Descants

[New for Advent: 'On Jordan's bank the baptist's cry' is a perfect complement to Lledrod (Llangollen); and the descant and harmonization on the final doxology is particularly dramatic.] When I first heard a descant, during my college days, I wasn't sure what I was hearing, but I was absolutely sure I loved what I was hearing. A few years later, when working with a children's choir, I was looking for challenges to add to the program. Given the technical nature of too many of the available descants (by which I mean they sounded technical) I decided to try my own hand at writing one or two. My intent was that the descant would be a tune in itself, something singable, hummable, memorable and fun to learn - while still creating the sense of moment unique to a descant. That was in 1993, beginning the tune Coronation. This is still the guiding principle of all the descants published here. The technical complexity of the harmonizations varies, but the descants are all written to the same original ideal: to be a song apart from, and yet one with, a celebratory text and tune; to enrich for a few moments, at least, the experience of singing a hymn.

 (definition: http://www.encyclopedia.com/)

Cantoria, Luca Della Robbia, 15th C.