This level is for those who have made a decision to take their chanting seriously and eventually lead services of their own.
Chanting as an Act of Love
Before starting, understand that serving in the choir is a sacrificial love. It’s aim is to aid and be the worship of our Lord. It is an offering to God while being a service to our brothers and sisters in Christ. Our goal is to be selfless, and while we are grateful for the thanks our fellow parishioners often give us throughout the year, we cannot sustain ourselves on “what we get out of it”. Our service ought to be unconditional.
The Eight Tones
There are 8 tones (or modes). Each week we cycle to the next tone starting with Great Vespers on Saturday evening.
Some hymns are sung a specific tone, regardless of what the tone of the week is. For example, we often sing the Great Doxology (“Glory to thee, who hast shown us the light…”) in Tone 8, every week.
The following groups of tones are related to each other since they share scales.
- First and Fifth (a.k.a. plagal first)
- Second and Sixth (a.k.a. plagal second)
- Third and Seventh (a.k.a. grave tone)
- Fourth and Eighth (a.k.a. plagal fourth)
Digital service texts can be found here and physical service texts here.
Chant, Intone or Read
Some parts of the service are chanted normally in their melody, some are intoned or “straight chanted”, and the rest are plainly read. Often many parts ought only be sung if a priest is present or if our service is pointing towards the Eucharist. For example, the Entrance at Great Vespers (“O, Gladsome Light”) is chanted if we are going to serve the Liturgy the next day, otherwise it is read, and not chanted, at a Reader’s Vespers.
Speed
The speed at which we chant or read matters as well. The “choreography”, for lack of a better term, of a service demands that certain parts are chanted slower because of the solemnity of the hymns. It also gives Father time to say his Priestly prayers, or for the Deacon to say his.
Get Good Quick
- Pick 1 service to learn for the next 6 months to a year
- Attend every service and assist in chanting
- The week before a Great Vespers, figure out what tone will be sung starting Saturday night
- Practice the following for that tone:
- The apichima (hummed by chanters before a hymn to tune themselves)
- The ison (the drone note)
- The resurrectional apolytikion (“when the stone was sealed…”)
- O, Lord I have Cried
- The prosomia
- Extra credit: Download and practice the hymns with sheet music from the archdiocese website for the service you help with
- Extra credit: Learning the scale for a tone is not necessary but can be helpful. The apichima are more applicable
- Help with Daily Vespers for daily practice. This is the best way to learn
Rinse and repeat every week
- Extra credit: Outline the structure of the service as a self-learning project. Know what each part is called, when variables are added, compare two services of the same structure but from different weeks to see how the service changes week to week, read Bishop Basil’s rubrics, know the feast days, etc.