Few people know how to learn notes. They are taught at a music school, at the age of 5, 7, at least 10 years old. Those who learned them have long since forgotten HOW he taught them. The next time a musician may face the problem of learning music only at the conservatory, when he has to read symphonic scores. As a result, a "caste" of people is formed who know them, but cannot teach their comrades. And meanwhile, notes learn easily and quickly. Can easily be done within a week.

Petr Kulichkin - Church-parochial solfeggio: following a common prayer service

Now I will talk about how you can very quickly create a good church choir from scratch. It does not require any money or special musical education. It is also not necessary to sing along to some already established choir for six months. It is only necessary that the serving priest be able to sing a prayer service himself. Then you don't need to set the tone at the prayer service either. The regent is also required to have the very minimum: knowledge of music and at least some ear for music. Then the choir will form very quickly and almost automatically. Of course, there are some subtleties here. They will be discussed.

Yakov Bogatenko. Methods of studying church singing

No one will deny that church singing during worship evokes and enhances the prayerful mood of the worshiper, since by focusing his attention on the meaning of the prayers sung, it thereby more strongly helps him to imbue him with a deep feeling of prayer for communion with God and His saints.

Yakov Bogatenko. Conversations on Church Singing

The meaning of the spes

In practice, we are confronted with two completely different views on rehearsals and their purpose. In view of the fact that the difference between these views inevitably follows from the very concept of church singing, which is understood differently by singers, we will have to dwell on this issue in somewhat more detail.

The lecture was given at the Moscow and St. Petersburg Theological Academies and the St. Tikhon Theological Institute in January-February 2004 by Konstantin Fotopoulos, head of the school of Byzantine church singing at the Publishing House "Holy Mountain"

In one ancient handwritten textbook of Byzantine singing we read the following dialogue between a student and a teacher:

- Teacher, I ask you in the name of the Lord, show and explain to me the musical symbols, so that it will increase the talent that He has given you. Do not refuse me this, so that you will not be condemned with a slave who hid his talent in the earth, but may you hear from the terrible Judge: “Good, good and faithful servant: you were faithful about the little, I will set you over many: enter into the joy of your Lord »().

“If, brother, you are so eager to comprehend this, then gather your mind and listen to me. I will teach you what you ask, as God will reveal it to me.

These words show that Byzantine church music (as well as hymnography, icon painting and church architecture) is not the fruit of some arbitrary musical self-expression, in the process of which the musician and singer “creates”, obeying his own inspiration. The singing teacher passes on what he received as a gift, as a “talent” from former teachers, and the student accepts it with attention, reverence and reverence: eight church tones, certain musical phrases and the manner of performing troparia and other chants. All this was handed down to us by the Holy Fathers, who, having been enlightened by the Holy Spirit, freed music from any theatrical-worldly beginning and accepted for use in worship only those musical sequences, measures and musical phrases that contribute to the awakening in the worshiper of a feeling of compunction and love for God. Therefore, Elder Porfiry, whom I personally saw in my childhood and received a blessing, said: “Byzantine singing does not excite the soul, but unites it with God and brings perfect peace” (Collection of Instructions, p. 449).

Before we start talking about the characteristic features of Byzantine music, about its spiritual character and role in worship, it would be nice to say a few words about its history.

The Gospel says that after the Last Supper, the Lord and the holy apostles, singing, went to the Mount of Olives (See:). And the apostle Paul testifies that the first Christians sang of God "in psalms and songs and spiritual songs" (). It follows from this that music has been used in the Church since the earliest years of Christianity. Church historian Eusebius writes that psalms and hymns were used by believers "from the very beginning to glorify the Lord." Along with the ancient Greek language, Christian songwriters used ancient Greek music, which was then widespread throughout the enlightened world, to write chants. The great fathers of the first three centuries: Ignatius the God-bearer, Justin the Philosopher, Irenaeus, Bishop of Lyon, and Gregory of Neocaesarea, the miracle worker, took great care to ensure that psalmody was reverent and pleasing to God.

But later holy fathers also showed great interest in church music, since, according to ancient tradition, they were both versifiers (that is, poets) and songwriters, or, in modern terms, composers. Thus, St. John Chrysostom, in opposition to the Aryan heretics, who spread their heresy, including through beautiful hymns, wrote beautiful hymns of Orthodox content for the believers to sing in order to protect them from error. St. Athanasius the Great acted in a similar way. Saint Ephraim the Syrian, protecting the Orthodox from Gnostic heretics, who used very beautiful music in their rites, took some elements from it and wrote his own Orthodox chants. The sixth century is associated with the life of St. Roman the Melodist, who wrote, among other things, 1000 kontakia. Saint Andrew, Bishop of Crete, author of the Great Penitential Canon, lived in the 7th century.

A new page in musical tradition is opened by St. John of Damascus (676-756). Not only did he compose beautiful hymns, but he was also the first to introduce the octophon into church services. He divided all church music into eight tones: first, second, third, fourth, first plagal, second plagal, varis and fourth plagal - and determined the method of notation with the help of special signs. St. John of Damascus limited free, "worldly" music composition, preferring simple but touching chants.

Saint John of Damascus is followed by a long line of hymnographers and church composers: Saints Cosmas of Maium and Theodore the Studite, brothers Theodore and Theophan the Inscribed, Saint Joseph the Songwriter, nuns Cassian and Thekla, emperors Leo the Wise and Constantine Porphyrogenitus, hieromonk Gabriel and priest John Plusiadinos. The last two were also authors of textbooks of Byzantine singing. At this time, in the IX century, Byzantine music comes to Russia. In the annals of Joachim it is written that after the baptism of the holy Prince Vladimir in Kyiv, Metropolitan Michael of Kyiv, among others, invited several psalms from Constantinople. In another historical source, the “Genealogical Book” of Metropolitan Cyprian, we read that during the reign of Yaroslav the Wise, three singers came to Russia and taught the Russian brothers touching singing.

In the XIII century there lived a wonderful church singer - St. John Kukuzel. It is worth dwelling on it in more detail. Possessing an amazing voice, he studied at the imperial music school in his childhood and youth. He became an excellent singer and was placed at the head of the choristers of the imperial court. The king planned to marry him to one of the princesses, but John himself aspired to a monastic life. Under the pretext of a trip to his homeland in order to receive a blessing from his parents for marriage, he leaves Constantinople and retires to Athos. There, without revealing himself, he takes tonsure in the Great Lavra and receives the obedience to tend a herd of goats near the monastery. Meanwhile, the emperor was looking everywhere for his favorite.

One day John was tending his flock and, visited by divine inspiration, he sang with his marvelous voice. Near that place was a cave of a hermit. Hearing this angelic singing, he came out of the cave and was surprised to see that the animals were standing still and listening to the singer. He told the abbot about this. He called on Saint John, asked who he really was, and then went to the emperor to report that John had been found and was asking for permission to lead a peaceful monastic life. From that time on, John began to live in a cell near the Lavra and on Sundays and major holidays to sing in the cathedral church of the monastery. Once, at the vigil on Saturday Akathist, John fell asleep. In a dream, the Mother of God appeared to him, praised him for his zeal and ordered him to continue singing further. As a token of her blessing, She gave him a gold coin. Half of this coin is stored today in the temple of the Great Lavra, and the other part, as it is said in the History of Byzantine Church Music, written in 1890, was transferred as a blessing to Russia.

Saint John Kukuzel wrote many pieces of music: cherubs, sacraments, anixandaries, etc. different voices. Much studied the theory of Byzantine music.

This is followed by such great protopsalters as Xenos Koronis, St. Gregory Kukuzel, John Kladas and two great psalters who sang in Hagia Sophia during the capture of Constantinople by the Turks: these are Protopsalter Gregory Bunis and Lambadarian (that is, regent of the left choir) Manuel Chrysafis. During the Turkish yoke, the singing tradition continues. Among the rest, Panagiotis Chrysafis the New, Germanos, Archbishop of the city of New Patras, Priest Valasios, Panagiotis Chalatzoglus, Peter Bereketis, John of Trebizond, James Protopsaltes and Peter of Peloponnese stand out at this time.

In 1814, a special musical commission, consisting of three members: the Prussian Metropolitan Chrysanth, Gregory Protopsalt and Hurmuziy Hartofilak, simplified the system of musical notation of Byzantine church music and the system of education. Many pieces of music were rewritten according to the new notation method. From that time to the present day, many outstanding Greek psalters can be named, such as, for example, the Protopsalters of Constantinople George Violakis, Jacob Navpliotis, Konstantin Pringos and Frasivoulos Stanitsas. Among the Athos psalters, one can note Hierodeacon Dionysius (Firfiris), the monastic communities of Danilei and Fomadov. I cannot fail to mention my teacher, the Archilambadarius Vasilakis Emmanuilidis.

Let us now turn to the characteristic features of Byzantine church music.

1 . Byzantine church music is primarily vocal music. According to Chrysostom, the use of musical instruments in the Old Testament times was allowed because of the fatness of the mind of the Jews. For the same reason, he also allowed sacrifices. However, now, says the Saint, we do not need a harp, strings and various musical instruments, but our own language, our voice, with which we should pray and draw closer to God with attention, repentance and tenderness.

2 . Byzantine music is monophonic. This means that regardless of whether one or several people perform a piece, the musical part is the same for everyone. Even when several people sing together, one voice still sounds. This symbolizes the unity of faith and exactly corresponds to the word of the Divine Liturgy: "And give us with one mouth, with one heart to glorify and sing of Your most honorable name ...".

3 . Byzantine music is performed antiphonally, that is, alternately by right and left choirs. Antiphonal chant was first introduced in Antioch by Saint Ignatius the God-bearer after he saw angels praising the Trinity God in turn.

4 . Since Byzantine music is monophonic, special attention is paid to melody. There is a wide variety of scales with intervals unknown in European music.

5 . In parallel with the performance of the main part, isokratima, the so-called ison, is sung. Eason is an auxiliary musical part, which is performed by a part of the singers. Eason seems to support and emphasize the main melody, giving it completeness, beauty and tenderness. The musical line of the Eason changes very rarely.

6 . In Byzantine singing, not only the throat is used to form sound, but also the oral and nasal cavities. The voice becomes the single instrument for glorifying God.

7 . As mentioned above, there is no unauthorized creativity in Byzantine church music. The church composer uses certain musical phrases, accepted and approved, which are carefully preserved for many centuries by church musical tradition.

8 . Another characteristic feature of Byzantine church music is the change of measures. The measure, or rhythm, is usually determined by the stress in words. Variable measures allow you to avoid that worldly color that gives European music one measure that does not change throughout the entire piece of music.

9 . The last characteristic feature of Byzantine church music is the use of kratim. Kratima are meaningless words: to-ro-ro, te-ri-rem, te-not-na, etc. They are usually sung at the end of chants, symbolizing the unspoken, wordless angelic singing. For example, at the end of a hymn in honor of the Most Holy Trinity or the Mother of God, when the corresponding dogmatic teaching of the Church has already been revealed in the words of the hymn, the soul is poured out in hymn without words.

Now let's say a few words about the role and place of Byzantine music in Orthodox worship. It is usually said that Byzantine music is the garment in which the word, the teaching contained in the troparia, is clothed. But the holy fathers believe that Byzantine church music is something more. St. Gregory, Bishop of Nyssa, brother of St. Basil the Great, says that music is part of our nature, and therefore the holy prophet David combined both music and teaching in the virtues into one. Music is like sweet honey and, combined with instruction, helps a person to take a closer look at himself and take up the treatment of ailments. St. Gregory also says that church music, simple and touching, penetrates the words of divine hymns in order to explain the mysterious meaning hidden in them with the help of melodic voice transitions. Music is like a fragrant seasoning that gives the teachings and instructions of the Church a special pleasantly sweet taste (St. Gregory of Nyssa. On the inscription of psalms).

Elder Paisius Svyatogorets said that Byzantine church music has very beautiful “curls”, that is, musical phrases. Sometimes they resemble the sound of a nightingale, sometimes they resemble the light rustle of a wave, at other times they are majestic and solemn. With the help of these means, Byzantine music conveys the inner meaning of church texts. Elder Paisius believed that Byzantine music pacifies the soul.

Elder Porfiry, in turn, said: “Byzantine church music is a real spiritual teaching ... it softens the soul of a person and gradually transfers it to other spiritual worlds. Inner pleasure, sweetness, joy and peace live in the sounds of Byzantine music. Listening to it, a person is transferred to the spiritual realms.

My spiritual father, Archimandrite Sarandis (Sarandos) also says that in church hymns, Grace and the presence of the Holy Spirit in the Church are symbolically expressed. Therefore, the ministry of the singer is very important, it is no coincidence that the singers belong to the clergy, entering the lower rank of clergy.

A well-known Athonite said that in any monastery there are two most important obediences - a cook and a singer.

A performer of Byzantine church music (psalt) must have the following:

1 . It is very good to know Byzantine music. Therefore, as noted above, the tradition of Byzantine church music presupposes a long-term relationship between teacher and student, both in the classroom and on the kliros. Father Paisius denounced those singers who sing dryly, inexpressively. He said that their singing is like a skating rink that "has passed and leveled everything... Proper singing is an outpouring of the human spirit, divine sweetness, the heart is delighted by Christ, and with this heart a person converses with God."

2 . It is necessary to show respect for the musical tradition, not to distort musical works and not to make your own corrections. Elder Paisius, hearing how one monk performed his own version of the doxology written by Peter of Peloponnesus, scolded him, saying that if he could, let him write his own doxology, but do not spoil the ancient work, thereby showing a lack of piety in himself.

3 . The chanter must be pious and sing with humility. “A person who sings,” said Elder Paisios, “in order to sing with tenderness, must delve into the inner meaning with his mind and possess piety, not look at the content of the liturgical text philologically, but penetrate it with his heart, piety is one thing and the art of music is another. Art without piety is like… paint.” By this, the Elder wanted to say that the art of music is as necessary for a singer as paint is for an icon painter. But without piety and humility this art is useless.

Continuing, Father Paisios says that “when a chanter sings reverently, psalmody pours out directly from his heart, and then he sings with tenderness.” To achieve this, the singer must have the right spiritual disposition and be internally calm and balanced.

Elder Porfiry, in turn, greatly praised the singers of the Holy Mountain, who sing simply, touchingly, with humility and greatly help the monks in prayer. According to him, a good psalm is more than a chanter, it has something more than a voice. The sound is transmitted by sound waves, and a good psalt also emits other, mysterious vibrations - waves of Grace, which touch the very heart, producing deep tenderness in it. A great mystery is taking place.

Dear brothers!

Byzantine church music serves as the great sacrament of communion between God and man in worship. Like other church arts, icon painting, hymnography and church architecture, it carries an artistic element, requires skill and creativity. But this is not an amateur art in which the artist expresses himself by inventing his own laws. Performers of Byzantine church music must follow the tradition, perform and write music in accordance with the ancient rules and, as it is written in one ancient textbook of Byzantine church singing, imitate the orders of the angels, follow them and, standing in the temple with great fear and trembling, sing of God in the saints chants.

Grace in the Trinity of the glorious God, the prayers of the Reverend Fathers Sergius of Radonezh and Seraphim of Sarov, the Optina Elders, St. John of Kronstadt, the holy New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia, who gave their lives for Christ, may it strengthen all those who strive in the singing church service, so that they helped their brothers in Christ in their ascent to Heaven.

Question. What do you think about the current state of church music in Russia?

Answer. Perhaps my answer will be incomplete, since I have only lived in Russia for about a year and a half and am just beginning to get to know the local church life better. Therefore, I cannot have deep knowledge about the current state of song culture in the Russian Church. Nevertheless, based on the little that I saw here, heard what I talked about with specialists and ordinary people, I will take the liberty of drawing a few preliminary conclusions.

So, in my opinion, the contemporary musical practice of the Russian Church can be divided into three unequal parts. The largest of them is European partes singing, a dead-end variant. The second and third are options for getting out of the impasse and returning to the ancient singing tradition. I mean attempts to revive ancient Russian music (znamenny chant) and Byzantine church singing.

Let's say a few words about the partes. I would be dishonest if I said that I am pleased to hear European music in Orthodox churches. This is a completely modernistic and, I would say, incompatible with the Orthodox Tradition phenomenon. The task of any church art, be it architecture, icon painting, hymnography or music, is to help a Christian achieve the main goal of his life - the acquisition of the Holy Spirit and union with Christ. Any church art expresses spiritual states, such as repentance, compunction, spiritual joy, thanksgiving, which are characteristic of one who lives in the Spirit. I think everyone will agree that there is nothing like this in European music. It only affects emotions. Is not it? This art is built on human passions, and expresses, to a greater or lesser extent, the carnal way of thinking of a person, even in its most “spiritual” manifestation.

Orthodox church hymns are the works of great hymnographers, such as Saints John of Damascus, Cosmas, Bishop of Maium and others, transcribed to music. Their works are a true wealth of dogmatic and moral content. Correct (Byzantine) music helps the praying person to understand the depth of these sacred texts, to discover their beauty and high poetry. European music does just the opposite: it prevents us from penetrating their meaning, destroys beauty, vulgarizes poetry. Imagine, for example, how the poems of Pushkin or Akhmatova would sound in the performance of the "stars" of the modern stage. How repulsive that sight would be! Our poor ears! However, we accept the vulgarization of the works of the great and holy John of Damascus by mediocre composers of the 19th century as quite normal! Partes singing is like pagan verbosity, which the Lord Jesus Christ Himself advised to avoid in every possible way.

European harmony disperses the mind and spirit of man, while the sacred and reverent monophony of Byzantine music focuses them on the One Who is the center of divine hymns - on Christ. From a practical point of view, European music, with all its complexity and clumsiness, is incompatible with the sacred simplicity of the Orthodox service. It disturbs both those who sing and those who pray. Some voices enter, others fall silent, each singer performs his musical part. A person gets tired, does not feel the meaning of what is happening. In Byzantine music, the exact opposite happens: whether one person sings or several, everyone sings “with one mouth, with one heart” one musical phrase simply and joyfully.

Compared to Byzantine music, European music is very poor. By its very nature, it lacks elements of expressiveness, it is devoid of depth. This is not music, but one superficial sentimentalism.

Let us now say a few words about the attempts to revive Znamenny chant. Naturally, this is a good start. But the problem is that the living tradition of ancient Russian music has been lost. The modern znamenny chant is an attempt to reconstruct the ancient chant, as the most understanding specialists in this matter say. They hope that, if God wills, in the future, someday, we will be able to hear the beautiful chants of the Znamenny chant and enjoy their beauty. It follows that all attempts made are based on assumptions and it is quite possible that the final result will not correspond to the original sound of ancient Russian music. Isn't it easier and more prudent to return to the centuries-old tradition that still exists, a tradition that originated in early Christian times, which has not been interrupted and which has living carriers? I'm talking about the Byzantine church song tradition, an attempt to restore which is the third trend in Russian church music today.

Question. You mentioned Orthodox Tradition. What is Orthodox Tradition in general and in relation to church music?

Answer. Orthodox Tradition in a general sense is a way of life in Christ, handed down to us by the holy fathers. In essence, Tradition is Christ Himself. In this regard, we have a great responsibility - we must preserve it. If the Tradition is lost, we must definitely return to it. Elder Paisios Svyatogorets speaks beautifully about Orthodox Tradition in the first volume of his “Words”. Byzantine church music is part of Orthodox Tradition.

Question. Why should we, Orthodox Russian people, accept the Greek tradition, the Greek tradition? After all, we lived well with our tradition for so many years.

Answer. Such a formulation of the question is unacceptable both from the point of view of common sense and from the standpoint of a Christian. There is no Greek tradition or Russian tradition. There is a single Tradition of the One Holy Catholic Apostolic Church. Tradition is the foundation and criterion for the Orthodoxy of every Local Church. To the extent that the Local Tradition departs from the single Tradition, to the extent that it deviates from Orthodoxy. In the common adherence to Tradition, and in life according to it, the sacrament of Orthodoxy and the Church as a whole is hidden.

As for "living well", it seems to me that things were not so good. As an example, one can cite the opinion of the famous Russian theologian Father Georgy Florovsky, who in his book “The Ways of Russian Theology” repeatedly says with pain that the Russian Church has in some aspects deviated from the conciliar Tradition of the Orthodox Church.

Question. Were there attempts in Greece to introduce partes singing into the Church?

Answer. Until the middle of the 19th century, Greece was not bothered by such initiatives. But, starting from the middle of the 19th century, mainly under the influence of foreign kings, a global attempt was made to “cultivate” church art, which, in addition to music, affected icon painting and architecture. All this, of course, was part of a single plan to distort the Orthodox way of life. The founders of this movement sought to reduce the duration of supposedly lengthy services, relax in "exhausting" fasts, and even introduce musical instruments into Orthodox worship. As an example to follow, they proposed to accept art, the liturgical rite (in fact, not a rank, outrage) and the way of thought and life of Catholics.

The reaction to these attempts was, of course, very active, both on the part of the Orthodox people, and on the part of priests and even the Holy Synod. There is a known case when the priests, during the Easter service, in the presence of King Otho, having heard partes singing, took off their vestments and refused to continue the service. And the Holy Synod issued many orders that forbade the introduction of partes singing into divine services. As a justification, it was cited that it does not correspond to Orthodox Tradition and destroys the unity of the Church.

Nevertheless, the number of polyphonic choirs in the parishes increased all the time, thanks to the moral and material support of the powers that be. All this was just a scourge for the Greek Orthodox Church. This situation continued until almost the middle of the 20th century, when talented and faithful teachers of Byzantine music appeared in Greece. A very important event was the arrival from Constantinople of such great singers as Frasivoulos Stanitsas, Magouris and others. They brought up many worthy students, and over time, polyphonic choirs disappeared.

Today, partesical singing exists in the Greek Church practically only in the Ionian Islands, as a black legacy of Latin domination.

Question. In Russia one can often hear the opinion that Byzantine and Turkish music are one and the same. Could you say a few words on this subject?

Answer. First of all, this opinion is superficial and absolutely groundless, because we are talking about the oldest musical culture in the world. Of course, Byzantine and Turkish music have something in common, but the differences are so great that these two concepts cannot be identified in any way. Byzantine music originated from ancient Greek. Church hymnographers took the music of the ancient Hellenes, excluded from it elements incompatible with the spirit of the Church and brought it into line with the criteria that exist in the Church. It is significant that the ancient Greek notation was originally used to record church hymns. Over time, she created her own musical language, in the words of the evangelist: "tongues will speak new." This musical language is inspired by the Holy Spirit. It is perfect for conveying the meaning of poetic texts. Raises the mind of those who pray to God.

As for Turkish music, it practically did not exist until the Turkish tribes came into contact with the Byzantines and borrowed many important elements of Byzantine musical culture from them. At the same time, they did not accept musical norms, and most importantly, the way of life that this music reflected. Under the influence of other musical cultures, their way of life, their religion, they created their own music. The difference between Turkish music and Byzantine is felt in the difference in scales, rhythm, expressive means and musical phrases, and most importantly, that Turkish music is predominantly instrumental. Above all, the purposes that both serve are so different that if Byzantine and Turkish music are considered the same, then this would be a real musical paradox.

Liturgical singing is nothing but the joint prayer of all those participating in the church service.

Church choral singing has been an integral part of the prayer meeting since the time of the apostles.

A great spiritual and educational mission lies in Orthodox church singing. This is the means through which the Word of God is preached, which forms a special liturgical church language.

Very often people come to the temple who understand little about church traditions. Church choral singing helps to feel the effect of grace-filled prayer, tenderness and penetration into its essence, which everyone can learn.

Church singing schools and courses

For any undertaking, desire and further actions are important. To master church choral singing will help, which have arisen quite recently choir courses at churches, whose program is built from the very beginning:

• chants;
• simple works;
• study of the history of temple singing;
• church voices.

Learning to sing on the kliros is reduced to simple works, consisting of two parts, and is free of charge.

In addition to courses, there are whole schools of church choral singing. In large cities, for example, Moscow, St. Petersburg, they can be found at every temple.

In schools, education lasts from one to three years. For those wishing to be trained in unison singing art, the School of Byzantine Choral Singing is open in Moscow. Her address can be easily found on the Internet.

The church choir school accepts both children and adults. Training starts with:

• musical notation;
• solfeggio and vocals;
• theology;
• texts of church hymns.

But not everywhere you can find such schools. As a last resort, you can find the temple and contact the regent.

You need:

The teaching of church singing must be continued independently:

1. To do this, you need to take notes and learn chants accompanied by a musical instrument, humming the names of notes instead of syllables, tracing their duration.
2. The musical part should be taken for soprano, and the vocal part should be played for alto.
3. Also useful are individual lessons with a teacher who will tell you the direction of study.
4. Light, soothing and majestic singing should be achieved.
5. Do not get carried away with beautiful harmony, effects or complex parts. In choral church singing, words are primary.
6. Effort and hard work will help in a year to quite decently perform works on the kliros.

Learning to sing on the kliros

Kliros - a place in the temple where the singers are. Historically, church singing was reduced to monotony and monotony. Their execution was not difficult. The modern kliros is a polyphonic choir that imitates the singing of angels. In large temples, it has a right and left part, in one amateurs sing, in the other professional performers. The choir is located on a hill in front of the altar.

To start learning to sing on the kliros, you must:

• have an ear for music;
• beautiful voice;
• It is desirable to have a musical education.

If there is no musical education, then you need to start from independent study of musical notation. Singing on the kliros involves quickly reading notes from a sheet. Repeated repetition and perseverance will allow you to master this skill.

Preparation for worship should be given about five hours a week. During rehearsals, there is a rehearsal with other singers, the determination of the position in the choir, which depends on the height of the voice.

A choral performance on the kliros should have a strong impact on the listeners. To achieve such a result requires a lot of work. It consists in regular rehearsals, studies and nuances of the repertoire, singing.

Types of liturgical singing:

• Znamenny or hook singing, in which the choir performs unanimity. This type of ancient church chant preceded modern musical notation. It is written with special badges "banners" or "hooks".
• Partes singing, where many voices are included.
• Everyday life, which includes simple everyday liturgical chants.

School of church singing osmoglasie

"Osmoglas" or "Eight-glans" is the main fund of church music, in which each tone corresponds to a specific day of the week.

Each voice begins on Sunday, continues until Saturday and informs the week of the blessed mood of Sunday. This voice has a dominant position in worship during the entire week.

The main octoglas chants can be found in the two-volume musical book “Oktoih”, an old church book. It contains musical notation of the main chants of eight voices, which are used in everyday life.

The role of singing in Sunday worship

Sunday worship is the main function of the Church. Regular attendance and organization of worship on Sunday is the work to which the Church is called.

Sunday worship is a great blessing, and it is impossible to overestimate the significance of this action. It is an act of worship to the Holy Beginning - God.

Hello my family and hardworking friends.

For a few days, I'm just puzzled by some incident. No, not even that. And you can't call it an accident. I do not even know where to start. In general, the other day one of my subscribers writes to me that audio lessons on church singing are not opening on my blog.

She also informs me that there used to be some strange players on the page with voices, and now they even disappeared. Well, I thought that another glitch of her browser or Internet settings and that's okay.

But she herself decided to check and go to the page where my tutorials are posted. And what was my surprise when, in place of the previously standing players with quartets of voices, there was a gap ... an empty space. Audio - church singing lessons suddenly disappeared somewhere and in their place is emptiness ...

I went to the console, everything is there, but as soon as I went back to the page as a user, everything disappeared immediately. That's the way things are! My poor students. There are no quartets. Gone was the chanting to the tone of the stichera, which was placed immediately after the second troparion quartet. All audio recordings from the “Audio Recordings” page have completely disappeared somewhere ...

I had to download everything that disappeared in such an ungrateful way from my blog from the hosting where I uploaded it all a year earlier and re-place it using the PodFM player. There were monophonic audio recordings, and quartets and audio with old recordings also licked everything like a cow with their tongue. And now for the second day I post everything that disappeared ...

What can you think, from what all this happened? I don’t know, and I didn’t even get into it to find out what and how. There was only one thing on my mind, but how now to sing church singing exercises if they suddenly disappeared from the blog? How are my students?

One of my good friends, who has a blog with a strange name "umasovsemnet", somehow arranged a contest on her blog. This contest involved writing an article on the topic "SOS - my blog is gone" with a solid prize pool. But even good cash prizes could not motivate me to write this fantasy. After all, fantasies sometimes come true.

I don't know what I would do if my blog about kliros and spiritual chants really disappeared. And now I sit and for the second day I download all my audios from the blog and put them in a separate folder on my computer so that I always have everything from my blog at hand. So that I can at any time fill in any fragment of the audio recording, and indeed any content that is needed to learn church singing online.

Uff, here it is…. Thoughts are material. I still don’t understand why some of the audio recordings (mind you, not all, but only some for some reason) suddenly disappeared from my blog.

Well, in general, everything ended well and I am gradually replenishing everything that suddenly mysteriously disappeared from my blog.

And I also want to say the following. So many of you thank me for the created site and useful content, but you understand that now you, who have learned about my blog, have a huge responsibility. For what? What is the responsibility?

I'll explain. Up to a certain point, you were or were not the choirboy of your ward. You sang or didn't sing spiritual chants, or sang them not quite right or well. You did not know the tune of the voices, and therefore you left much to be desired. Or maybe you always sang well. It doesn't matter now. The following is important.

Then my blog appeared on the network, which, as many of you write, simply has no analogues on the network. And now you can freely, at any time and as much as you like, sing everything with me in audio, learn everything from the “Singing” section for Matins, Liturgy, Great Lent (all this also already appears on my website). By the way, I started organizing the chants for singing and posted today the first audio parts in the Power Antiphon of the first voice. You can get acquainted and sing Stepenna.

Well, I'll continue. Now you just have to sing correctly, and therefore well. Because there are audio lessons on church singing on my blog and they are absolutely free. Just take and use. Improve your singing in church and start with yourself, or rather with learning voice chants. Sing, train, improve your singing talent, because now the Lord will definitely ask you.

He (the Lord) with the help of this blog sent a manual to improve choir singing. Learn Octal and . Because now you have no excuse for the fact that you do not know the voices and sing on the kliros at random.

Why am I doing all this? It's just that many of you have found my blog, but are in no hurry to learn and improve the level of your singing, if it really needs improvement. If you find another similar blog on the net, please learn. I don't consider my blog a standard. Perhaps there is somewhere even better learning to sing on the kliros.

But start improving now. But some people find a thousand excuses why he or she has not yet learned the second verse voice ... or troparion. And in general, they still have not begun to learn voices or chants.

Whoever wants to, he will seize on any opportunity, and whoever does not want to, will find a thousand reasons and excuses ... Do not look for reasons not to do it. Take this opportunity that is offered here on my blog and become the best chorister on the kliros. So that, having entered the temple, any person would not want to leave from there, thinking that he had gone to Heaven.

After all, this contributes to a greater or lesser extent. And I, with God's help, will try to do everything in my power and beyond my control in order to learn singing and sing audio - exercises with voices could be freely, without fear that they would suddenly disappear somewhere.

Church singing is the same art as any other vocal direction or playing one of the musical instruments. In order to master it, first of all, you need to have a hearing, and secondly, you need to have talent or a musical education, and preferably both.

Teaching church singing is impossible without knowing the musical alphabet, as well as without studying the intricacies of worship.

Church singing is not just the performance of prayers with or without music.

This concept means a whole set of knowledge that each member of the choir must acquire in the learning process in order to sing meaningfully, sensually and competently.

Learning to perform in the temple is not just notes, a program and a technique.

This is also the knowledge of the intricacies of ongoing services in the church, the study of the Old Slavonic language (it is in it that most texts are written), familiarization with prayers.

Most often, those people who already have a musical education or are endowed with an incomparable talent from God fall into the ranks of churchmen, and they are given vocals as a matter of course.

In such cases, learning to read music will not become an obstacle on the way - after all, if something is given, then the theory will apply by itself.

Recently, the issue of spirituality for Russian people has become more relevant, so there are many who want to fill up Sunday schools. We immediately draw your attention to the fact that such institutions have different starting requirements for applicants.

There are those who accept everyone, it is only important to have hearing and a sense of rhythm. They offer a short course in solfeggio and practical playing of an instrument (most often the piano). Others do not take people without a musical education (at least the appropriate school must be completed).

Choosing a place to study

Let's find out what church singing courses currently exist in Moscow, and on what conditions they accept new participants into their ranks.

• Krutitsy Compound, Church of the Resurrection of the Word. The recruitment of people aged 18 to 50 years. Students are divided into groups: those who have a musical education and those who do not. The first are trained for one year, during which the structure of the liturgy and the all-night vigil will be studied.
  For beginners, the basics of musical literacy are taught. Accept people after listening, which takes place every Sunday. Upon completion, a certificate is issued.
• Church of the Three Hierarchs in Kulishki, Regency Courses. For those wishing to enter here, three conditions must be met: musical education, the blessing of the confessor and a year's practice of participating in the choir.
• School of Church Singing at the Orthodox Center "Life-Giving Spring". The organization was founded in 2004 and is dedicated to teaching adults of all skill levels. You can get the necessary skills here for free, and at the end of the course a certificate is issued.

Note! The peculiarity of church singing is that it can be both polyphonic (polyphonic) and monophonic (unison). The first option has to do with the Russian Orthodox Church.
All services in our culture are held against the backdrop of a choir who sings three or four parts at the same time.

In the Western branch of Orthodox Christianity, that is, in the Byzantine and Greek churches, unison singing is more common. Courses of performance in the Byzantine manner, that is, in unison, can be taken at the School of Byzantine chanting. Located in the building of the publishing council of the Russian Orthodox Church on the 4th floor.

Education here lasts from one to three years, depending on the starting preparation of the applicant. It offers free church singing training, as well as the study of the basics of musical literacy and the Greek church style.

It should be noted that the principle of singing according to the Byzantine pattern is fundamentally different from the Russian one. The difference lies not only in unison and lack of polyphony, but also in the lyrics themselves, as well as in the music. In Moscow, this is the only place where names are taught in this manner of church chanting.

Briefly about the training program

Learning to sing prayers on your own is difficult, especially without the required musical training. Those who graduated from a music school, undoubtedly, find it easier - all that remains is to train their voice, “undermine” it for singing for Divine services and learn the language in which the repertoire will be performed.

The program according to which a concise training in singing on the kliros and in the choir should take place:

For beginners, the simplest texts of prayers are offered, consisting of several phrases that are repeated to various musical motives.

The basis of teaching this art is the so-called school of church singing called osmosis. The bottom line is that eight modes sound simultaneously in prayer, each of which has its own part. The general sound turns out to be special and is associated in people exclusively with theological motives.

In order to master the osmosis perfectly, it is necessary:

• Correctly determine your timbre and voice height. Most people have a second soprano (medium timbre), altos are more characteristic of men, rare women sing at the height of the first soprano.
• At the initial stages, listen to the "leaders" of the church choir.
• Try to keep your part during the performance of works, and not “swim” between voices.
• Always highlight your part in the overall score and know it clearly.

Interesting to know! In many music schools for children who attend not only individual instrument lessons, but also a choir club, there is a program for studying church hymns. It is these works that are the best exercise for the voice.

The most talented students of church singing schools can be trained to sing on the kliros. Kliros is a hill in any temple that has a mirror structure - it is located to the right and left of the altar. On the right side of the kliros there are professional choristers, and on the left - amateurs.

In order to perform at the services, you should regularly train and be able not only to keep your part in the choir, but also to perform it with feeling, quality and expressiveness.

Useful video

Summing up

Sunday School can be your first step in the science of church singing. In it you can get invaluable knowledge in the field of spirituality, as well as learn a lot about music and its components.

Such institutions help to learn the most holy language - Old Slavonic, as well as to “stretch” your voice the way you stretch your muscles in the gym. There are many schools of church singing, both in Moscow and in other Russian cities. Choose the one you like and go there for new experiences.