Rivers of Sacred Sound: Chant (Music and Spirituality)

198 Pages·2019·3.923 MB·English

by  Solveig McIntosh

R
i
v
e
Rivers of Sacred Sound traces the flow of influences from East to West, from r
BC to AD and from wordless jubilations to the setting of texts. It takes the s M u sic an
o d
discussion about western chant beyond a European perspective. f S
S pir
a it
The text of this book, preceded by an introduction, is presented in seven c u
chapters and covers a period of approximately five thousand years. There are re al
many references all over the world to praising the divine with sound. Thus d it
S y
the starting point is the praise song, a fundamental impulse in mankind. The
o
Rg-Veda requests that our loudest-sounding hymn be accepted, as food most u
n
delightful to the Gods. The Psalms request us to make a joyful noise unto God
d
and to sing forth the honour of His name. Spontaneous songs became ritual
events. In an aural culture what was the role of gesture and what is its role
now? There are many doors to open in pursuing these and other questions.
This book opens some of them.
Rivers of Sacred
Sound
SOLVEIG MCINTOSH is a musician and research scholar in the musical traditions
of Northern India. She qualified as a teacher in the 1970s and completed her
Doctoral studies in 1993. She has given talks in Britain, Holland, New Zealand
and India and has contributed articles to various books and journals. As well
S
as publishing a book, Hidden Faces of Ancient Indian Song, she has produced a o
l
DVD, Ancient Indian Song, and three CDs, Traditional Vedic Invocations, Hymns v Chant
e
of the Vedas and Sanskrit Songs to the Divine. She has given workshops both in i
g
Britain and abroad.
M
c
I
n
t
o
s
h
S M I
OLVEIG C NTOSH
ISBN978-1-78874-439-3
www.peterlang.com Peter Lang
R
i
v
e
Rivers of Sacred Sound traces the flow of influences from East to West, from r
BC to AD and from wordless jubilations to the setting of texts. It takes the s M u sic an
o d
discussion about western chant beyond a European perspective. f S
S pir
a it
The text of this book, preceded by an introduction, is presented in seven c u
chapters and covers a period of approximately five thousand years. There are re al
many references all over the world to praising the divine with sound. Thus d it
S y
the starting point is the praise song, a fundamental impulse in mankind. The
o
Rg-Veda requests that our loudest-sounding hymn be accepted, as food most u
n
delightful to the Gods. The Psalms request us to make a joyful noise unto God
d
and to sing forth the honour of His name. Spontaneous songs became ritual
events. In an aural culture what was the role of gesture and what is its role
now? There are many doors to open in pursuing these and other questions.
This book opens some of them.
Rivers of Sacred
Sound
SOLVEIG MCINTOSH is a musician and research scholar in the musical traditions
of Northern India. She qualified as a teacher in the 1970s and completed her
Doctoral studies in 1993. She has given talks in Britain, Holland, New Zealand
and India and has contributed articles to various books and journals. As well
S
as publishing a book, Hidden Faces of Ancient Indian Song, she has produced a o
l
DVD, Ancient Indian Song, and three CDs, Traditional Vedic Invocations, Hymns v Chant
e
of the Vedas and Sanskrit Songs to the Divine. She has given workshops both in i
g
Britain and abroad.
M
c
I
n
t
o
s
h
S M I
OLVEIG C NTOSH
www.peterlang.com Peter Lang
Rivers of Sacred Sound
Chant
Music and S
pi
rit
u
ali
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y
Series Editor
-
june boyce tillman
PETER LANG
Oxford • Bern • Berlin • Bruxelles • New York • Wien
Music and S
pi
rit
u
ali
ty Rivers of Sacred
Sound
Series Editor
Chant
-
june boyce tillman
S M i
olveig c ntoSh
PETER LANG PETER LANG
Oxford • Bern • Berlin • Bruxelles • New York • Wien Oxford • Bern • Berlin • Bruxelles • New York • Wien
Bibliographic information published by Die Deutsche Nationalbibliothek.
Die Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche National-
bibliografie; detailed bibliographic data is available on the Internet at
http://dnb.d-nb.de.
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data:
Names: McIntosh, Solveig, 1948- author.
Title: Rivers of sacred sound : chant / Solveig McIntosh.
Description: Oxford ; New York : Peter Lang, [2019] | Series: Music and
spirituality ; 9 | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2018057324 | ISBN 9781788744393 (alk. paper)
Subjects: LCSH: Chants--History and criticism.
Classification: LCC ML2900 .M3 2019 | DDC 782.2/209--dc23 LC record available at
https://lccn.loc.gov/2018057324
Cover design by Peter Lang Ltd.
issn 2296-164X
isbn 978-1-78874-439-3 (print) • isbn 978-1-78874-440-9 (ePDF)
isbn 978-1-78874-441-6 (ePub) • isbn 978-1-78874-442-3 (mobi)
© Peter Lang AG 2019
Published by Peter Lang Ltd, International Academic Publishers,
52 St Giles, Oxford, OX1 3LU, United Kingdom
[email protected], www.peterlang.com
Solveig McIntosh has asserted her right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act,
1988, to be identified as Author of this Work.
All rights reserved.
All parts of this publication are protected by copyright.
Any utilisation outside the strict limits of the copyright law, without the permission of
the publisher, is forbidden and liable to prosecution.
This applies in particular to reproductions, translations, microfilming, and storage and
processing in electronic retrieval systems.
This publication has been peer reviewed.
Contents
List of Figures vii
List of Musical Examples ix
Preface xiii
Notation and Script xvii
Acknowledgements xix
Introduction 1
Chapter 1
Historical Background 5
Chapter 2
Language 17
Chapter 3
Scale and Mode 49
Chapter 4
Recitation, Psalmody and Silence 89
Chapter 5
Alan4kaaras and Neumes 101
Chapter 6
Rhythm in Chant 129
vi
Chapter 7
The Hand: Mudraas and Cheironomy 137
Epilogue 153
Glossary 155
Bibliography 163
Index 169
Figures
Figure 1. A table, based on Jhairazbhoy’s work, showing
how the seven ancient Greek diatonic modes, the
mediaeval Ecclesiastical modes and ancient Indian
modal forms (jaatis) may be related. 77
Figure 2. Arm position for mantra recitation in the SZukla
Yajur Veda tradition. 139
Figure 3. Finger position for mantrās ending with a ‘t’ sound. 140
Figure 4. The gaatra vīn_aa hand. 143
Figure 5. The Guidonian hand. 145
Figure 6. Sargam syllables for tones related to the eight cakras
of the human body. 148
Figure 7. The Curwen hand signs. 149
Figure 8. The Kodály hand signs. 150
Figure 9. A symbolic representation of the ‘gestures’ used by
Justine Ward. 151