The Bible and Music

I am a bit confused if we are classifying chanting as a type of music or if chanting is considered to be distinct from music. While listening to the chanting, I cannot think of any reasons why chanting should be separated from a musical category. It sounds as if there are different pitches and note changes as well as a rhythm and a type of beat. However, the chanting we listened to for class sound very different than the idea of chanting I was imagining in my head. I have never belonged to a tradition that chants during gatherings, however, I was wondering for those of you who may regularly hear chanting during a church service if it has the same unifying effect that listening to or singing a typical “song” does? Do you think chanting helps form connections with the words that are chanted? Is the ability to transform words into powerful connections a requirement to categorize something as music?