Plainchant – anachronism or living music?

Can the earliest music of the Western Christian church really be relevant to worship in the 21st century? According to the editor of a recently published volume, The RSCM Guide to Plainchant, the answer to that question is a resounding ‘yes’.

John Rowlands-Pritchard is a leading expert on the subject, who has sung plainsong and taught it for many years. He says that the way in which chant is used has, of course, changed from the days of the early monastic communities, where it formed much of the liturgy.

Things have moved on as a result of liturgical changes in the Western churches, especially in the last 40 or 50 years, and particularly since the changes wrought by the Second Vatican Council on the Roman Catholic Church. There’s by no means an unbroken tradition of use of the chant, but it has been sustained by the work of important champions such as Dr Mary Berry, and has benefitted from the early music movement’s re-examination of performance styles. Not to mention a more recent period of secular popularity and as a complement to meditation.

Chant is a living music, used daily with great imagination in many ways: some communities still sing it as their only form of music, while others use individual pieces in the same way that we would pick and choose from any other styles of music.

John says that the monastic chant technique as used, for instance, in the daily offices, creates a very natural way to pray. “It’s simpler, in my view, than using Anglican chant for recitation of the Psalms, and the Psalms speak, to me at least, more vividly and personally in the chant than they do using Anglican chant in four part harmony.

“Anglican chant has its own beauty – I often recall the particular chants I sang as young man in a cathedral choir – but it is almost of historical beauty, whereas the recitation tones of the monastic tradition are of practical everyday use, especially in a small community.”

Chant hymns are used regularly in churches and cathedrals, sometimes with organ accompaniment, and plainsong Compline is often sung by worshipping congregations.

For those looking for something a little more adventurous, there is ‘alternim’ – polyphonic or organ music involving the alternation of sections of chant with measured music, which can also be used in concert. John Rowlands-Pritchard suggests including just one piece of chant in a service, such as an ornate Gradual or Respond as an anthem or motet, or a single movement of a Communion service or Mass.

He also emphasises that chant is an aural tradition, learnt by ear, which is easy for a beginner to pick up. In fact, the centuries-old system of plainsong notation can look a little bewildering at first, so John always begins his workshops by getting the singers to repeat some phrases without sight of the music, getting used to simple repetitive structures. He then explains the notation, and finds the singers can quickly pick up the techniques of reading and singing the chant.

John worked with Dr Mary Berry in the study and performance of early Gregorian chant, and has revised her much-loved handbook Plainchant for Everyone for the new volume. First published in 1979, Dr Berry’s work gives step-by-step guidance on reading and singing from the notation, as well as historical context and advice on how the chant may be used both in worship and performance.

For the newly published RSCM Guide to Plainchant, John has added to this an extensive anthology of music, ranging from short greetings, antiphons and farewells to more substantial and ornate pieces. He’s included music with particularly English significance - for example, there’s a beautiful piece telling a story about St Dunstan, a key figure in 10th Century Anglo-Saxon England.

This all adds up to what John calls “music of extreme beauty, which has a tremendous strength and resilience”. It’s certainly a ‘living music’, and worth exploring!