Russ Stutler's Message Board

Submitted by
Name: JDT
From: Alaska

Comments:
Thanks Russ. I was curious about singing the Psalms and this was a great resource--the best I could find on the internet. Just one small quibble: the "familiar tunes in Common Meter" aren't actually tunes (music) but are hymns (poems). For instance, "Amazing Grace" is a poem written by John Newton in 1779. The tune it is most commonly sung to is "New Britain," which was first published in 1829. The were first published together in the hymnal "Southern Harmony" in 1847. Some shape-note hymnals still organize themselves by tune rather than poetry, so you would have to look for New Britain rather than Amazing Grace if you wanted to sing that song. I'd love to visit Japan someday. I grew up in Ohio and spent many summers in the Kidron area--knew a few Malone students.

Admin reply: Thanks for the kind words and the heads up. I guess I should have suspected that might be the case, since I've read similar stories (A Mighty Fortress is Our God and The Star Spangled Banner for example). I'll make the corrections in the article very soon!

Added: February 28, 2013

Submitted by
Name: nicolas joly
From: france
E-mail: Contact

Comments:
your sketches and drawings are such an incentive to draw myself that I regret you did not post any after 2009
I wish I could carry on visiting this Japan of yours I do not know and appreciate.
Regards nicolas joly

Admin reply: I'm glad you were encouraged by the sketches. I have more recent ones at the sketching forum. By the way, please read "Please read this before registering" which can be found at the top of all three forums (and also on the home page) and then get back to me with the information I need for your registration.

Added: February 1, 2013

Submitted by
Name: marcia michael stutler
From: Kingman Az
E-mail: Contact

Comments:
Hey just found you accidently or by devine design ! We r Stutlers, now in Az but from Orange co., Ca.
Definately linked somewhere as our family comes mostly from Harrison (berg) co. W.V. My husbands dad was Lester Dwayne, his dad was Lester & mom Liberty from WV. We have a very prolific Stutler family with 5 sons & Mike's brothers 6 sons. Our heritage is German from the bavarian alps near Swedan. We all love and serve the Lord Most High, as, it seems, do you. One of my son's has Stutler Cabinets here in Kingman, Az. My husband and youngest son & I plan on making a swing through Harrison county this comimg July. weve never been back to meet relatives & hope to meet a few this summer! Would love to hear back from you, Marcia

Admin reply: Hi Marcia, great to hear from another Stutler, and to hear you are Christians as well. I'm sure we have the same ancestors in America and Europe. I've heard of Stutler Cabinets when I was researching the Stutler name on the web. I find working with wood very relaxing, but my skills are limited to simply avoiding injuries when I work with tools.

Added: January 29, 2013

Submitted by
Name: Stephen Gagnon
From: Florida, USA
E-mail: Contact

Comments:
Where does one get the Revised Grail Psalms that have these accent marks for plainsong? I would be interested in this. Is this a kind of universal pointing as well?

Thanks,
-Stephen

Admin reply: One place is from the publisher GIA Music,

http://www.giamusic.com/sacred_music/RGP/

At the bottom of my singing the Psalms article I have a photo of it open so you can see a page with the accents. It's not universal pointing as you have described, because some lines have more accents than others, but you only need to ignore the extra accents. The groupings have generous space between them so chanting is easier since you can see what is coming at a glance.

Added: January 15, 2013

Submitted by
Name: Stephen Gagnon
From: Florida, USA
E-mail: Contact

Comments:
Hello,

I pray the Divine Office daily, and chant the psalms in plainsong often. I like your idea about the pocket psalter from HTM (I love the language in that psalter)with plainsong notation. However, my dream psalter, instead of having a tone/mode "assigned" to a given psalm in that psalter, would have "universal pointing." I got this idea from the Monastic Breviary used by the monks of the Holy Cross (even though they use the 1979 BCP psalter). Universal pointing allows a person, so long as they know the "rules" regarding to the music of any particular tone relative to the accent marks and underlines of line 1 or 2 of a psalm verse, can sing any tone/mode for that psalm. As you know--depending on the season, feast, or whatever, any given psalm can be assigned any tone.

One of the drawbacks that I saw with the St. Dunstan Plainsong Psalter is that they assigned a tone/mode for each psalm, rather than universally pointing it.

Admin reply: Thanks for your message and insights! I can see how universal pointing would be a great benefit. Lately I've been using the Revised Grail Psalms, and one edition has accent marks for chanting. These Psalms were arranged with chanting in mind so they are amazingly easy to chant to any Psalm tone or even improvised chant - with or without the accent marks.

Added: January 15, 2013

Submitted by
Name: Anthony
From: Sydney, Australia
E-mail: Contact

Comments:
Hi Russ,

Thanks for the great webpage. I am new to chanting the psalms, and I am slowly figuring out how it's all done. But there's one main problem: I don't know how to chant the antiphons.

I have read that the mode that is used to chant the psalm depends on the final tone of the antiphon. But how do you know how to chant to antiphon? Is there a separate list of modes for antiphons?

Thanks,

Anthony

Admin reply: I confess that when I wrote the article on chanting the Psalms, I wasn't too familiar with the antiphons. It wasn't until after I started doing The Divine Office especially at Church that I started using them regularly. I still don't know how to chant them though!

Added: December 2, 2012

Submitted by
Name: Manuel Moreno
From: Texas
E-mail: Contact

Comments:
We pray Evening Prayer daily Monday through Friday, the first three days in English and the next two days in Spanish. It sure would be great if you could record at least Evening Prayer from the Psalter (for the four weeks) for at least these three days (in Plainchant). It could turn out to be a great seller since most parishes are now praying the Liturgy of the Hours.
Thanks.
Manuel Moreno

P.S. Great webpage!

Admin reply: That's great to hear. I only know of one parish that does any of the Liturgy of the Hours, and only Morning Prayers (that doesn't mean there may not be other parishes out there, of course).

I agree it would be a worthy project to record the Liturgy of the Hours in different languages as has been so well done in English. Right now there is a CD available with some main parts of the various Hours done in Japanese.

Added: October 19, 2012

Submitted by
Name: Chris Elliott
From: Morro Bay CA
E-mail: Contact

Comments:
Thank you for being so kind in helping me revisit my old love of drawing. Your suggestions and examples are amazing. Your site is the best!! You have a kind heart and wonderful control!

Admin reply: Hi Chris, I'm glad the web site was helpful. Thanks for the wonderful message!

Added: October 1, 2012

Submitted by
Name: Teri Ito-Ziert
From: Los Angeles, CA - currently in Peoria, AZ
E-mail: Contact

Comments:
Hi, Russ. Part I of my Comment

In my search for a refill replacement for my Platinum Makie rollerball pen, I discovered and thoroghly enjoyed your web site. The Lord has been generous to you and lavished you with many gifts, talents and life experiences.

It is clear to me that you love the Lord and hunger for His Word daily, love, believe and know our Savior Jesus Christ and are filled with the Holy Sprit. Your journey and path from the changing Anglican church to the Catholic Church is a natural one. The rich liturgical mass and the deeply imbedded traditions of the church are compelling. But, your journey is not yet over.

Admin reply: Hi Teri, Thanks for the comments. Yes, I'm sure the journey is not over!

Added: September 9, 2012

Submitted by
Name: Dave Lindberg
From: Rochester NY USA
E-mail: Contact

Comments:
Russ,

I see that on some of your sketches you mention that you use a carbon ink + brush pen for sketches where your ink then add a watercolor wash over it.

Can I ask what ink + brush pen combo you use?

I have been trying to do the same with a vintage flexible fountain pen with Noodler's ink without success. The pen digs into the paper too much tough.

Thanks,
Dave

Admin reply: Hi Dave,

I generally use a Platinum carbon ink cartridge in a Kuretake brush pen (Kuretake brush pens take Platinum cartridges fine but it might be a secret since nobody talks about it). Platinum makes two types of carbon ink cartridges, one for pens and one for brush pens. I prefer the pen ink even in my brush pens because it seems to smudge less.

I also use Platinum carbon ink from a bottle in a Pelikan fountain pen (M150) that has a vintage Pilot flex nib (my own Frankenstein). I can find Platinum carbon ink everywhere in Japan, even in shops in my neighborhood. If I lived in the States I would probably use Noodlers and find a paper that works with it.

If the pen digs into your paper, obviously that implies heavy pressure. A wet noodle flex pen takes very little pressure (as you know) while a semi flex pen forces you to dig in to get line variation.

Added: August 26, 2012