practiced prior to that. Before, singers were tought in Schola Cantorum, employing the viva voce method. That is, to learn by listening to examples. Today there is a music band who have chosen this genre, one of them actually titled Gregorian.
Historical recordings and notations were undertaken in Frankish areas of Europe (western and central), 9th and 10th century, AD. However, several melodies are believed to adapted from its predecessors centuries before. Its real origin is believed to stem from Carolingian influence, which drew from both Roman and Gallican versions of the so called plain chant. The traditional credit to Gregory was, in my own interpretation, the effort of creating one standard to apply within liturgy (service, communion) in all of Europe. The Pope ruled with divine authority, and would be instrumental in instituting the new musical form.
Without historical deviations, it can be said to belong within the Catholic Church, sung at Mass and in choir.
Antiphonic GC music can be described as antiphonic. Antiphonic would denote two choirs enjoined different (or alternating) segments/part to sing, connecting the two choirs in the same performance. Antiphonic performance is believed to stem from communion used by ancient Israelites. This notion did not exist at the time. The reason it made its way into the Christian faith is found in the work of Socrates. According to him, the frontfigure was Ignatious of Antioch who had an epiphany, in which he had seen angels sing in the antiphonic style.
A subvariation is named polychoral antiphony, (inherent trait of Venetian school music, and came to life in late Renaissance and continued into late Baroque. Famous composers for this style include Igor Stravinsky, Hector Berlioz and Karlheinz Stockhausen.) Antiphonic music is also adopted within the Anglican church.
Psalmody Psalms stem directly from the Bible, where songs are picked from verses of the Book of Psalms. The better known include: Psalm 23, The Lord is my Shepard; 103, Bless the Lord, O my soul; 51, Have mercy on me O God (Miserere in Latin version). 137, The Rivers of Babylon, there we sat down and wept, is aimed at slavery and played during Lent.
Eastern Orthodox churches have incorporated psalms into a standardized method of praying. The total of 150 psalms are split into 20 seperate sections, each called a kathisma (translated as sitting) . The Kathisma in its turn, is made up of tree staseis (translated as singing). Kathismata is recited during important days of the year. Less stringent Christians read one khatisma a day on working days, with the hole book completed in four weeks.
All in all, I believe most people share common and truthful ideas about christian music. And perhaps we're better off with a general grasp. For the laity, or non-musicians, it would be too an overwhelming task to learn everything since there it wouldl involve a great deal of theology. Impossible for the commoner, who might be scared of going to church.
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Article added to SearchWarp.com on Wednesday, February 13, 2008 View other articles written by Johnny Johansson(8)
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