Teaching Christian Chant in a Jewish Music Context

Abstract

            In the first classes of the music history survey course for music majors, the beginnings of Roman Catholic chant and liturgical music are discussed. Most music history textbooks relegate the Jewish roots of Christian music to at most one paragraph. However, it is important for students to understand the ways in which Jewish musical liturgy and cantillation gave rise to Christian musical liturgy and chant. One reason why the Jewish roots of Christian chant are not often discussed is because many teachers of music history often feel that they do not know enough about Jewish music to teach it. . This article discusses the ways in which I approach placing Christian chant into a Jewish context so that students can better understand the ways in which the latter helped to give rise to the former.