Gelineau psalmody is a method of singing the

Psalm The Book of Psalms ( or ; he, תְּהִלִּים, , lit. "praises"), also known as the Psalms, or the Psalter, is the first book of the ("Writings"), the third section of the Tanakh, and a book of the Old Testament. The title is derived f ...

s that was developed in France by

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

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priest Joseph Gelineau around 1953, with English translations appearing some ten years later. Its chief distinctives are: * a responsorial structure, with the congregation singing a repeating

antiphon An antiphon ( Greek ἀντίφωνον, ἀντί "opposite" and φωνή "voice") is a short chant in Christian ritual, sung as a refrain. The texts of antiphons are the Psalms. Their form was favored by St Ambrose and they feature prominentl ...

between the psalm verses which are sung by a

choir A choir ( ; also known as a chorale or chorus) is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform. Choirs may perform music from the classical music repertoire, which sp ...

cantor A cantor or chanter is a person who leads people in singing or sometimes in prayer. In formal Jewish worship, a cantor is a person who sings solo verses or passages to which the choir or congregation responds. In Judaism, a cantor sings and lead ...

; * unlike

plainchant Plainsong or plainchant (calque from the French ''plain-chant''; la, cantus planus) is a body of chants used in the liturgies of the Western Church. When referring to the term plainsong, it is those sacred pieces that are composed in Latin text ...

or Anglican chant, the verses have a regular

metre The metre ( British spelling) or meter ( American spelling; see spelling differences) (from the French unit , from the Greek noun , "measure"), symbol m, is the primary unit of length in the International System of Units (SI), though its pre ...

Text

Gelineau was himself part of the working group of the French

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and he developed a revised version of that psalter which respected the rhythms of the Hebrew original. This was later translated into English as the Grail Psalms translation of the Psalter.

Verse

The psalm verse uses a "pulsed tone" technique, with a variable number of syllables between the main pulses (barlines). Each line has a prescribed number of accented syllables, even though the total number of syllables varies from line to line. In that sense, it may be regarded as similar to the song '' Three Blind Mice'': each line contains the same number of bars (pulses), but the number of syllables varies from three ("Three blind mice") to eleven "Did ever you see such a thing in your life". But unlike that song, Gelineau insists "the words must never be allowed to fall into set musical rhythmical patterns which are opposed to the natural relative lengths of their syllables when correctly spoken." It is thus a form of

sprung rhythm Sprung rhythm is a poetic rhythm designed to imitate the rhythm of natural speech. It is constructed from feet in which the first syllable is stressed and may be followed by a variable number of unstressed syllables. The British poet Gerard Manle ...

Antiphon

Unlike the chant-like verses, the antiphon is more like a short

hymn A hymn is a type of song, and partially synonymous with devotional song, specifically written for the purpose of adoration or prayer, and typically addressed to a deity or deities, or to a prominent figure or personification. The word ''hymn ...

-verse in a regular metre. The tempo of the antiphon is directly related to that of the verse: the one-beat-in-the-bar verse equals the beat unit, typically crotchet (quarter note) or dotted crotchet, of the antiphon. There should be no break between psalm and antiphon: each should follow the other without interruption.

Recordings

Psalm 23

Psalm 145

Psalm 147

Explanation and exemplification

References

{{Psalms Church music Psalms 1953 in music