Intro to Psalm Tones - recto tono and in directum

Here I make a start on a plan to explain how to sing the psalm tones for the Little Office of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
I start with the two simplest tones - Recto Tono and Tonus In Directum.
The Tonus In Directum is used in the Little Office for the three Psalms in the hour of Compline.
Here I'm using the Monastic version, but the Roman version is very similar.
Next lesson is Psalm Tones 2 and 8:
• Psalm Tones: Modes, Ei...
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[@dunnkruger8825]

Thanks

[@memlagu]

I keep re-watching these old videos in awe of your children's gifts. I may become a better chanter with saturation.

[@VeronicaBrandt]

Saturation seems to be the way to go - we were fortunate to have a physical place where this music lived.

[@mathusq9614]

Some of your videos are really great. It's a little hard to follow for me still but I have to say no one else is doing some of the stuff you are doing so I appreciate you very much!

[@VeronicaBrandt]

Thanks! I am still learning about making videos and about explaining things - it's much easier in person when the learners can ask questions to clarify what they don't understand. It's such an unknown area that there's a lot to explain.

[@Desert_Hermits]

I try to pray the whole office daily. Struggle with Matins and Laudes (time) so I tend to listen/ pray them on my way to work in the early morning which takes me about 30 mins. So your videos really help.

[@VeronicaBrandt]

Thanks, I'm sorry I haven't made Lenten recordings yet.

[@Desert_Hermits]

Hello, Yes this does help. I am also glade that you offer lessons in Unmy. Thank you

[@VeronicaBrandt]

I'm glad to hear that it helps. I should finish the series one day.

[@paulgarza1263]

Thank you! This is fantastic and helpful! I have been praying the Little Office of BVM for a long time, but never learned how to chant. I recently ordered Monastic Diurnal, and it just hit me that I should chant. So far, I’m starting to understand recto tono and tono in directum.

[@JimCvit]

Thanks! Having just come back from a retreat at a Benedictine monastery, I’ve been doing Lauds and Compline and trying to intone them. This helps.

[@VeronicaBrandt]

Sounds great! I'll have to finish the series on all the different psalm tones, but the tonus in directum is a good start.

[@andrewsaa]

Thank you very much. Please keep sharing your gift.

[@VeronicaBrandt]

Thank you. I'll do my best.

[@renecalcena3599]

Thanks for this video......I love to learn more about Gregorian chant tone😊😊

[@VeronicaBrandt]

Thanks Rene, lots of people ask about psalm tones.

[@kena3234]

man. I want to learn this but this is so daunting

[@VeronicaBrandt]

The Gregorian Chant Academy has a more detailed course in Psalmody - 33 lessons: www.gregorianchantacademy.com/courses I haven't taken it yet, but I keep imagining ways to explain the concepts - I think I'll have to learn some animation skills.

[@setonix9151]

​@@VeronicaBrandtIt is such a shame that in my country those prices are extortionate.

[@VeronicaBrandt]

@@setonix9151 They're pitching at college level prices, I think. Okay, I'll see if I can put together something in the school holidays (two weeks of school to go!)

[@setonix9151]

@@VeronicaBrandt Thank you so much.

[@VeronicaBrandt]

Does this explanation help? kzbin.info/www/bejne/a3WTqp6seZx9qKM

[@PrenticeBoy1688]

Very nice, but KZbin's killing me with how crappy its search function has become. I searched for 'Byzantine Catholic' and 'usual psalm tone'. The results might have one of those words in it, but not all of them together and not even when I put the terms in quotation marks. It's so very frustrating.

[@VeronicaBrandt]

Hopefully it works out for mortification and sacrifice. Yesterday I had similar issues looking for specific Gregorian chant for Mass. That's where I figure I'll just have to record it myself - then you get half a dozen people pointing out what they think the existing equivalent is.

[@PrenticeBoy1688]

@@VeronicaBrandt I do have a general interest in and fondness for sacred (Christian) choral music, so coming across your video didn't ruin my day by any stretch of the imagination!!! To give you an idea of how crappy the YT search function has become, I typed, or rather, swiped the exact title of the video of a livestreamed Divine Liturgy and got results that were barely tangentially relevent to my search terms. Before I got wise and saved the video to a playlist, the only way I could get to it was by scrolling through three years of Sunday morning livestreams until I came to it. If you're not familiar with the longstanding tradition of congregational singing in the Carpatho-Rusyn Greek Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches, you might be interested in searching YT with the terms 'prostopinije' and 'Rusyn,' or look up the Late David Dutko's lamentably poorly filmed videos of Rusyn church music on KZbin. There are a number of diamonds in the rough in that channel.

[@DeannaWillistonOFS]

Thanks to you and your helper! This answered a lot of questions I have had, but didn’t have the words to ask correctly. This is how I normally chant the Little Office when it’s just me. (Lol admission: never convinced anyone else to try to sing or chant it with me.) 💕

[@VeronicaBrandt]

It is difficult to get people to sing with you. I was thinking of making a video aimed at the target friends, to reassure them that it's just as uncomfortable for the willing person to get the hang of singing in a strange language, but I should probably work on easier stuff first. We've just gone into a sort of lockdown here in Greater Sydney, so I might have more time for this now.

[@DeannaWillistonOFS]

@@VeronicaBrandt yikes! I hadn’t heard about your lockdown, sorry! But good that you are making use of it. And, yes, many in my Evening Prayer are reluctant to sing, but the more of us that try (dispute our inability to carry a tune) the more are willing to try. The songs in the American breviary are interesting. Lol obviously, it’s one of the reasons I am drawn to the Little Office. I appreciate all the hard work you’ve done in the videos and printouts.

[@VeronicaBrandt]

@@DeannaWillistonOFS Thanks Deanna :) It was fun planning this one - there is so much I take for granted. I didn't explain about the accented syllables here, so I probably need to talk a little about that too next time. Thanks for mentioning the printouts - at first I thought I could avoid producing them, but it's much easier to explain things with them. I've been gradually adding in the translations for the psalms lately - nice easy cut and paste work.

[@DeannaWillistonOFS]

@@VeronicaBrandt yes, the handouts help. I normally annotate books, but I have difficulty marking up prayers books. The exception is the modern American LOBVM. I can only sing one Marian hymn in that book and have written in the name of the common hymn whose tune you can use.

[@Arkangilos]

Where did you get the Roman Antiphonale? I’ve been looking for the traditional one and can’t find any prints of it.

[@VeronicaBrandt]

I think it was on Lulu, but you're right, I haven't seen it available lately either. I could set it up as a Lulu print on demand book like what I bought. It's a very clunky way as it's in two volumes.

[@youtubecharlie1]

Thank you, Veronica. This video and your website help a lot. How did you figure out which syllables you begin the descending tones? I see the tone-syllable placement varies among the verses.

[@VeronicaBrandt]

You find the last accented syllable. I'll see if I can make this clearer somehow - there's a thing where if the ante-penult is accented and then the word is followed by a monosyllabic word, then the ultimate syllable of the former word is accented (secondary accent). I can explain better with some examples and paper and pencil. Maybe another video.

[@divinechemechanical]

Could you say a little more about the length of breath between sections of the verses of the psalm verse(s)? I've heard elsewhere that a fairly full and gentle breath is to go between the sections and verses.

[@VeronicaBrandt]

You're right. I've heard the breath is about the length of time it takes to say the word 'gloria'. It does help to keep a more meditative pace. In my family, we're not always very meditative at prayers. We tend to rush.

[@eduardoschiavon5652]

Thank you so much for these videos! I have a question though, can any tone be applied to any Psalm, or are there tones that were made to fit specific Psalms?

[@VeronicaBrandt]

Any tone can be applied to any Psalm. When you get to heaven you can find out the original Hebrew tunes, but until then this is what we're going with.

[@jonofarc443]

Hi! New subscriber here! I like to use recto tono on ferial days and Gregorian chant on red letter days. You taught me something I didn't know; I will start using the Tonus in Directum for Compline. Is the in Directum supposed to be used for Compline year 'round?

[@VeronicaBrandt]

Yes, I think the tonus in directum is supposed to be used year round as it doesn't have an antiphon. There's a different Tonus in directum for Easter though, so that might be a point. Something else to think about. I think generally the Little Office is meant to be easy, so I'd say you could just stick with the one way year round, but worth considering the Easter tune for next year. I think the Easter one is only sung for a short time in the Roman Office. Looking it up, it's just for the octave of Easter, so just that first week, but maybe that's more because the antiphon comes back after that in the full Office. Something to ask next time I see someone who gets this stuff.

[@VeronicaBrandt]

And welcome aboard! Great to have you here.

[@jonofarc443]

@@VeronicaBrandt I'm a new Catholic, welcomed into the Church last May. I decided on the Little Office over the LOTH because it's what Medieval laity used, and it's much closer to the office I was used to using as a Lutheran. It also seems the older versions of the Office are better suited for chant than the modern one.

[@dunnkruger8825]

R those dead animal hides?

[@VeronicaBrandt]

A neighbour was chucking them out. We think they're Springboks or something like that.