Three ways to sing the Psalms
Metrical Psalms, Plainsong, and Anglican Chant (and then some...)

	The psalter of the 1662 Book of Common Prayer

The book of Psalms (Tehillim in Hebrew) was the prayer book of the Israelites in their synagogue worship. There are recorded instances in the Bible where Jesus took His words directly from the Psalms -- he even used the Psalms when he cried out in agony on the cross. And later when Jesus appeared to John on the Island of Patmos and told him what to write to the Churches, he still quoted the Psalms!

Martin Luther said this about the psalter, which is another name for the book of Psalms:

The psalter ought to be a precious and beloved book, if for no other reason than this: it promises Christ's death and Resurrection so clearly--and pictures His kingdom and the conditions and nature of all Christendom--that it might well be called a little Bible.

The preface to the Tehillim by the Kehot Publication Society has this quote from Tezmach Tzedek, the third Lubavitcher Rebbe:

If one would only know the power of the verses of Tehillim, and their effect on high, one would recite them continuously. The verses of Tehillim transcend all barriers and ascend higher and higher, imploring the Master of the Universe until they achieve results in kindness and mercy.

(I admit I don't know what a third Lubavitcher Rebbe is, but what a powerful statement.)

Back in the days when most people could not read, common folk began to pray the Rosary which let them recite the shorter and easy to memorize Hail Mary 150 times instead of 150 Psalms.

The classic Book of Common Prayer of the Anglican Church has the psalter divided up so people can go through all 150 Psalms every month during the Daily Office (daily devotions).

The Catholic Liturgy of the Hours (A.K.A. Divine Office) and the Orthodox Kathismata and the Hebrew Tehillim also have Psalms arranged to be read entirely through in a month.

Some psalters are arranged to be read through entirely once a week (and twice a week during Lent). Some monastics pray the entire psalter -- all 150 Psalms -- every day!

A daily dosage of Psalms -- even only one Psalm a day -- might sound a bit tedious. That is, unless you sing them. The Psalms were intended to be sung. Try reading through a book of your favorite songs without singing them and see how dry they are, like cornflakes without milk.

Sing the Psalms, and you will find how gratifying it is, and you will look forward to doing it again.

There are very few clues, and no musical notes in our English Bibles to help us sing the Psalms, but today there are several ways to sing them. This page describes three good ways that I've discovered: Metrical Psalms, Plainsong, and Anglican Chants.

1. Metrical Psalms

In order to sing the Psalms, one has to either edit the words to fit tunes, or create tunes to fit the words.

Metrical Psalms are of the first type, words edited to fit tunes. A standard metrical Psalm is written in Common Meter which is 8.6.8.6. That means in a four line phrase, there will be eight syllables, then six syllables, then eight syllables, and then six syllables.

Here are some familiar tunes in Common Meter:

This is just a fraction of what is out there. Do you see any favorite tunes in this list? Amazing Grace is beloved by many, including myself, but it can seem a bit short when if you've got a good harmony going and don't want to stop. With a metrical psalter you can belt out Amazing Grace with gusto until the cows come home and never repeat a single verse.

One of my favorite Common Meter tunes is St. Flavian. Here it is in the key of F. Notice the heavy bar in the middle of each line. That tells you where to divide the text. As you can see, eight notes are followed by six in each line of music.

Here are a few verses of Psalm 103 in Common Meter. Try singing these verses to St. Flavian or a few of the tunes listed above (note that "stirred" is two syllables as in "stirr-ed" while "bestowed" is pronounced with two syllables):

O THOU my soul, bless God the Lord; and all that in me is Be stirred up His holy Name to magnify and bless. Bless, O my soul, the Lord thy God, and not forgetful be Of all his gracious benefits he hath bestow'd on thee.

	This psalter comes in a few sizes including 3x5 inch pocket size (center) and even bound in the back of a Bible (left). The language is similar to that of the King James Bible.

If you had psalter arranged in Common Meter, you could have a great time singing the Psalms to a variety of tunes. They are beautiful when sung well in rich four part harmony. There are lots of metrical Psalms performed well on YouTube. Great fun! Of the three ways to sing Psalms, metrical Psalms are probably the most familiar to our ears from a musical standpoint.

The Psalm text above came from the Scottish Metrical Psalter of 1650 also called The Psalms of David in Metre. This work is considered a careful translation that is faithful to the original Hebrew text. Some parts are even a closer reflection of the original Hebrew than the prose Psalms found in the English Bible because subtle nuances of the Hebrew text were brought out where extra syllables were needed.

The Hebrew may be strong in this metrical psalter, but sometimes the English word order is unnatural so it will fit the tune. But it communicates the meaning just fine, and you'll get used to it and may come to love it. The slightly unnatural English text of Psalm 23 (and the tune that always goes with it) in this psalter is well known and beloved by many:

The Lord's my shepherd, I'll not want. He makes me down to lie In pastures green: he leadeth me the quiet waters by.

Some churches sing metrical Psalms exclusively (no other hymns) which I personally think is a great idea. Why sing hymns written by people when you can sing the powerful Word of God -- especially since you have so many great tunes to choose from, and are free to create more tunes in any musical style?

You can order a copy of The Psalms of David in Metre from the Trinitarian Bible Society. They also sell Bibles with these same metrical Psalms in the back (in addition to the regular Psalms in the Bible, of course). You can also order it through Amazon.

Here is another edition of the same metrical psalter plus a few other metrical psalters at Amazon:

• Scottish Metrical Psalter
• A New Metrical Psalter
• The Book of Psalms for Singing
• Trinity Psalter

Some of these have the older form of English which I love, being a fan of the Authorized King James Version of the Bible, but the majority of books listed on this page are in modern English.

2. Plainsong

The other way to sing Psalms is to keep the words in their original form, and create tunes to fit the words. Of course, this could result in 150 different tunes with complex and unpredictable melodies. Fortunately there is another option: chanting. Chanting is a combination of speaking and singing. This is the key to singing text without rearranging it; most of the words are spoken in a monotone on the same note, and a small part of the text is sung to specific notes and rhythms, giving the chant its musical quality.

One very old form of chanting is called plainsong, which has been around since the early centuries of the Christian Church, if not earlier. It is possible that parts of plainsong chants we have today came from the synagogue chants which were familiar to Jesus. Plainsong is also called Plainchant. Gregorian Chant is a form of plainsong.

The standard in America for many years was the Plainsong Psalter by Charles Winfred Douglas, and first published in 1932 by the H.W. Gray Company. The text is the classic Coverdale Psalter. It has been out of print since the early 1960s.

Plainsong is especially suited to individual prayer since there are no harmonies or instrumental accompaniment, and the range of notes if relatively narrow and within the range of the average person. You can determine how high or low the chant will be sung, so no chant is ever outside your singing range.

The music for plainsong chant (also called plainchant) comes from nine different basic tunes called Psalm Tones, and there are variations within these nine Psalm tones.

In a plainsong psalter, the text is marked (pointed) to give the reader clues as to how to fit the words to the music. Each psalter has its own system of pointing, but they all follow the same basic principles.

Here is a Psalm tone (number 2 out of the nine, usually identified by a Roman numeral, so it is Psalm tone II) with pointed text from Psalm 103:8 (hint: in Do RE MI terms, the first note in this example is FA, but it has so few notes, you can consider it DO if that makes it easier):

In the text, the slashes separate the string of words that fit one long note (the long bar) from the words (or syllables) that take individual notes. The asterisk marks the division between the first and second section, and corresponds with the bar in the center of the music. In some psalters a colon is used instead of an asterisk for this.

Plainsong was originally written in a form of music notation known as neums, which are the ancestors of modern music notation. Some plainsong psalters still use neums while others use modern notation. Here is the same chant in neums (and in this example the first note really is DO on the DO RE Mi scale):

There are a few other elements of plainsong which aren't covered here, but if you have grasped this much, then you'll have no problem with the rest.

If you use a plainsong psalter regularly, you will soon have a collection of Psalm chants in your head at your disposal so that even when you open the Psalms in your Bible, you will be able to sing them naturally because the chants will pop into your head.

If you don't want to find a plainsong psalter, here is a very simple and versatile chant that will serve as a springboard for improvisation. The first note is written as C, but that is only to show how the other notes relate to it. Simply think of it as DO on the DO RE MI scale, and sing it as high or low as you want.

The long square bar is for singing the majority of the words on one note in a natural reading style. Then you change the note of the final syllable as indicated in the music. Some words will sound unnatural if you only change the note of the final syllable. In that case, change the note of the last two syllables. Feel free to improvise and let the words themselves determine how many notes are needed, and which direction they should go. If you are singing by yourself to God, then there is no need to conform to established formulas.

Most Psalm verses are divided into two parts. The chant is therefore divided into two sections. If the verse has three sections, just combine two of the sections of the text.

The Plainsong Psalter of 1932 mentioned above is nearly impossible to find, but Lancelot Andrewes Press came to the rescue by producing Saint Dunstan's Plainsong Psalter, which is mainly based on the Plainsong Psalter of 1932 but expanded to include Canticles and all the elements you would need to chant Morning and Evening Prayer (Matins and Evensong) of the classic Book of Common Prayer. It uses the same Psalm tones from the 1932 Plainsong Psalter, even assigning the same tones to the same Psalms, and adds several more tones to the longer Psalms. While the 1932 Plainsong Psalter was written in modern musical notation, this psalter is done in the original square neum notation which is really much easier to sight read because it is less cluttered. This is an excellent work, and fills a great need. You can get a copy directly from Lancelot Andrewes Press or new or used copies via Amazon.

Saint Dunstan's Plainsong Psalter

Here is a web site with recordings of various Psalms chanted from The Saint Dunstan's Plainsong Psalter, chanted by Brother Benedict, OSB of St. Augustine Orthodox Church in Denver. Also, recordings of The Compline Service at St. Mark's Cathedral usually include chanting of the Psalms in beautiful Plainsong by a men's choir.

Here are a few other plainsong related materials at Amazon:

• Plainsong Psalter (modern translation of the Psalms with modern music notation)
• Chanting the Psalms: A Practical Guide with Instructional CD

3. Anglican Chants

Another way of singing Psalms which conforms the music to the text is called Anglican Chant. This form of chant came from plainsong, and was created to allow Anglican church choirs to chant the Psalms in four part harmony. It first appeared around the same time as the first Book of Common Prayer in the 16th century, so apparently it was intended to be used with the psalter (produced by Miles Coverdale) in that prayer book. Plainsong at the time was in Latin while Anglican Chant was in English. By the way the Coverdale psalter is still widely used, and is printed in several prayer books as well as pointed psalters, both plainsong and Anglican.

The Cathedral Psalter, a classic collection of Anglican Chants in use since the 19th century. The text is the classic Coverdale Psalter.

The original Anglican Chants were simple, and sounded like plainsong. But over the years, Anglican Chant has evolved into beautiful and complex pieces which are wonderful to hear when performed by a choir. If you would like to hear some absolutely beautiful Anglican chants done well, listen to the Psalms sung during Choral Evensong by the Merton College Choir.

A lot of Anglican chants were intended to be sung by choirs in four part harmony, and therefore do not hold up well when sung by an individual. However, there are many simple Anglican chants with solid melodies which are great for chanting alone during your personal prayer time.

Here is the melody (soprano) line of a classic Anglican chant that appears in many old psalters and hymn books. Below it are two lines from Psalm 103 of the Coverdale text with pointing as it appears in the Cathedral Psalter (in that particular psalter a different chant is used with this text). If you need help, the final note is DO on the DO RE MI scale:

Praise the Lord | O my | soul : and all that is within me | praise his | holy | Name.
Praise the Lord | O my | soul : and for - | - get not | all his | benefits .

The upright bars in the text correspond to the bars in the music and the colon corresponds to the heavy bar (it's a good place to pause and take a breath). Usually the whole notes will contain more than one word -- even a string of words, while the half notes are assigned to one syllable each. You may feel tempted to rush through the string of words to get past it and on to the musical part, but just take your time and read the words naturally with feeling. The same goes for plainsong.

Here I have colored the parts to show how they go together:

The great thing about Anglican Chants is that there is one standard pattern so any pointed Psalm will fit any Anglican chant. This makes a text-only point Anglican Chant Psalter like the one below very useful.

Here is a facsimile edition of a psalter from 1858 called The Book Of Psalms, Pointed For Chanting And Adapted To Appropriate Chants by An English Priest. It has only text, so you can match the Psalms to your favorite chants. This copy has a few flaws (and a spooky image of a thumb) which I describe in more detail in my book review at Amazon.

Here are a few other books of pointed Psalms for Anglican Chants at Amazon:

• The Anglican Psalter
• Anglican Chant Psalter

Anglican chants in their most basic form consist of ten notes in seven measures. It would be very easy for anyone to compose new chants based on this forumla, and sing the Psalm texts from one of these pointed psalters. With this form of chant you could add chords and play a guitar or other instrument while you chant the Psalms. David played a harp, you know. It could open up a whole new world of possibilities for you.

Which to choose

While all three forms can be used successfully in any setting (and I have used and enjoyed all three in personal devotions), I personally think Metrical Psalms really shine when sung in harmony (with gusto) by a congregation, while Anglican chants are best when performed by choirs and Plainsong is perfect for private prayer time. Blessed is the man who can find all three in one Church.

Other forms of chanting

Byzantine Chant is a form of chant used in The Orthodox Church. One way it differs from Plainsong and Anglican Chanting is that there is a lot more improvisation involved. The tone (or scale) of each chant is given, which determines the beginning, middle and end notes of each phrase (like a Plainsong Psalm tone)

The Greek Septuagint version of the Psalms has 151 Psalms. Psalm 151 is about David and Goliath.

but the other notes are not confined to a monotone, but go up and down freely within the confines of the particular tone, as the chanter improvises. Apparently this form of chant does not require pointed texts.

I'm not familiar enough with it to say much more than this, but there is a Byzantine Chant workshop in podcast form on the web called Glory To Thee with a downloadable PDF text for you to start leaning this style. It can be found at Ancient Faith Radio.

When you cannot use your voice

In the 4th century Saint Augustine wrote about his mentor Bishop Ambrose of Milan and his amazing ability to read without using his voice. Apparently there was a time when nobody read silently or even considered it! But today, sometimes you have to share your devotional space with people who are doing other things, and vocal expression is not an option. You can still elevate your experience of the Psalms by saying them silently and deliberately. A lot of people move their lips when they read; it's not a big deal (unlike in Saint Augustine's time).

One method which I have found very helpful in such situations is to take a breath before every phrase and say that phrase silently while exhaling. It helps you to focus, prevents you from drifting absent mindedly through large sections, and can be very rewarding. By the way, in noisy crowded places, ear plugs can make a world of difference in your ability to concentrate; in noisy crowded Tokyo, I use earplugs a lot.

So many versions!

If you are singing through the psalms regularly, especially if you go through the entire collection every month or every week, the words will stay with you and come to mind later when you need them. You can memorize Psalms without even trying. But if you keep jumping from one version to another, you could lose that benefit.

There are well over a hundred English translations of the Bible out there now, plus several great psalter versions, such as the Coverdale psalter, Orthodox translations of the Greek Septuagint, and translations of the Hebrew Tehillim which often appear along with the Hebrew text, and there are also a few metrical psalters in print.

It's fun to collect a bunch of versions for reading and comparison, but if memorizing the Psalms is important to you, then stick to one version for daily chanting, such as the Bible translation your church uses.

Regular Bibles don't have the benefit of pointing (those markings that divide the text to fit the chant) but after you've been at this for a while, you will discover you really don't need any pointing at all, at least if you are chanting Plainsong (Anglican Chants are a little more complicated). Most Psalms are clearly divided into two or three parts. A quick glance at the end of each part is usually all you will need. And you will be surprised at how much of the Psalm remains with you from the times you chanted it in the past. I'm currently chanting the Psalms in text form without any pointing at all. I could say I'm pointing in my head as I go along, but someone would misread that and think I have a pointed head.

An Orthodox Psalter

I especially like the little green pocket psalter produced by Holy Transfiguration Monastary (the one in the lower left corner of the photo above, and featured in the photo below). Orthodox Christians usually refer to it as the HTM Psalter. I got my copy from Orthodox Incense because they ship to Japan at reasonable rates.

This psalter is pocket size, with a beautiful design printed in black and red on nice opaque paper. The text is a new translation (done in the 1970s) of the Septuagint, which is the Greek translation of the Old testament that Jesus, the Apostles, and the Church Fathers read and quoted, and therefore considered an inspired and valuable translation of the Hebrew.

Even though it's a modern translation, they used the older form of English. Modern English has lost the distinction between second person singular and plural pronouns unless y'all live in the south or yinz hail from Pittsburgh (they really say yinz; I've heard it!) so the old pronouns (thee, thou, and ye, etc) make the text more precise. One drawback to old translations is that many other English words have become obsolete or have changed their meaning. A modern translation that uses the classic pronouns? That is absolutely perfect as I'm concerned.

In this psalter (and all Orthodox Christian psalters) the Psalms are divided into 20 sections called Kathismata. Two Kathismata are to be read in the mornings, and one is to be read most evenings so you can finish all the Psalms in a week. Each Kathisma is divided into three sections called stases, which means there are actually 60 divisions in all. If you want to read through this psalter in one month (30 days) just read one stasis each morning and each evening.

A Hebrew Psalter

Another great pocket psalter is the Tehillim published by the Kehot Publication Society. This is slightly under 3 1/2 inches by 5 1/2 inches, and is 3/4 inches thick. This one has English and Hebrew on facing pages, and the English is translated from a Jewish perspective, which makes it interesting and instructive. Look at the very first two lines of the first Psalm:

Fortunate is the man that has not walked in the counsel of the wicked, nor stood in the path of sinners, nor sat in the counsel of scoffers. Rather, his desire is in the Torah of the Lord, and in His Torah he meditates day and night.

I bet you didn't know this was a reference to the Torah, which is the first five books of Moses, from Genesis to Deuteronomy (although the word can also be used in a more general sense). Also, a lot of the names in the Tehillim are slightly different from what you may be accustomed to, being in their original Hebrew form.

The pocket edition is paperback, so the pages will not lie flat (that's why I used the clip in the photo). And in case you were wondering, the Word TEHILLIM is not really embossed. It's a neat illusion, but the cover is flat. This psalter is divided into seven sections for reading the entire thing in a week. It's also divided into 30 sections for reading it through in a month. I ordered mine from Jewish Russian Books.

A Catholic Psalter

If you like the idea of praying the same Psalms and other prayers with people all around the globe every day, then you might like the Liturgy of the Hours (a.k.a. the Divine Office) of the Catholic Church. Psalms, prayers, Bible passages and hymns are sung or said seven times a day at approximately three hour intervals. It's a nice system that distributes the Psalms into smaller portions throughout the day. These seven times of prayer are called offices.

The main two offices are:

• Morning Prayer (some time around sunrise) A.K.A. Lauds
• Evening Prayer (some time around sunset) A.K.A. Vespers

The other offices are:

• The Office of Readings (no fixed time slot in the current system) formerly known as Matins
• Daytime Prayer (at mid-morning, noon and mid-afternoon) A.K.A. Terce, Sext and None
• Night Prayer (before retiring for the night) A.K.A. Compline

Lay people are encouraged to do at least Morning and Evening Prayer if they can, but if you do all of the offices daily you will go through the psalter in four weeks (Daytime Prayer need only be done once a day to acomplish this, and Night Prayer cycles through the same limited set of Psalms every week).

The Psalms are re-arranged so they will be more appropriate to their particular day and time slot. If you like the idea of using this arrangement of the Psalms in your private devotions, I've made a handy chart of which Psalms are use in each time slot. I've also made a Japanese version. A liturgical calendar is necessary to let you know where you should be in the 4 week cycle, and an online version can be found at the Rosary Shop web site.

Three of the more harsh Psalms have been omitted from the current psalter: Psalms 58, 83 and 109 (57, 82 and 108 in some psalter numbering systems). Just make a note of these so you can read them to complete the set if you like. I've written more on harsh Psalms below.

There are over a billion Catholics in the world so you would be in good company if you used this. Of course not every member prays the Liturgy of the Hours, but clergy and those in religious orders (monks, nuns, etc.) all around the globe are required to pray it every day and many of the laity pray all or parts of it as they are able. The Liturgy of the Hours allows the Church to "pray without ceasing" as this world spins around. No matter what time you are praying the Psalms, there are people somewhere in the world praying the same Psalms with you, though not necessarily in English.

Since my location on the globe is in Japan, I use the Japanese version, and regularly join in with others at a local Catholic parish in Tokyo for Morning Prayer. It's a one volume set called Kyoukai no Inori (Prayer of the Church), and matches the English version. It also has pointing for chanting.

If praying throughout the day seems like a heavy burden, remember that if you miss a time slot or even a whole day, you don't have to worry or try to make it up. The prayers were still said by lots of people even without you, and you'll see the same Psalms again in four weeks. It should be a fun thing that gives you joy whenever you can join in. I have discovered that spreading the Psalms into smaller portions over several times a day helps you to stay focused on the content -- and it really transforms your day!

The Liturgy of the Hours comes in a Four volume Set, or a one volume set called Christian Prayer. Both have the entire four week psalter plus scripture readings, hymns, canticles and prayers for a very complete private devotion. The book in the photo above (with blue edged pages) is volume one of the four volume set which is shown at the right. The main difference between the four and one volume set is the Office of Readings which includes writings from various sources such as the Church Fathers. These are included in the four volume set.

These books require a bit of page flipping to find the parts you need at any given prayer time, and it can be confusing at first. There are several helpful tutorials on the web including a PDF called Discovering Prayer which can be downloaded for free the Rosary Shop. There is also a handy guide published every year which tells you exactly which pages to use for any given date. It's called the Saint Joseph Guide for the Liturgy of the Hours. There is a guide for the single Volume Christian Prayer and a guide for the four volume set. So make sure you get the right guide for your books, and make sure you get the one for the current year!

If you want to chant these Psalms there is a beautiful one volume set called the Mundelein Psalter which has all the pointing and notation.

If you want to read and pray the Liturgy of the Hours (with no page flipping) for free on your computer or download an e-pub or Kindle version or app, there are a few great web sites out there such as Univeralis, iBreviary and Divine Office.

A fun blog dedicated to the Liturgy of the Hours is called Coffee and Canticles.

A Japanese Psalter

I hadn't intended to collect psalters, but it looks like a collection has formed all the same. Here is one more psalter, the official version of the Psalms used in the Japanese Liturgy of the Hours as well as the Catholic Mass. I love it because of its portability.

The gold kanji read "SHIHEN" (shee-hen with the accent on the first syllable) which is what the Psalms are called in Japanese.

If you find yourself coasting absent-mindedly through the Psalms, try a more challenging translation that forces you to slow down (whether it's old English or an entirely different language). I usually get more out of the Psalms when I pray them in Japanese instead of English. If I don't have time to look up an unfamiliar word, I can consult an English version to get the meaning and keep moving.

Great Fasting food

No, that's not a typing mistake. The Psalms will help you make it through times of fasting, substituting spiritual food for physical food. It is very appropriate, in light of Jesus' words in Matthew 4:4 (which was a quote from Deuteronomy 8:3):

Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.

At the times when you would normally have a meal, or whenever you feel hunger pangs, just jump up and say "lunch time!" and sing a few Psalms. Having a psalter on hand is like sitting next to a salad bar; just pick it up whenever you like, open to the bookmark, and read the next Psalm or several Psalms, and then get on with your fast with new strength. The Psalms have everything you need, or (to drive the salad metaphor into the ground) all the basic food groups such as prayer, praise, confession, etc.

This is a great time for singing the metrical Psalms, which are a little more fun and musically gratifying than chanted Psalms. If the Psalms were food, the sung metrical Psalms would be the fun food (the level of fun depending on which tunes you use, I suppose). During a fast I will chant some Psalms and sing others. If you have the freedom to do so, belt out those Psalms and leave the hunger pangs behind.

Fasting is not some spooky or super spiritual practice for monastics. It's not supposed to be a sad or gloomy experience. It's simply a discipline which reminds the appetite who is really boss (or in more biblical words, keeps the flesh in submission to the spirit). I'm not skinny by anyone's definition, but I wonder about the role of fasting in the lives of some really obese members of the clergy I've seen. Maybe they need to go to Heaven's salad bar more often.

It was assumed in the Bible that all Christians fasted. Jesus said "when ye fast" rather than "if ye fast" in Matthew 6. Singing Psalms instead of eating a meal is a good way to introduce this practice into your life. Very simple and rewarding! It can be as little as a one or two meal fast, so most people should be able to work a little fasting into their schedules.

The dark side

Just a word concerning some of the "darker" Psalms that ask God to punish our enemies. Remember that no living human being is beyond the transforming power of God's salvation. The apostle Paul who was originally bent on destroying the Church is a good example. No human being in this world can be written off as an enemy of God, or of His people. Our true enemies are described in Ephesians 6:12:

For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

These enemies assault the Church and its members every day through human agents or directly. You can keep these unseen enemies in mind as you call down God's judgement -- and pray for the salvation of their human agents. This should help with at least some of the dark Psalms.

Make it your own

One thing last thing: As you concentrate on singing the Psalms, it is easy to forget what is really important, namely to make the words of the Psalms your own.

In the second book of Samuel, King David wanted to build an altar and make an offering to the LORD at the threshing floor of Araunah. Araunah offered to give David the oxen and wood and everything he needed so he could make the sacrifice. But David insisted on paying for them and making them his own before offering them to the LORD. Otherwise he would be offering something that was not his. When you open the Psalms and make a sacrifice of praise to the LORD, make them your own words. Otherwise you will be offering up somebody else's sacrifice.

I struggle with this almost every day. I'll chant several verses, feel happy that I was successful in combining words with music, and then realize that the words went from the page to my mouth but somehow bypassed my mind. At those times I simply backtrack and chant the lost verses again. I like to think that this makes the devil really angry, who would rather not hear those Psalms chanted over again. Of course, some people don't let it bother them, and simply move on without doing it again, and that's fine, too, of course. As I've said before, the same Psalms will come around again in a few weeks anyway.

Chanting the Psalms brings great blessings. As you make the words of the Psalms your own, you will be forced to conform your attitudes and thinking patterns to God's Word; it will transform you. You'll discover a thrill that you never knew was hidden in the Psalms. In your spirit you will perceive that God has been there with you as you prayed His words back to Him. Even if you were sleepy or tired or uncomfortable as you sang the Psalms and felt you didn't get much out of it, afterwards you may feel like the two men on the road to Emmaus who later realized that their hearts were burning within them simply because they were with Jesus. Your spirit will crave that experience again and again. That alone should be more than enough reason to want to try this!