Customer Reviews

Chanting the Psalms: A Practical Guide with Instructional CD

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This book is a great follow-on to the author's CD set called Singing the Psalms. This book and CD, combined with Phyllis Tickle's trilogy of The Divine Hours, will give you everything you need in order to pray the Divine Office every day. Recommended for all lay contemplatives who long to practice the monastic path of prayer while still living in the world.

I used this book for a class at church last year, and it actually had so much information that I had to select readings and provide overviews for some sections. The most valuable aspect for my class was that Bourgeault is not a trained singer: her 'normal person's voice' on the CD was what encouraged several of the non-singers in the class to take a chance and sing - something they had previously been afraid to try. The historical information is far-reaching. In my opinion, the last chapters of the book that try to bring in all types of modern chants are less effective than the first half of the book.

The book and CD are crystal clear and helpful and persuasive. Of all the ways to God, psalmody is surely one of the most ancient and powerful and is therefore of especial value to those of us who realize that the ancient knowledge of God is to be understood and incorporated right along with our other understandings. That Jesus also did this makes it far more important for those of us who would "follow" Him as He commanded and not just "worship" him. C. de Fontenay

As a person revisiting chanting after an absence of 50yrs I found this to be an excellent book on the meaning of psalmody and how we can incorporate it into our lives. Learing to Chant in the vernacular using the 30+ demonstrated methods and very clear written explanations of how to was just what the doctor ordered. Highly recommended for people like myself who grew up with Gregorian in our mouths.

This book fills a needed spot for me. It is everything that it's title promises, being very practical and very good at guiding the reader to whatever level of involvment you want.
The material on the history of Gregorian Chant satisfied my curiosity about that. I chose not to bother with the details of that form of notation, but there is enough in the book to make a good start at learning how to read it.
The CD is all that is promised, being of good quality.

If you are a Christian in the traditional sense then many parts of this book may offend you. A large portion of the book reads like an apologetic for New Age religious syncretism.

For an Episcopal priest, or anyone else for that matter, to refer to God as "the G word", state that believing that Christ is the Messiah is responsible for the Holocaust, etc can't fail to offend many Christians. Attempting to make up for the irresponsible and tragic use of Christianity in the past by unscrupulous people by offending modern Christians and diminishing traditional Christian beliefs seems misguided.

On a practical note. I think that newcomers to chanting might be confused, more than helped, by this book. There are too many options, none of which are discussed in enough detail to be really helpful. And there were a few glaring errors. The one that springs to mind right away was assigning the clef in Gregorian chant to "middle C". It's not - it's "Do" (as in Do, Re, Me, etc). Gregorian notation shows the interval between notes, not the tone. One of the beauties of Gregorian notation is that you can assign any note as the "Do" tone to accommodate any choir or voice. If your interest is in Gregorian chant there are other, much better, books for learning it than this one.

The book does have it's good parts. It is good at giving an overview of various forms of chant. This would be helpful for those that are interested in chant but don't know what kind of chant they would be most drawn to. However, the information on each type of chant is very limited so you would need to get additional sources no matter which chant type you choose. And there is a good amount of information on resources for further study, etc.

Basically I think that if you are comfortable with the theology presented (or can ignore it to get to the relevant chant info) then the book may be of interest. If you are already familiar with chant types then the book's usefulness would be limited (perhaps only for the resources listed). If you are trying to learn Gregorian chant then you need to look elsewhere.

Wish I'd found it years ago. First half is an excellent section on the value of daily Psalm chanting; second half is nuts and bolts -- including extremely basic, anyone-can-do-it starting tones. Accompanying CD is very helpful. If you want to chant the Psalms, don't waste your time reading anything else first. Start with this, then move on to other supporting works after you set up your practice.

This book and CD set is excellent for beginner instruction in chant. I was expecting strictly Christian material and was a little put off by the "Multi-faith", politically correct, one-world propaganda but the actual chant information and the cd were great. I was able to go right out and buy the type of chant cd's I had learned about and preferred, and jump right into a great time with God. I would buy it again.

Other than one questionable historical reference I found this book to be an excellent introduction to not only chant but also to the Psalms themselves, their meaning, their use in liturgy, and monastic importance. I highly recommend this book as an introduction to chant and the Psalms.

A statement on p. 30 essentially blames Vatican II for the Church's alleged "shelving" of Gregorian chant. For a clear explanation of the spirit of Vatican II in this regard please reda the Council document.

This text is easy to read and quite informative! I like the variety of traditons covered. The CD is a great bonus.