Topic: Inquiring Catholic; Music in Orthodox Church

[tkirn1]

Hello,

I am a Catholic who is inquiring into Orthodoxy.

I am very involved in my Choir at my Latin-rite parish in the Catholic Church and should I convert, where could I learn the basics of Eastern Christian chanting?

Do parishes generally offer music instruction, or are there schools to study the ways of chanting?

Thanks,

Tom K.

[choy]

Just by attending Divine Liturgy, you can learn the basics and then go from there.  But yes, if there is an experienced cantor in the parish, then you can ask him/her to train you.  You can also avail yourself of the numerous CDs on Orthodox chant and hymns and learn from there.  Also learn which book your parish uses and if the book has the Tones with notes, as well as the other hymns.  At least that is how it is with my Eastern Catholic parish.

[Orthodox11]

Do you have any particular church that you're connected to? While the structure and content of the services is more or less the same in all Eastern Orthodox churches since they all follow some form of the Byzantine Rite, the style of music varies quite significantly.

[simplygermain]

Hello,

I am a Catholic who is inquiring into Orthodoxy.

I am very involved in my Choir at my Latin-rite parish in the Catholic Church and should I convert, where could I learn the basics of Eastern Christian chanting?

Do parishes generally offer music instruction, or are there schools to study the ways of chanting?

Thanks,

Tom K.

Yes.

Divine Liturgy is a cooperation between clergy and laity, so there's lots of singing

But more importantly, how close are you to actually making the jump?

[jmbejdl]

Hello,

I am a Catholic who is inquiring into Orthodoxy.

I am very involved in my Choir at my Latin-rite parish in the Catholic Church and should I convert, where could I learn the basics of Eastern Christian chanting?

Do parishes generally offer music instruction, or are there schools to study the ways of chanting?

Thanks,

Tom K.

If you're interested in the basics of Byzantine chant (as opposed to the Russian type stuff) I can point you at some podcasts on Ancient Faith Radio which are helpful for learning the tones (search AFR for 'Glory to thee') and some streaming lessons (which are recorded as well) for learning how the notation works. They're both from the Antiochians (and our parish is Romanian) but I've found them both useful, even if they aren't a substitute for actually listening to and singing with a choir. I've also found a useful Romanian site, which is great for me but less useful for anyone who doesn't speak the language. I'm currently learning myself (it's slow going) and I'm singing ison (or trying at least) in our choir, if you can call four people a choir.

This site is useful and contains the links to the streaming lessons I mentioned:

http://www.byzantinechant.org/

I've also just recently acquired a copy of an English translation of traditional chant from the Romanian Divine Liturgy, including a CD, produced by our parish in Northampton and the seminary in Cluj (I forget the names of the priests, unfortunately). In this case the music is written in western notation as it's more familiar to the English its aimed at. I can't promise anything but I may be able to get further copies if anyone's interested.

James

[MichaelArchangelos]

The Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America has a Learn to Chant section which includes the hymns sung at the Divine Liturgy (Greek Style).

[tkirn1]

I'm still in the beginning stages of conversion; I'm an undergraduate student with limited amounts of time to pray and research more fully.

There are multiple Orthodox Churches here is St. Louis; I believe that OCA and ROCOR Churches are represented here.

Luckily, I have learned how to sing Gregorian Chant at my current Church and I love it as much as Eastern Chants, but I would still like to learn how to properly sing the Eastern varieties.

Thanks for the help!

[ErmyCath]

I see you're Roman Catholic. There is a Byzantine (Ruthenian) Mission in St. Louis. I went there while visiting my in-laws for Thanksgiving. The cantor was quite friendly, helpful, and knowledgable. You might be able to discuss some of your questions with him...