Dionysia
@dianagumas
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Hi Levi – It doesn’t say explicitly, but I assumed we should learn one or more of the Doxastika and/or be able to replicate the microtrills associated with the omilon.
My first impression was how “instrumental” the microtrills seem to me. I’m a harpist and ex-oboe player so perhaps I am just relating it to what I know. It brought to mind what I have heard Chinese erhu (an instrument with two strings) players do as well as bagpipers who flick their fingers to emphasize the start of a note or beat or simply to add interest.
I wonder how much of this ornamentation is thought out by the chanter versus how much is a learned style and possibly even unconscious. Not that it happened in this recording but I was wondering if an overabundance of trills ever gets in the way of understanding the text or could seem to the congregation like “showing off” and thus get in the way of worship.
I especially liked the contrast of the slides with the microtrills. My ear never got bored listening to this, that is for certain. I was also wondering about the use of vibrato with Byzantine chant. That is a topic I know nothing about.
Finally, thank you to Levi for framing the terirem section as expressing an ecstatic state of prayer. That is an interesting take on it. I heard it as more of an extended cadenza.
The following really resonated with me because it is something I need to improve:
“There are other elements, mainly related to vocal control, that can also help. One thing is to stay on the back of the beat when chanting quickly, which is as much about mindset and control as it is about any technical point. Do not sing rushed, even with the tempo set at a quick pace. Don’t sing breathy, don’t push, just keep it relaxed and be sure to over-enunciate, a tendency when chanting fast is to cut consonants short and it can make the words hard to understand. “
Hi Colin – it is explained in the last lesson for this week. It is the apichima for a form of 4th mode that is actually a hybrid of hard chromatic in the lower tetrachord and Agia in the upper tetrachord.
Neochoritis (the teacher) has a more expansive style. For example, on “Ω των..” (“How marvelous”) at the beginning there is a suspended sense in how he holds the note. His ornamentation doesn’t feel like it is tacked on to the melody but rather it is a way of navigating between notes as well as illuminating the text.
Papatzalakis (the student) chants faster and more of what feels like “on the surface”. In some places there is markedly less ornamentation than his teacher, like in the Δοξα και νυν at the beginning. So I would say it is overall a more “straightforward” rhythmic style.
One similarity between the two is a smearing or sliding between notes. I don’t know exactly how to describe it but it is more than legato, it has an energy behind it that captures the ear. An example is on μόνοις towards the beginning. It is something I woud like to learn how to do. They also both swoop up to notes at times. Towards the end on ἐκήρυττόν σου τὴν ἀνάστασιν· (proclaiming the resurrection) both have a strong declaratory style.
Overall I find Neochoritis to have more nuance in his chanting. For example, just listening to the last word of the hymn (ημάς), Neochoritis has a lot more subtle ornamentation which lingers on the word, adding a sweetness and a tenderness to it.
I find it difficult to reliably do lip trills. It helps if I put my hands on my cheeks and stretch my lips a little bit. Besides having a good air flow going, do you have any suggestions about how to improve lip trills?
In Week One’s lesson in which we work on different interpretations of “Christ our God”, in Δι diatonic, is the Ζω natural at the end of “Christ” and then immediately lowered on the word “our”? That is what I am hearing but that isn’t how I would do it. I would have thought we should lower the adjacent Ζωs.
Αlso for “Chris our God”, in Ke diatonic, what I’m hearing is Ζω Νη Πα Νη Νη ζω(lowered) Ke Ζω (more natural) Ke. Τhe more natural final Ζω was a surprise. But possibly I’m not hearing it correctly.
I agree with Jeffrey that the pulsing in the second piece (The Angel Cried Long Melody) feels much more noticeable than in the first piece. The isokratis is also pulsing which adds to the articulation of the downbeats. Also I feel like the articulation of the consonants in this piece adds to the establishment of a very defined downbeat. The beat is very even without the sense of the “suspended notes” in the first piece. The speed becomes faster at 2:50 and slows down at the end.
Hi Levi. I assume we are having our Zoom session tomorrow from 8-9pm ET.
For our assignment, see https://trisagionschool.org/courses/festal-menaion-301-introduction-to-interpretation-term-3-2026/lessons/principles-of-interpretation/topic/full-control-of-the-musical-phrases-and-formulas/. We are to learn two common formulas and ways of interpreting them and to be able to demonstrate them in class in various modes.
