The First Joyful Mystery: The Annunciation

7:46 PM Friday. It's been twelve days since my previous "Thoughts on Music" entry. I wasn't sure what would happen tonight as I picked up where I left off, but I followed the Holy Spirit and ended up chanting my first full decade of the rosary in monastic reciting tone C with a lot of help from Paul Rose. According to Google Gemini, I don't need to strictly follow the assigned days for the mysteries. The rosary is a personal devotion and flexibility is allowed. I started by sitting at my desktop keyboard with my left hand holding the cross of the rosary pictured above and my right hand on C4 of my keyboard. The rosary is a Nazareth Store antique copper paracord rosary with black beads, a Saint Michael medal and an archangel cross (see here on Amazon). While holding the crucifix, I said "The First Joyful Mystery - the Annunciation" into my microphone. After this, I moved my left hand up to the copper Our Father bead (Pater bead) and recited the Our Father (Pater Noster) according to the Gregorian score prepared by Paul Rose here.

I listened to Paul's recitation to get a feel for the rhythm and used my right hand on the keyboard to help me keep my voice reasonably in tune. It was awkward at first and I had to practice a few times before I felt satisfied enough with my progress to move on.

Then I took hold of the first Hail Mary bead and recited the Hail Mary (Ave Maria) according to the Gregorian score prepared by Paul Rose at the link included above. I repeated this nine more times, once for each of the Hail Mary beads (Ave beads).

At the end of the Hail Mary decade, I took hold of the Saint Michael medal in my left hand and recited the Glory Be or Lesser Doxology (Gloria Patri) according to the Gregorian score prepared by Paul Rose at the link included above.

This concluded the chanting portion of my session. It must seem incredibly basic to those who are expert in Gregorian chant, but for me it was a big next step to put all of these parts together. I thought I would be learning how to make electronic world music with FL Studio 2025, and instead I find myself learning how to pray the first Joyful Mystery of the rosary in a monastic reciting tone.

This simple reciting style is called syllabic chant because there is only one note per syllable. The neume used in this case is called a punctum. It is square in shape. It is the foundation of Gregorian chant notation.

I will conclude this evening's session with a passage from History and Spirituality of Gregorian Chant, which I reminded myself to revisit in my previous entry:

 

According to Dom Jean Claire, choir master of Solesmes Abbey between 1975 and 2000, Gregorian chant, so to speak, “professes” the three religious vows:

That of poverty, because it is simple, monodic; in it unity prevails. Moreover, it does not need instrumental accompaniment.

That of chastity, because it does not arouse disordered passions in man, but rather invites to peace of mind and serenity, reflects the sacred and nourishes faith.

That of obedience, since its raison d’être consists in serving the liturgical text. The melody is subordinate to the lyrics, which carry a mystical and spiritual message.

Gregorian chant is, therefore, a sung prayer, a true dialogue with the Creator and an act of praise to Him, in a manner comparable to verbal incense.

Wonderful.