#singing monks

[arosescrow]

you should say more. about the gregorian chants

OKAY!

So. Gregorian chants are, historically speaking, incredibly significant, as they're one of the first kinds of music to be recorded on paper in notation in Church history. A lot of modern church people really liked them in the 90s because, along with a very successful marketing campaign by the particular monks responsible for the album in the original post, they saw it as an opportunity to bring sacred rhythms back into everyday life. An awful lot of Church tradition is about being connected with the past, and the rest of it is about looking to the future, so having this tradition from the past brought into the present was likely a big selling factor.

In addition, New Age spirituality got ahold of Gregorian Chant when this album came out. No matter if you were part of the Church or even any church at all, the unique qualities of Gregorian chant (in marked contrast to pop and rock music of the day) lent themselves to meditation, and the aforementioned rhythms of the day likely also appealed to at least some of the non-Christian listeners. I don't know a lot about modern spirituality or even New Age spirituality, so if someone wants to add to this post I'd love to see it.

Now we get to the really neat part, the part that I'm actually good at and can definitively say something about. This is the part that's full of jargon (or it should be), and I'll do my best to define it all for you.

Gregorian chant, as you can find on Wikipedia, is a part of an only slightly larger category called "Western plainchant". Western in this context refers to Europe, specifically Western Europe (the area around modern England, France, Germany, and to some extent Italy). Plainchant is a kind of monophonic (with only one melodic line and no harmony or accompaniment) music that was sacred, which means that this style was never used in the secular music of the day.

Gregorian chant comes in one of three "levels of complexity" so to speak, and in one of two "styles" (this is the wrong word but I can't think of the right one right now). The levels of complexity are: 1. Syllabic. The entire chant is made up of single syllables on individual notes, with rare or no instances of movement between notes on the same syllable. The melody could move, but it would not (as a general rule) have more than one note on any given syllable. 2. Neumatic. Most of the chant is made up of single syllables stretched out between 2-4 notes, with rare or no instances of movement between notes on the same syllable lasting for more or less notes than this. 3. Mellismatic. Most of the chant is made up of single syllables stretched out between more than 4 notes, up to a single syllable being used for an entire piece (later in the period, once people started to get freaky with it). I honestly don't remember very much about the styles but here you go @effemimaniac knowledge for you!

[slavicafire]

i love being a monk i am so chaste and pure and humble and i for sure don't imbibe with the superiors or indulge in impure thoughts about my fellow novices. and i for sure am not here just to murder a fella. ora et labora, i've been saying. lorem ipsum

[morrigan-sims]

🎭Rune Lovelace🎭

she/they/he/it | changeling | bard | college of dance | charlatan | former acrobat she is beauty, he is grace, they will punch you in the face!

[some extra info under the cut]

Rune is going to be my character for the new campaign my Monday group is starting!!! (RIP Kiran, who I never got to show off on this blog because he was a Tabaxi, a Dragonborn, and a Thri-Kreen. I'll miss it. Bugs and kisses.) We're playing Heckna! which is a Domain of Dread-adjacent horror-comedy campaign. The entire party is very macabre, and we should fit right in! (But hopefully not too much...)

Anyways, more about Rune. She's a changeling college of dance bard (a new subclass with the 2024 rules, kind of like a combo between a monk and a bard), and they used to be an acrobat at a circus. Since whatever world this party came from is clearly some kind of grimdark dark fantasy setting, the circus itself certainly had its eerie moments. (And of course, it was a magic circus.) When he wasn't up on the high wire, Rune also dabbled in doing tarot card readings for the circus guests, lying through her teeth about their pasts and futures. (While they used their true changeling form while performing in the big top, she used a specific guise when she did the readings, an older woman who used a different name.)

Rune carries with them a porcelain mask, largely featureless, but gilded with gold. When among people who do not know his changeling identity, she pretends that the mask is the source of her ability to change shape, putting it on every time they shift forms.

[boipel]

The total neglect of my rain world au is real

I think this is how growing up looks like

Also have a Lowb , My little Silly monster

[cenobitebf]

I feel the current obsession with wizardposting, whimsical escapism and gimmicky music is fertile soil for the return of Epic Doom Metal

[stottlemonk-moments]

Stottlemonk Moments:

Monk s06ep14: "Mr. Monk Paints His Masterpiece"

[mismess]

I need them in these trying times

[ahopefulbromantic]

What do you do to celebrate the Feast Day of St Francis?? (i've never celebrated a feast day before)

For me the best way to spend any feast day is to:

Attend the mass! and get excited for the collect prayer and for the colors of the garments

Pray the Liturgy of the Hours, mainly lauds and vespers - they have special hymns and prayers about the saints and other features depending on what type of saint it is (martyr/virgin/scholastic), a hymn to St Francis rocks btw

Read about the saint, pray with them, spend some time with them - if you haven't read Canticle of the Sun yet, I can guarantee you'll love it!

If there is a special tradition or activity associated with the saint, it's awesome to participate in it, especially in a community. So for the feast of St Francis I blessed my animals and gave them their favorite treats ☺️

Have fun and happy feast!

[nomadman108]

Lakshmi Visits: Timely Reminders

Today I have a story to share. It’s one of those stories in which on little random (as if!) event or occurence leads to another, then another. Like life really – one thing leading to another. When I think about it, this small sharing is very much like many of the other stories I’ve shared: about my prayer life; about realisations and revelations I encounter along the way. (note from inner…

[bluesey-182]

novellas, i think, are even more hit or miss than full length novels cause i always end up leaving them thinking either "holy shit i can't believe this author accomplished a story like that in so few pages" or "eh. the author needed way more space to achieve any of the things they attempted in this" and there is so very, very rarely any in between

[akkivee]

does kuukou’s tone of voice here with all that tEAsE make you lose your entire mind or are you considerably more normal

[surfeit-of-stoats]

everybody shut up my show is on [plays John Mark McMillan's new album to rank how homoerotic the songs are]

[supercalifragipopculturevomit]

VAYA CON DIOS (2002) Daniel Brühl as Arbo

Just noticed I had all these extra Arbo GIFs left unposted.

[chedelat]

one of our profs is constantly giving us random mid movies to watch as an assignment for her course and almost no one watches them but i do and it's kinda fascinating. like without her i'd never know that there was this kinda uninteresting movie that's not too well made and now i have watched it and got nothing out of the experience.

[stottlemonk-moments]

Stottlemonk Moments:

Monk s02e03: "Mr Monk Goes to Mexico"