Byzantine Chant - Step by Step - Part 1

Description

The Byzantine music course “ByzMusic Lessons” is intended for all the lovers of ancient medieval vocal music in the entire world. The entire course proposes three main directions:

1. the study of graphic signs of Byzantine music

2. the study of modes which constitute the Októēchos (the eight Byzantine modes)

3. the study of signs with a cheironomic value (expression and ornament signs)

In this lesson, called “Practical Exercises 1 to 9”, I will begin with a short history of the evolution of Byzantine music notation and we will locate in time the Chrysanthic notation (from 1814), also known as “the Reform of the Three Teachers”, which we are going to study.

Then I will present the sounds of Byzantine music scale,

Ni Pa Vou Ga Di Ke Zo Ni

with their approximate correspondents in the European music:

Do Re Mi Fa Sol La Si Do.

I will also talk about the martyrias of sounds and the traditional musical instrument kanonake. The study of Byzantine music is accomplished by using this instrument called psalterion or kanonake (qanun), which renders accurately the specific sound atmosphere of each Byzantine scale through the microtones that are characteristic for this music, tones which can easily be performed on this instrument. Byzantine tones may vary between 4 and 20 sections (units, commas).

At the end of the introduction, I will present the vocal or intervallic signs
(which indicate the sound emissions)

The first and most important vocal or intervallic characters:

• ison (for a straight course);

• oligon (for an ascending course);

• apóstrophos (for a descending course).

The course continues by going through the first nine exercises, dedicated to the study of the three basic signs: the ison, oligon and apostrophos. These exercises are the most important ones, because they ensure the assimilation of the first basic elements in the study of Byzantine music. The exercises will be sung several times with accompaniment on the kanonake. At the end of each exercise, a slide containing a double notation is used for understanding the same exercise also from the perspective of staff-based notation.

Of a maximum importance is going through the exercises, which are organized progressively and according to a particular didactic method.

The purpose of this course is to ensure the acquisition of the skills for deciphering and chanting individually a Byzantine score, by understanding all the structural elements of modes and also to share with our contemporaries the sounds of ancient medieval music of a Byzantine origin.

        

What You Will Learn!

• To perform vocally individually or in a group, chants (songs) with the intervallic characters: the ison, oligon and apóstrophos
• To perform correctly the exercises from 1to 9, from the perspective of the rhythm, duration, and pitch of sounds and to understand the exercises also in relatio
• Be able to decipher on your own a score containing the characters: the ison, oligon and apóstrophos
• To differentiate between the sonorities of the exercises with the base in NI and the base in PA

Who Should Attend!

• The course is intended for all people who are interested in chanting Byzantine music

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