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[Quaksna]

I am not at all familiar with psalters and psalms

Now you're obligated to a lesson of Catholic liturgy  Better brace yourself!

You see, during a mass, there is a segment where psalm is read, if no singers are present. If there are, it should be sung, and if there's a organist playing, it's on them.

This is how the psalter looks like:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

The text of psalms is always the same, it's the 150 psalms from Bible, or sometimes also verses from other books. The melodies composed vary, this one is work of mr. Korejs, who is still active if I'm not mistaken, so he has the luxury of having an internet database of his works.

From the database:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

In the book, there are only the melodies, in the PDFs from his site it's harmonized as well. If I'm in rush, I use these, otherwise I try to harmonize myself or use psalter of my teacher, where he did harmonized it himself, just with chord marks, but it's enough. Psalms are pretty good place for improvisation, too, one of our organists makes the melodies up as he goes 

There are more segments of the mass where the sung texts are always the same, but with different melodies and compositions from different people. In our country we have four such legends, Olejník, Bříza, Eben and Pololáník, I use the Bříza's compositions when I play during the mass. If my name could be someday next to theirs, ohoho, what a legacy! My compositions would be played for years to come.

As you've written about the way you start off from melody or chords, yeah, I have similar ways, no set preference. I think I've written about it in my first post...

Also been improvising in middle of songs using their chords, getting pretty good at it, and I see my own style shaping there. I turned Rick's Astley's Never Gonna to some medieval folk song, it's pretty hillarious.

[MeimieFan88]

Hmm I see! I watched a short documentary on medieval music a little while ago and remember that most of it started with church music, so that's neat. I had been wanting to compose a piece in medieval style for a while, playing CRPGs really got me into a medieval kind of mood!

I turned Rick's Astley's Never Gonna to some medieval folk song, it's pretty hillarious.

Oh that's cool, I recently discovered that making medieval covers from modern songs is actually a thing, called "Bardcore" or "Tavernwave" haha. Like this one (Lady Gaga's Bad Romance), really funny and quite well done. On a side note, something about the medieval flute sound is really enchanting.

[Quaksna]

I turned Rick's Astley's Never Gonna to some medieval folk song, it's pretty hillarious.

Oh that's cool, I recently discovered that making medieval covers from modern songs is actually a thing, called "Bardcore" or "Tavernwave" haha. Like this one (Lady Gaga's Bad Romance), really funny and quite well done. On a side note, something about the medieval flute sound is really enchanting.

I am aware of Bardcore, but the funny thing is I didn't really try to twist the song, I just applied my improvisation methods onto the chords, and it just kind of happened.

What I don't like about modern music (popular music, the "mainstream", if you will) is that they are some really good ideas present, but they don't do anything with them. Sometimes, this genre change like you described can turn stuff to gold. Depends. I don't listen to popular music, so that's that, most of the stuff I know are soundtracks, be it games or movies.

[MeimieFan88]

Hmm I don't really listen to much mainstream stuff either, but I'm curious what you mean by "doing things" to the ideas present there. For me I'll listen to popular stuff if the radio is the only option, but I usually won't go seek it out. Much prefer the electronic/dance side of things (am surprised there are no radio stations here that even play electronic stuff!), more recently melodic dubstep has really caught my ear. Syncopated rhythms and crazy sound design (with catchy melodies) can be so refreshing, but I guess it's still too unconventional for the general public.

[Quaksna]

Hmm I don't really listen to much mainstream stuff either, but I'm curious what you mean by "doing things" to the ideas present there. For me I'll listen to popular stuff if the radio is the only option, but I usually won't go seek it out. Much prefer the electronic/dance side of things (am surprised there are no radio stations here that even play electronic stuff!), more recently melodic dubstep has really caught my ear. Syncopated rhythms and crazy sound design (with catchy melodies) can be so refreshing, but I guess it's still too unconventional for the general public.

That's a big part of the problem - conventions! It all sounds very samey to me. What I meant about the not using the potential is this, they rather stick to the formula than trying to do something interesting. ( and for that matter, good to listen to  ). The stuff I heard on the radio while in car,  usually the more recent it is, more "boring" it is.

And like, there's nothing wrong with formulas or templates. The music I'm studying as a organist is pretty much all held together by very strict rules, but the rules don't actually limit the composer. It's more of a tool, he must come up with how could he use these methods to create something new. And yeah, classical music sounds very similar too, but I feel it's far more unique, varied and daring that what we have now.

[MeimieFan88]

Ahh yes, that makes sense, and I agree! My main problem with mainstream music is also that it all sounds very similar. In structure, in theme, in instrumentation. There are a few interesting ones here and there but most of it is pretty generic-sounding.

Hmm I don't listen to much classical music tbh (of the actual classical times), the instrumentation is a little too similar for me and there's a bit of an under-emphasis on rhythms. But in terms of structure and development, there definitely seems to be a lot of variation. I think in terms of interesting sound design and rhythms, medieval music actually has a lot to offer, which is weird because it's technically even older than classical music. Modern medieval music, or "fantasy" music I guess it can be called, is cool in this regard because it explores a very old genre but brings new ideas and techniques and such into it.

But I dunno, the lines between classical music and some modern genres are pretty blurry too, like a lot of lo-fi hip hop sound pretty classical, delicate piano melodies but with jazz harmonies and harder rhythms and modern sounds like 808s, and even electronic stuff like some glitch hop sound veeery classical at times, with beautiful string ensembles and motifs, but then there are also like glitchy vocals and stuff with it haha. It's cool to see the influences of older genres mix with new styles and concepts.

[Nordlicht]

So if I may post something too...

Mind you I have absolutely no musical background, beside trying to learn piano for a few month now. I guess it's quite plain, and may hardly qualify as music, but somehow I'm still proud enough of it to have it as my ringtone. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qhXyckJDNcQ

[MeimieFan88]

So if I may post something too...

Mind you I have absolutely no musical background, beside trying to learn piano for a few month now. I guess it's quite plain, and may hardly qualify as music, but somehow I'm still proud enough of it to have it as my ringtone. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qhXyckJDNcQ

Nice, it sounds kind of Christmassy

[Quaksna]

So if I may post something too...

Mind you I have absolutely no musical background, beside trying to learn piano for a few month now. I guess it's quite plain, and may hardly qualify as music, but somehow I'm still proud enough of it to have it as my ringtone. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qhXyckJDNcQ

It does, it's a music 
For not having a background, it's quite a feat, good work!

And don't worry about not having a musical backround. There's a certain Canadian guy, Eric Vigneault, hadn't one either. He's one of the best composers I know, he absolutely rocks at building atmosphere.

He made soundtrack for Steppenwolf: The X-Creatures Project, not sure if you know it. Ancient series of Flash puzzle adventure games, still adore them. He put the soundtrack to both YouTube and SoundCloud, much to fan ecstasy (myself included) . Check them out! Even if you aren't chased by Mokele Mbembe at the moment, I think you'll appreciate them.

[Yellow Pixel]

And don't worry about not having a musical backround. There's a certain Canadian guy, Eric Vigneault, hadn't one either. He's one of the best composers I know, he absolutely rocks at building atmosphere.

He made soundtrack for Steppenwolf: The X-Creatures Project, not sure if you know it. Ancient series of Flash puzzle adventure games, still adore them. He put the soundtrack to both YouTube and SoundCloud, much to fan ecstasy (myself included) . Check them out! Even if you aren't chased by Mokele Mbembe at the moment, I think you'll appreciate them.

Funny thing! Éric Vigneault teaches music in the city where I live and I didn't even know him! I do know Steppenwolf though: it's a cool game, the controls are just a bit clunky. But I never finished the series, maybe I should. And I'm certainly going to try his music!

[Quaksna]

And don't worry about not having a musical backround. There's a certain Canadian guy, Eric Vigneault, hadn't one either. He's one of the best composers I know, he absolutely rocks at building atmosphere.

He made soundtrack for Steppenwolf: The X-Creatures Project, not sure if you know it. Ancient series of Flash puzzle adventure games, still adore them. He put the soundtrack to both YouTube and SoundCloud, much to fan ecstasy (myself included) . Check them out! Even if you aren't chased by Mokele Mbembe at the moment, I think you'll appreciate them.

Funny thing! Éric Vigneault teaches music in the city where I live and I didn't even know him! I do know Steppenwolf though: it's a cool game, the controls are just a bit clunky. But I never finished the series, maybe I should. And I'm certainly going to try his music!

He does? Oh boy, that's something! Then you are blessed by his presence! Gimme some!

Definitely finish Steppenwolf, that's an order  Controls were never problem for me, but the level layout doesn't always show where are the bounds of the platforms, so you might fall to your death if you don't know all the episodes in and out (like I do. This is issue mainly in episodes 3, 4 , 7, 14, 19 with that two jumps you have to take from exact spot facing exact direction, and 21) I think you can get a picture of my relation with the games 

The finale is great. The last episode is basically one big fight, a final showdown, and the music is so good it makes you doubt this is a creation of a human.

These games were my life even when I was a kid, and back then I usually had the audio muted on everything, so I didn't know the soundtrack so much. To come back to the series and find out not only it holds up but the music is that good... Majestic. If nothing else, check out the music. I never heard so good ambient music in any other game series.

My favourite tracks are from episodes 4, 15, 16, 19, 22, 23, and the ascended finale, 24.

Okay, I'll shut up now.

[Nordlicht]

Nice, it sounds kind of Christmassy

Thanks, I think the picture is helping

It does, it's a music 
For not having a background, it's quite a feat, good work!

Thank you!

And don't worry about not having a musical backround. There's a certain Canadian guy, Eric Vigneault, hadn't one either. He's one of the best composers I know, he absolutely rocks at building atmosphere.

He made soundtrack for Steppenwolf: The X-Creatures Project, not sure if you know it. Ancient series of Flash puzzle adventure games, still adore them. He put the soundtrack to both YouTube and SoundCloud, much to fan ecstasy (myself included) . Check them out! Even if you aren't chased by Mokele Mbembe at the moment, I think you'll appreciate them.

After Bardcore something new I learned here. I think I like this thread.

[Yellow Pixel]

I finished the first chapter of Steppenwolf yesterday. It was neat and the soundtrack adds so much to the game experience: it's very rich, very creative and the rythm is great (I also often had the audio muted on everything in the past). Éric Vigneault definitely have a lot of talent! Besides, it brought back to me memories from my childhood when Flash games where getting popular.

It furthermore reminded me the lovely soundtrack from Pharaoh (Sierra Studios, 1999), a city-builder that fully immerse you in the lands of Ancient Egypt. I highly recommend the game as much as its music. I listened to it again on a cool website I have discovered today:

https://downloads.khinsider.com/game-soundtracks/album/pharaoh

And if you want to hear something different from other musicians of Québec in Canada, where I live, let me propose you the songs of Si on avait besoin d'une cinquième saison (If We Needed a Fifth Season). It's an album of progressive rock from the band Harmonium that is remarkably symphonic and that I really enjoy. There are five tracks in it, for each season, one of wich is imaginary (their titles are in French since it's the common language in Québec).

[Quaksna]

Yesterday, we had a session, fellow organist apprentices and I, with a experienced organist that teaches singing on a theology school. He told us about choral, psalms and the origins of the form we know today.

If you ever saw early music notation, you can see it was way different from what we have now. Originally, it was just a collection of dots, lines, commas, various marks above the words. These did not hint any melody at all, but they were trying to show you stress on the words, it was very loosely tied with the text you were singing. Because it was more about the reading of the text, just in a more fancy, yet honest way. It was expected that the singer would know the melody. They did not need to write down something that you could easily remember, so they didn't record melodies.

Then, there were the first notes, you've probably seen somewhere, these square-like notes, on four lines instead of five, they all look alike, some other symbols may show up... These were being written down, and were psalms most of the time, for the breviary prayers (daily prayers of the church) for monasteries, mostly monks did sing these. And these were melodies, and melodies only. It didn't matter, if you began singing on C or A#, that didn't matter there. There were many "modes" you could use for the texts, like we have minor and major keys, there were like nine concepts like these back then, imagine the vast ocean of possibilities! This type of of notation is still being used in our liturgy, and our modern psalm melodies, like those from mr. Korejs I've shown you before, try to emulate these ancient tunes.

Thought you might find it interesting. Hope I made some sense.

[MeimieFan88]

Yesterday, we had a session, fellow organist apprentices and I, with a experienced organist that teaches singing on a theology school. He told us about choral, psalms and the origins of the form we know today.

If you ever saw early music notation, you can see it was way different from what we have now. Originally, it was just a collection of dots, lines, commas, various marks above the words. These did not hint any melody at all, but they were trying to show you stress on the words, it was very loosely tied with the text you were singing. Because it was more about the reading of the text, just in a more fancy, yet honest way. It was expected that the singer would know the melody. They did not need to write down something that you could easily remember, so they didn't record melodies.

Then, there were the first notes, you've probably seen somewhere, these square-like notes, on four lines instead of five, they all look alike, some other symbols may show up... These were being written down, and were psalms most of the time, for the breviary prayers (daily prayers of the church) for monasteries, mostly monks did sing these. And these were melodies, and melodies only. It didn't matter, if you began singing on C or A#, that didn't matter there. There were many "modes" you could use for the texts, like we have minor and major keys, there were like nine concepts like these back then, imagine the vast ocean of possibilities! This type of of notation is still being used in our liturgy, and our modern psalm melodies, like those from mr. Korejs I've shown you before, try to emulate these ancient tunes.

Thought you might find it interesting. Hope I made some sense.

Hmm these "modes" sound interesting, are they related to the standard diatonic modes that we have today? Interesting that there are nine of them, today we have just seven diatonic modes (and nobody ever really uses Locrian, to my knowledge). Perhaps they included stuff like melodic minor and harmonic minor?