chant or hymn?

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on_the_hill

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At our church sometimes the songs are announced as chants, and sometimes as hymns. I never get a chance to ask our musical director. So I ask it here: What’s the difference?
 
Chants have a simple tone while hymns usually incorporate instruments and are sung by the congregation (OF). Chants use square notes while hymns usually use modern musical notation. There is a lot more to it but, that is the gist. I suggest visiting chantcafe.com
 
Thanks, I’ll check it.

The thing is, there doesn’t seem to be a difference between the music, though.
 
Generally a chant is a series of pitch relationships vs a notated score.

A chant can be used with differing text ( the same chant mode can be used for the Psalms presented at Mass, there would no need to write a new musical score just because the text changed. Our Youth Choir regularly chants the Psalms. They use the same Mode each time, so the kids don’t need to learn new music each Sunday.

Or the priest could chant the Gospel, again using the same Mode every Sunday if he so wishes.

In a Hymn, the music and text have a direct and intertwined relationship. There is a specific musical score for that particular text. The music matches the length of the text precisely.
 
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