Mostly used in reformed churches, and anabaptists. The composition of metrical psalters was a large enterprise of the Protestant Reformation, especially in its Calvinist manifestation. Some metrical psalters include melodies or even harmonisations. Some examples of chants are:Ī metrical psalter is a kind of Bible translation: a book containing a metrical translation of all or part of the Book of Psalms in vernacular poetry, meant to be sung as hymns in a church. Mostly used in Anglican, Catholic, and Orthodox churches. In the later Middle Ages some religious chant evolved into song (forming one of the roots of later Western music). Chant may be considered speech, music, or a heightened or stylized form of speech. Chants may range from a simple melody involving a limited set of notes to highly complex musical structures, often including a great deal of repetition of musical subphrases, such as Great Responsories and Offertories of Gregorian chant. Types of Christian music Chants Ī chant is the iterative speaking or singing of words or sounds, often primarily on one or two main pitches called reciting tones. The church sonata (for orchestra and chamber group) and other sacred instrumental musical forms also developed from the Baroque period onwards. Up to the present time, various composers have written instrumental (often organ) music as acts of worship, including well known organ repertoire by composers like Olivier Messiaen, Louis Vierne, Maurice Duruflé, and Jean Langlais. Some of the most well-known exponents of such organ compositions include Johann Sebastian Bach, Dieterich Buxtehude, George Frideric Handel, François Couperin, César Franck and Charles-Marie Widor to name a few. During the Baroque period in Europe, the chorale prelude (for organ) was widely used, generally composed by using a popular hymn tune thematically, and a wide corpus of other solo organ music began to develop across Europe. Some worship music may be unsung, simply instrumental. The singing of the Eastern Orthodox is also generally unaccompanied, though in the United States organs are sometimes used as a result of Western influence. During the last century or so several of these groups have revised this stance.
But some churches have historically not used instruments, citing their absence from the New Testament. In the West, the majority of Christian denominations use instruments such as an organ, piano, electronic keyboard, guitar, or other accompaniment, and occasionally by a band or orchestra, to accompany the singing. The Baroque style, which encompassed music, art, and architecture, was particularly encouraged by the post-Reformation Catholic Church as such forms offered a means of religious expression that was stirring and emotional, intended to stimulate religious fervor. This led directly to the emergence and development of European classical music, and its many derivatives. Catholic monks developed the first forms of modern Western musical notation in order to standardize liturgy throughout the worldwide church, and an enormous body of religious music has been composed for it through the ages. Instrumental accompaniment Ī page (leaf 12 recto) from Beethoven's manuscript. Believing that complexity had a tendency to create cacophony, which ruined the music, Gregory I kept things very simple with the chant.
The Gregorian chant was known for its very monophonic sound. The chant reform took place around 590–604 CE (reign of Pope Gregory I) (Kamien, pg. Pope Gregory I, while not the inventor of chant, was acknowledged as the first person to order such music in the church, hinting the name "Gregorian" chant. One of the earliest forms of worship music in the church was the Gregorian chant. For them, the act of singing is important. Some groups, such as the Bruderhof, sing songs both with religious and non-religious meanings and words.
It is frequently accompanied by instruments, but some denominations (such as some Exclusive Brethren, the Churches of Christ, the Primitive Baptists and the Free Church of Scotland) or congregations still prefer unaccompanied or a cappella singing. Most Christian music involves singing, whether by the whole congregation (assembly), or by a specialized subgroup-such as a soloist, duet, trio, quartet, madrigal, choir, or worship band- or both. Among the most prevalent uses of Christian music are in church worship or other gatherings.