Modal Responsorial Psalms

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Aristotle A. Esguerra’s Modal Responsorial Psalms is now available, with a limited time 20% discount, bringing the price to $16.

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This NAB Lectionary Square-Note Edition is the first in this series, and includes the following:
  • Sundays ABC
  • Solemnities & Principal Feasts
  • Weddings
  • Funerals
  • Seasonal Responses & Psalms
This book provides a suite of Gregorian chant–inspired plainsong Responsorial Psalms for Sundays, selected Solemnities and Feasts, and Ritual Masses. The texts of these Psalms correspond with those found in the Lectionary for Mass for the Dioceses of the United States of America. The Masses which this collection encompasses correspond exactly with those Masses found in the Gregorian Missal for Sundays (Solesmes, 1990).

The mode chosen for each psalm setting almost always corresponds to that of the Gradual chant—considered by some as the predecessor of the Responsorial Psalm—for a given day, as found in the Gregorian Missal.** This was done to preserve some vestigial continuity with the liturgical rhythm of the Gregorian chant modes**—regardless of whether the Lectionary text matches in any way the Gradual text for the same day.** In this way this collection is similar to the Simple English Propers (Church Music Association of America, 2011), and in fact, can serve as an effective complement for Masses that employ the use of the English-language plainsong found therein**.

A study of the Graduals of the Roman-Rite Mass reveals that within a given mode there is much melodic similarity from one Gradual to another. While the melodic formulas for the responses in this book are necessarily much simpler than the Gradual melodies, these too share common patterns within a given mode. The repetition of patterns throughout the liturgical year will greatly assist psalmists, choirs, and congregations learn the chants in this book over time. The modal melodies will allow people to gently into the sung prayer which is the essence of divine worship in general, and Gregorian chant in particular.

The psalm tones found in this book take their inspiration from their Gregorian originals and are duly adapted to work easily and seamlessly with the English language. Like their Gregorian progenitors, these psalm tones retain formulas for incipits, a single reciting tone, and mediant and final cadential formulas. These psalm tones all encompass the same syllabic structure—an incipit of two syllables, one preparatory syllable at the mediant cadence, and two preparatory syllables at the final cadence. This standardization allows for the psalmist or choir to learn the pitches of psalm tones quickly and with minimal effort, and spend more time on effectively declaiming the psalm verses in song.

This book contains common responses and psalms for the liturgical seasons as found in the Lectionary. For those ecclesial communities that have employed these on a regular basis, these may serve as a useful stepping stone to unlocking the “richer fare” (cf. Vatican II Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy 51) of responsorial psalmody which is found in the Sunday Lectionary. Because the melodies found in the common responses and psalms are shared with the weekly responses and psalms, a transition from the former to the latter may be done with great success.

Finally, the following future editions are being considered:
  • A modern-notation version of this book;
  • Keyboard and instrumental accompaniments;
  • Choral (SATB) antiphons and psalm tones;
  • Editions which employ psalm verses from the Revised Grail Psalter.
If you are interested in singing the responsorial psalm with a nod to tradition (and Sacrosanctum Concilium 116, for that matter 🙂 ), I’d recommend you pick up this book. Some of the book is also available as a PDF, but if you are able, please buy the book and support him. Or, you can contact Mr. Esguera here.
 
I’ve sung some of them in a liturgical context (Daily Mass psalms that match up with other Sunday psalms), and they fit very well in a sung Mass. They are also very easy to sing.
 
I would love to see this done to the psalms in the west. the sing-song settings were never appropriate for the salms in the first place. The “we’ll sing it twice so we can sing longer, 'cuz otherwise it’s too short” settings drew the attention away from the psalms themselves.

hawk
 
I’ve sung some of them in a liturgical context (Daily Mass psalms that match up with other Sunday psalms), and they fit very well in a sung Mass. They are also very easy to sing.
Is there a possibility of a daily Mass edition?
 
Just started using OCP’s psalms; and just after two weeks I’m done with them!
Simply singing within the 3 notes of the 3 mother modes with their proper intonation will provide better declamation of God’s Word. The timely arrival of Aristotles work will rescue us from OCP’s commercial jingles
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The modal responsorial psalms are wonderful. How can we affect change in our local parishes and dioceses to eliminate the grasp of the OCP’s decades of influence? I cringe every time we sing the OCP responses, accompanied by piano, which are often repititious and do not follow the exact text of the psalm as it is written in Holy Scripture. A simple modal response would be so much better.
 
I wish OCP would just BOLD FACE the final two accents of the antiphon. A psalmist would know what to do. Aristotle’s work is so intuitive that a congregation will not require the musical scores. They have a structure that allows for proper declamation and which respects the English spoken cadence. The SEP’s are very good at this too but by far the best are (i.e. introit )These from Father Columbo Kelly of St Meinrad.
(Please Note: This uploaded content is no longer available.)
I think Fr. Kelly’s scores are actually an expanded form of the way we pronounce English. For me they are like a phonetic graph . They need to be sung at a good clip in a non equalist style.
Just has an actor may need to mark visual cues to bring an ancient dramatic text to life when it is proclaimed, Fr. Kelly has such a keen sense of rhetorical use of pitch that pitch almost seems to have semantic value.
 
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