Chanting or Singing?

[Tsarina]

In many Churches that i have been too, the services are done by singing of the Church choir. However, recently i went to a Church were they had no choir, but chanters.

I'm not saying one is better than the other, but i prefer the chanting over the singing. I don't know why, it just sounds more spiritual.

I wanted to make this poll to see what you guys like. If you pick "other" please explain what the reason is.

:cool:

[ClementofRome]

I voted "other" because I love them both and in our ACROD church we have both chanting and singing. The Priest and Deacon and Reader chant their portion of the Litrugy and we (participants) sing the responses and hymns. I LOVE IT!

[Ilian]

We have cantors and a choir. I like both, hence my "other" vote.

[choirfiend]

I think you're more used to the sound of chanting, from your background. A solo voice can sound more "haunting" and do more emotion creating melismas than a choir can. There's nothing more "spiritual" about one voice over many. There's choirs of angels singing together, and ppl do well to do it on earth, too. They're both fine.

[Greg the byzantine]

Chanting all the way baby.

Reason = The ison :holy:

Other reason = It's what I hear in every Church I have been to. It's the way that I remember every sacrament, every Holy Day, every Liturugy. Everything was chanted by men with strong voices (although I have also heard a woman chanting in one of the churches and she had this amazingly powerful voice)

[eoe]

Reason = The ison :holy:LOL!

I enjoy both... but then I do both... I chant at Orthros/Vespers and sing in the Choir during the liturgy... Our parish is blessed to have both an amazing Cantor and choir. I do not know what I would do without either of them...

[Mary of Bethany]

I voted "singing" because it's what I know. I'm part of the choir in the Russian/western harmony tradition.

Mary

[Tsarina]

I think you're more used to the sound of chanting, from your background. A solo voice can sound more "haunting" and do more emotion creating melismas than a choir can. There's nothing more "spiritual" about one voice over many. There's choirs of angels singing together, and ppl do well to do it on earth, too. They're both fine.

I think you're right. I'm used to Chanting and now that i hear it at Churches, i associate it somthing really spiritual, lols.

The choir i'm not so used too, even when i've been one of the choir members for the last year at my Church. While i was a Muslim, 'singing' was forbidden and chanting wasn't.

Furthermore, you're right..both are fine.. i think i realized that i need time to get used to the "singing". :D

Thanks.

[Michael the Iconographer]

Both have their good aspects.

[Lotar]

I like them both, but I think I like the choir slightly more.

[Monica, child of God]

When I went to my local Antiochian church I was stunned that I felt so drawn to the Arabic chant. This church did like 50/50 Arabic English. Even though I was never really good at learning Arabic in my Islamic days, it must have left an impression on me :)

M.

[Monica, child of God]

On the other hand I am really used to my Russian heritage OCA parish and its choir. We have chant and singing and I love both.

M.

[MichaelArchangelos]

I love singing. I don't know if we have it much in our parish (I've only been to two Divine Liturgies), but I hope that we do.

[ufonium2]

Ufonium's hierarchy of church music:

1) Russian choral singing
2) real Arab chant, sung by one person
3) chanters like most Greek churches have
4) Greeks who have choirs, even with organs
5) Any other church music, possibly even including praise bands

and last and definitely least

187) What passes for "Arab" "chant" in a lot of American Antiochian churches. You know what I'm talking about. Ack!

[Tsarina]

When I went to my local Antiochian church I was stunned that I felt so drawn to the Arabic chant. This church did like 50/50 Arabic English. Even though I was never really good at learning Arabic in my Islamic days, it must have left an impression on me :)

M.

I learned how to chant in my Islamic day's by reading the Arabic script that had that "tajweed" on it, along with an instructor.
Now, i sing in my OCA choir and miss chanting, it was a lot of fun. However, i don't mind the singing. But i wouldn't mind switching somtime from one to the other.

[repentant]

Chanting all the way. Greek of course. ;)

It just sounds like that's how it should be.

I dislike organs, and am not to fond of the sounds of women, unless they are really good. Like the CD I have of the nuns. Most people can't sing, and try to, and it sounds so horrible, especially with the baseball game sounding organ behind it...that's why when I go the Monastery, I am like yes, this is how it should be..

One or two chantors is what I like the best. Or even a choir of men, that can chant and harmonize, like the Monks of Simonopetra.

[Tsarina]

Chanting all the way. Greek of course. ;)

It just sounds like that's how it should be.

I dislike organs, and am not to fond of the sounds of women, unless they are really good. Like the CD I have of the nuns. Most people can't sing, and try to, and it sounds so horrible, especially with the baseball game sounding organ behind it...that's why when I go the Monastery, I am like yes, this is how it should be..

One or two chantors is what I like the best. Or even a choir of men, that can chant and harmonize, like the Monks of Simonopetra.

Lol... meanie! Those girls are trying to sing hymns to God. Not everyone needs to have a perfect voice for that! :P

[repentant]

Lol... meanie! Those girls are trying to sing hymns to God. Not everyone needs to have a perfect voice for that! :P


Oh I know. But I also like to enjoy it, lol. Eh, just my opinion anyway. I think it's more the oragn that irritates me than anything.

P.S. There is a story from the Desert Father's, I'll try to find it.

[repentant]

Here it is...

The story is told that at the Monastery of St. George the Abbot
was blessed with monks who did not have beautiful voices. The
annual pilgrimage on the feast day of St. George was not very
impressive with the rather awful sounds coming from the choir. So
the Abbot called together all the monks and said, "Look, this year
I am going to invite the famous choir from the cathedral for the
feast." Word went out and thousands of people came to the Monastery
of St. George for the feast day, and it was a glorious event. The
famous choir from the cathedral was in superb form and used its best
voices. The Abbot was thrilled and even the humble monks who were
not allowed to sing that day were thrilled. Following the day's
festivities the monks went off to sleep, and the Abbot was soon
sound asleep after all the excitement of the day. While he was
sleeping, St. George came to him and said, "Father, I think you
missed my feast day! Today is my feast day and here you are, you
didn't do anything. Have I not blessed you this past year?" And
the Abbot said, "O, Saint George, I do not know where you were, but
we had a glorious feast today. How could you not be here?" St.
George said, "I was in the church and I saw a great multitude of
people, but I heard nothing."

[Tsarina]

Here it is...

The story is told that at the Monastery of St. George the Abbot
was blessed with monks who did not have beautiful voices. The
annual pilgrimage on the feast day of St. George was not very
impressive with the rather awful sounds coming from the choir. So
the Abbot called together all the monks and said, "Look, this year
I am going to invite the famous choir from the cathedral for the
feast." Word went out and thousands of people came to the Monastery
of St. George for the feast day, and it was a glorious event. The
famous choir from the cathedral was in superb form and used its best
voices. The Abbot was thrilled and even the humble monks who were
not allowed to sing that day were thrilled. Following the day's
festivities the monks went off to sleep, and the Abbot was soon
sound asleep after all the excitement of the day. While he was
sleeping, St. George came to him and said, "Father, I think you
missed my feast day! Today is my feast day and here you are, you
didn't do anything. Have I not blessed you this past year?" And
the Abbot said, "O, Saint George, I do not know where you were, but
we had a glorious feast today. How could you not be here?" St.
George said, "I was in the church and I saw a great multitude of
people, but I heard nothing."

O I like this story! :D I love stories like these.

Thank you for sharing.

[repentant]

O I like this story! :D I love stories like these.

Thank you for sharing.

Your welcome.

[Akathist]

I like singing. I misunderstood the poll though as I thought that the chanting our Priest, Deacon and Readers do is standard everywhere and was not what was being asked.

Is there a jurisdiction where there is a choir and the Priests and Deacon and Reader only speaks instead of chants?

[choirfiend]

What they do is called "intoning" and is different than chanting. Intoning is fairly standard everywhere.

[Monica, child of God]

Organ? What's an organ?

;)

M.

[Monica, child of God]

I learned how to chant in my Islamic day's by reading the Arabic script that had that "tajweed" on it, along with an instructor.

I didn't have an instructor to take me beyond basic level of salah, al-Fatiha, memorizing other short surahs, etc. If I had remained Muslim I probably would have made more progress, however God had other plans. But making dua in English always felt more like prayer than my memorized Arabic.

M.

[Ioan cel Nou]

I'm currently learning to chant (Byzantine chant in Romanian) but we have a (very small) choir, so I'm afraid that I really don't understand the question. Surely several people can chant every bit as much as one or two can (and how could you even have an ison unless there was minimum of two cantors?). What exactly do you mean by sing as opposed to chant? Are we talking the difference between Slavonic choral singing and Byzantine chant?

James

[Ilian]

What exactly do you mean by sing as opposed to chant?

I'm guessing what is really meant is does one prefer harmonized choral music as opposed to monophonic chant. It's not always a clear line, and some stuff that's supposed to be "chant", has been in some parishes I've been to been harmonized and even done multi part.

In my parish as I said we have both a choir and cantors. So we use both a harmonized choral sytle and Prostopinije. The normal routine is the cantors will lead the congregation in the chanting of the Troparia, Kontakia, Theotokion and they will do the Prokeimena. They will also lead certain prayers and chant the Epistle if the sub-deacon or deacon does not do it. The choir will do the litanies, some responses, the Cherubic Hymn and the Trisagion. They will also sing certain hymns at different times such as memorials. Our cantors, except on rare occasions, lead the congregation in English. The choir mixes English and Slavonic, but mostly does English.

In the summer, we don't have a choir, and everything is done in the Prostopinije.

[MichaelArchangelos]

As a former traditional Roman Catholic, I like both. Gregorian Chant is lovely (It originally came from the East!), but so are the other hymns like "Daily, Daily, Sing to Mary", "Soul of my Saviour", "Holy God, We Praise Thy Name" and many more. Sometimes the difference isn't all that great. Stabat Mater, when sung in Gregorian Chant, sounds like a normal hymn and not plainchant.

[Ioan cel Nou]

I'm guessing what is really meant is does one prefer harmonized choral music as opposed to monophonic chant. It's not always a clear line, and some stuff that's supposed to be "chant", has been in some parishes I've been to been harmonized and even done multi part.

In my parish as I said we have both a choir and cantors. So we use both a harmonized choral sytle and Prostopinije. The normal routine is the cantors will lead the congregation in the chanting of the Troparia, Kontakia, Theotokion and they will do the Prokeimena. They will also lead certain prayers and chant the Epistle if the sub-deacon or deacon does not do it. The choir will do the litanies, some responses, the Cherubic Hymn and the Trisagion. They will also sing certain hymns at different times such as memorials. Our cantors, except on rare occasions, lead the congregation in English. The choir mixes English and Slavonic, but mostly does English.

In the summer, we don't have a choir, and everything is done in the Prostopinije.
Well in that case, I'd have to say chant, but I'd also have to point out that both singing and chanting (by these criteria) can be performed by choirs.

James

[Vasileios]

Byzantine chant by far. I don't like singing in church to be honest. The monks of Simonopetra are the best example. Unfortunately in most churches in Greece it is done in a poor way although there are a few churches that take it seriously and the result is amazing. And yes, chanting with proper ison to me sounds more glorious than any elaborate choir singing.

I have a couple of Russian choirs on CD but they don't do much for me I'm afraid, too western for my tastes :P

[Ilian]

I'd also have to point out that both singing and chanting (by these criteria) can be performed by choirs.

Yes and no. For something to be purely in chant form, I think there is criteria that would mean a choir as such could not be used. However, as you will see in many parishes (because so few use actual chant), choirs will in some cases do forms of chant. You can for instance buy a CD of "Byzantine Chant" performed by the Boston Byzantine Choir. I don't believe they harmonize the chant, so it isn't exactly choral, but it for instance would include female voices, so you couldn't really say it's real Byzantine chant either (even though it's using Byzantine notation). I think what is often called chant is this sort of hybridized type of music.

[The Prokeimenon!]

Sola Byzantine Chant :)

Rdr Moses, Byzantine Fundamentalist(tm)

[Xpycoctomos]

isn't there kind of a fine line between chanting and singing? I think we would say that at my church we chant... but to me it sounds like singing... maybe because I am so used to them. But when I go to a Greek Church, it is totally chant.

I suppose I have never heard "singing" at an Orthodox Church, but perhaps that's becuase what I call chant at my Church would be considered singing for others.

John

[The Prokeimenon!]

Does anybody on TAW know Byzantine notation? I've been learning for the last year or so, and it's the coolest thing. There's this website (http://stanthonysmonastery.org/music/JohnchrysB.htm), which has thousands of pages of Byzantine music in both Western and Byzantine notation. It's great stuff- as chanted on the Holy Mountain.

Here is, I think, Byzantine chant in Romanian. (http://www.resurse-ortodoxe.com/users/bumbacel/multimedia/audio/Cant%20bizantin.htm)

Rdr Moses

http://stanthonysmonastery.org/music/JohnchrysB.htm
http://www.resurse-ortodoxe.com/users/bumbacel/multimedia/audio/Cant%20bizantin.htm

[Xpycoctomos]

double post.

[Xpycoctomos]

As a former traditional Roman Catholic, I like both. Gregorian Chant is lovely (It originally came from the East!), but so are the other hymns like "Daily, Daily, Sing to Mary", "Soul of my Saviour", "Holy God, We Praise Thy Name" and many more. Sometimes the difference isn't all that great. Stabat Mater, when sung in Gregorian Chant, sounds like a normal hymn and not plainchant.

Gregorian Chant is lovely


It's my favorite. It is so mysterious and evokes such reverence. I prefer it to Byzantine Chant by far.

[Vasileios]

Moses: I started studying Byzantine chant the past two months. It's awesome indeed. The notation is very interesting although quite difficult I must say. So many different characters. And the priest who is teaching us said that prior to 188smth they used 50 more characters that were then abolished!

[Dewi Sant]

I wish I voted other.

In my home parish we have a chanting priest (no deacon :(), chanting readers and a singing choir using ancient byzantine melodies. Beautiful!

In my college parish we have chanting all over. It is beautiful but I almost joined in with the chanter on the first 'Lord have mercy'

[Ilian]

isn't there kind of a fine line between chanting and singing?

I'm not a music expert, nor do I play one on TV, but I don't think anybody in Orthodoxy uses singing per se. I think singing usually connotes polyphony.

What we all use in Orthodoxy are all really forms of chant, it's just that some have been harmonized and became choral in nature instead of strictly adhering to the older forms of chant (be it Byzantine, Znamenny, Kievan, etc.)

I have never been to a patriarchal parish, but I'm guessing you guys have a choir that sings later forms of church music from the Great Russian choral tradition, and not older forms of chant. That's what the OCA parishes I've visited used.

Some things I've noticed in other churches -

Every GOA parish I've been to has both a choir and a cantor, similar to what we do. In one parish I visited there was actually a very stark contrast. They had a Psalti who had an incredible voice, and did the best Byzantine chant I've heard in person. Intermixed with this however, the choir would sing certain things, and to acquire the needed pitch they would have the organ hit a key as their lead in. It was like you were hearing this heavenly chanting, with someone running their finger nails down a blackboard every so often. It was odd.

In Antiochian parishes, which are supposed to use Byzantine Chant, I've only ever seen choirs used along with harmonized chant (I think this is what Ufonium2 was pointing out). In one, the choir director also liked to split up the parts between men and women, which to be honest almost sounded like someone was singing western hymns. The single worst thing they did though was they allowed female members of the choir to read the Epistle. This was not good for the obvious reason, but more so because I mean read (as in if I was reading a book aloud) and not chanted or even intoned.

[Xpycoctomos]

Thanks Ilian, you're probably right about my parish. I have no idea lol, however I will say that when i go to an OCA parish I do recognize most of the melodies.

[ufonium2]

I'm not a music expert, nor do I play one on TV, but I don't think anybody in Orthodoxy uses singing per se. I think singing usually connotes polyphony.


I have to disagree on this point (although you are dead on in your interpretation of my comment regarding American "Byzantine" "chant.")

A lot of the Russian choral stuff is polyphonic. Anything based on tones is largely homorhythmic (moving in block chords, like the choral music you were describing) but the non-tone stuff, the Cherubic Hymn, Trisagion, etc., are often truly polyphonic. Granted, they aren't as complicated as Palestrina, but there is definitely an independence and equality to the parts.

[Ilian]

I have to disagree on this point ...

A lot of the Russian choral stuff is polyphonic. Anything based on tones is largely homorhythmic (moving in block chords, like the choral music you were describing) but the non-tone stuff, the Cherubic Hymn, Trisagion, etc., are often truly polyphonic. Granted, they aren't as complicated as Palestrina, but there is definitely an independence and equality to the parts.

Interesting, and thanks for correcting me.

[Xpycoctomos]

I have to disagree on this point (although you are dead on in your interpretation of my comment regarding American "Byzantine" "chant.")

A lot of the Russian choral stuff is polyphonic. Anything based on tones is largely homorhythmic (moving in block chords, like the choral music you were describing) but the non-tone stuff, the Cherubic Hymn, Trisagion, etc., are often truly polyphonic. Granted, they aren't as complicated as Palestrina, but there is definitely an independence and equality to the parts.
do you know of a site that explains the way chant is done in the contemporary russian Church? And where it explains the meaning of all of these terms?

Thanks,

John

[Tsarina]

I didn't have an instructor to take me beyond basic level of salah, al-Fatiha, memorizing other short surahs, etc. If I had remained Muslim I probably would have made more progress, however God had other plans. But making dua in English always felt more like prayer than my memorized Arabic.

M.

I'm glad God had other plans for the both of us. Otherwise, we would be stuck trying to become a hafiz.

I had an instructor since i was five years old, it was so much work! However, i was told that i had to always pray in memorized Arabic and could not pray in English because it wouldn't count.

I'm currently learning to chant (Byzantine chant in Romanian) but we have a (very small) choir, so I'm afraid that I really don't understand the question. Surely several people can chant every bit as much as one or two can (and how could you even have an ison unless there was minimum of two cantors?). What exactly do you mean by sing as opposed to chant? Are we talking the difference between Slavonic choral singing and Byzantine chant?

James

Sorry for not making the question clear. But yes, i am talking about the difference betweeen Slavonic choral singing and Byzantine chants.

[Ilian]

do you know of a site that explains the way chant is done in the contemporary russian Church? And where it explains the meaning of all of these terms?

Thanks,

John

I know you didn't ask me, but you might find this links useful.

http://www.novgorod.ru/eng/cult/cd2/hist_e2.htm
http://liturgica.com/html/litEOLitMusDev5.jsp?hostname=null

[Xpycoctomos]

thanks a lot Ilian! (Fro the second time today :))

[ufonium2]

Vlad Morosan is the guy for Russian music stuff in English. His book is called "Russian Church Singing," but is huge. Two volumes of like 400 pages each. Probably more than you want to know :)

As to polyphonic, monophonic, homorhythmic, homophonic, etc., they can be confusing and the lines sometimes blur. But basically:

monophonic-One line of music. Either one voice singing, or a bunch of voices singing the exact same thing. I think that's what the OP meant by "chant."

homorythmic-Everyone sings the same rhythm, but different notes. Most standard Protestant hymns (not praise music-real hymns) are written in this style.

homophonic-One melody predominates, other voices ("voices" can mean instruments too) function as "backup." Most pop music.

polyphonic-Several voices move independently of each other (rhythmically and melodically, generally) and are of roughly equal importance.

[Ilian]

thanks a lot Ilian! (Fro the second time today :))

Sure, no problem. This page on our diocese has some interesting info as well (plus some samples).

http://www.acrod.org/music.html

I responded to the poll by saying other, but in truth now that I reflect on it my preference is chant. I love Prostopinije, and feel like I can participate in the plainchant of the church in a way I can't when the choir is singing, though I like the choir too. It's also something that makes our church unique. There has been some worry that it might die out in favor of choirs, but I hope that doesn't happen. It did however happen in the OCA churches that were founded by Rusyns in this country.

unfonium2, thank you for that summary. Those phrases have always been fuzzy to me, and the only one I think I really had a decent understanding of is what monophonic means.

[Monica, child of God]

I'm glad God had other plans for the both of us. Otherwise, we would be stuck trying to become a hafiz.

Oh no...Did you know that many of the Desert Fathers memorized the entire book of Psalms?

I had an instructor since i was five years old, it was so much work! However, i was told that i had to always pray in memorized Arabic and could not pray in English because it wouldn't count.

Even dua? I was taught that salah was only accepted in Arabic but that dua could be made in one's native language.

M.

[Xpycoctomos]

Vlad Morosan is the guy for Russian music stuff in English. His book is called "Russian Church Singing," but is huge. Two volumes of like 400 pages each. Probably more than you want to know :)

As to polyphonic, monophonic, homorhythmic, homophonic, etc., they can be confusing and the lines sometimes blur. But basically:

monophonic-One line of music. Either one voice singing, or a bunch of voices singing the exact same thing. I think that's what the OP meant by "chant."

homorythmic-Everyone sings the same rhythm, but different notes. Most standard Protestant hymns (not praise music-real hymns) are written in this style.

homophonic-One melody predominates, other voices ("voices" can mean instruments too) function as "backup." Most pop music.

polyphonic-Several voices move independently of each other (rhythmically and melodically, generally) and are of roughly equal importance.


Thanks a lot... so which ones would you say are generally used at your Church?

At ours, it seems that in some hymns there is a bit of harmonization.... wouldn't that fall under homorhythmic? Is that normal? I thought it was. What i mean is that the tenors have their place, the bass has theirs and so on. Hmm.... I will ahve to see if Father will let me "sing" with the choir for a little while. I would love to learn this stuff.

John

[Chacci]

I had to vote "other" because in my church we do both.

I really enjoy the polyphonic Romanian Style antiphons. And, I really like the Byzantine chant used in the stichera during vespers and matins.

Chacci

[Tsarina]

Oh no...Did you know that many of the Desert Fathers memorized the entire book of Psalms?

Cool! I didn't know that about the Desert Fathers. So, they were the Hafiz of the Psalms. :D

Even dua? I was taught that salah was only accepted in Arabic but that dua could be made in one's native language.

M.

I was told that Dua's should be done in Arabic too if you can, but if you couldn't that was alright.

Oh.. Monica, i wanted to ask you, if you were taught that if you stepped on the Quraan, that you would turn into a donkey or a dog? literally!

I just remembered yesterday how this was taught to me as a child. I had a good laugh out of it.

[eoe]

Oh no...Did you know that many of the Desert Fathers memorized the entire book of Psalms?
My understanding is that the memorization of the psalms is a pretty standard thing for monastics.

[choirfiend]

It HAS been common. It's not standard.

[ufonium2]

Thanks a lot... so which ones would you say are generally used at your Church?

Through the week, almost entirely homorhythmic or monophonic. But on Sundays, we have a big, pretty good choir, and so we do some pretty complicated polyphonic stuff.


At ours, it seems that in some hymns there is a bit of harmonization.... wouldn't that fall under homorhythmic? Is that normal?

If everyone is singing the same rhythm, but different notes, it's homorhythmic. That's probably what most of your music is. If the voices move at different times, though, it's polyphonic.

I guess it depends on how much your choir practices and how well they read music, how complicated you get. Also some priests or parish councils who think Western=Satan would probably object to polyphony.

[Theophorus]

I like the diatonic scale; well tempered.

[Ioan cel Nou]

Does anybody on TAW know Byzantine notation? I've been learning for the last year or so, and it's the coolest thing. There's this website (http://stanthonysmonastery.org/music/JohnchrysB.htm), which has thousands of pages of Byzantine music in both Western and Byzantine notation. It's great stuff- as chanted on the Holy Mountain.

I don't exactly know Byzantine notation, but I'm learning. I can just about manage the basics enough to follow new melodies if I'm acompanied by our priest (who reall knows his stuff). It's pretty complicated, though.

Here is, I think, Byzantine chant in Romanian. (http://www.resurse-ortodoxe.com/users/bumbacel/multimedia/audio/Cant%20bizantin.htm)

Rdr Moses

Indeed it is. Most of it's from monasteries and not much like what you'd hear in a parish, but the stuff from Crasna is quite close to what we use.

I had to vote "other" because in my church we do both.

I really enjoy the polyphonic Romanian Style antiphons. And, I really like the Byzantine chant used in the stichera during vespers and matins.

Chacci

Do you mean polyphonic Russian style antiphons? I chant in a Romanian parish and I've never yet heard any polyphonic singing, just Byzantine chant. Certainly we don't use any and the antiphons are chanted (in Tone 5 if I remember correctly).

Jame

[Philothei]

Congregational singing the Liturgy is the best!

I enjoy also slavonic, and byzantine chanting but I do not like "solo primadona" chanting so I got to go with singing.:thumbsup:
But is singing the right term for liturgy? It is more like chanting the liturgy...???:confused:
Just a thought.

God bless!:crosseo:

[ufonium2]

But is singing the right term for liturgy? It is more like chanting the liturgy...???:confused:


It's my understanding that, correctly used, "chant" refers to systematically structured, repetitive singing that centers around certain pitches. "Chanting" is usually defined as fairly monotonous, yet not monotone, singing of a text.

In this discussion, however, I think we're using "chant" to describe monophonic (one line) melismatic (several notes per syllable of text) styles of singing, more common in the "Byzantine" tradition, and "singing" to describe the multi-voice polyphonic choral singing more common to most Slavic traditions.

[Paisley]

I like both and we have both. :)

[Tsarina]

Since we're on this topic. Does anyone know of good sites that have chanting?

[Ilian]

http://www.ecclesia.gr/Multimedia/Audio_index/audioindex_en.html

The small paraklesis which you can listen to is really good.

[Tsarina]

http://www.ecclesia.gr/Multimedia/Audio_index/audioindex_en.html

The small paraklesis which you can listen to is really good.

Oh cool! Thank you very much. :D

[Ilian]

No problem. This site has a good grouping of links

http://www.stjrussianorthodox.com/stjrusorthodoxy.htm

They have one for music on the left along with other topics.

[Greg the byzantine]

I know this is Greek but just click on the links that say "track" and you will get some nice chanting from the Ecumenical Patriarchate. (you nead real player for these)

http://www.cmkon.org/SoundClips.htm

I like the audio clips from here (there aren't that many but they are good) I can't seem to get the link right, but just click on the multimedia section at the top of the page:
http://www2.stnicholasla.com/


Here is an old thread:
http://www.christianforums.com/showthread.php?p=16463635#post16463635


This one is also in Greek but there is sooo much. Just click on one of the greek names in yellow and you will get a whole bunch of hymns chanted by that person, then click download and you will get a real media file:

http://www.ieropsaltis.com/psaltis.htm

[Tsarina]

Wow, look at all these links. I usually come across them and listen, but forget to save it, so i end up losing them. :(

Thank you guys! I will remember to save these links so i won't have to bother you again. :)

[Ioan cel Nou]

Since we're on this topic. Does anyone know of good sites that have chanting?
MosestheBlack posted a link to a good Romanian site for Byzantine chant on the previous page. Obviously, most of it's in Romanian, but i'd certainly say it's worth a listen.

James

[Tsarina]

MosestheBlack posted a link to a good Romanian site for Byzantine chant on the previous page. Obviously, most of it's in Romanian, but i'd certainly say it's worth a listen.

James

Thank you!:D

[Tsarina]

Okay, now i have to share one of my ultimate favorite chants...

Valaam Chant (http://arhiv.malorus.org/valaam/CD/BO2/Angel%27skii%20sobor%20udivisja....mp3)

[Orthocat]

other - We have both and I enjoy both.

[Tsarina]

other - We have both and I enjoy both.

It's pretty cool that some of you guys have both chanting and singing at your Church.

I wish it was like that at my Church, that would be pretty cool. :thumbsup:

[SecretBlessings]

I like singing during church services

[ClementofRome]

....and they are coming down the back stretch with Chanting leading Other by a nose....but Singing is gaining toward the end.....

[The Prokeimenon!]

Here's a great statement by one Ecumenical Patriarch regarding the use of tetraphonic music (http://www.stanthonysmonastery.org/music/encyclical.pdf)in Church.

Rdr Moses

http://www.stanthonysmonastery.org/music/encyclical.pdf

[theoforos]

I don't really know what you are talking about, but what I like the most is old Russian church music from the time before the Russian church music developed into the modern polyphonic "church opera" (I think the worst phase was in the 19th century, though). The church music that is most common in Finland is polyphonic but not so opera-like as Russian church music typically is. The first time I ever heard Greek chanting it felt very strange and archaic, but I'm starting to like it more and more (for example the Simonopetra choir someone mentioned, I've got three of their cd's and I'm planning to buy more). That kind of music is almost never used in Finland, and the few times it has been used, all the people have not been entirely happy with it being used...

[Tsarina]

Here's a great statement by one Ecumenical Patriarch regarding the use of tetraphonic music (http://www.stanthonysmonastery.org/music/encyclical.pdf)in Church.

Rdr Moses

http://www.stanthonysmonastery.org/music/encyclical.pdf

Interesting. Thanks for sharing.

[ufonium2]

Here's a great statement by one Ecumenical Patriarch regarding the use of tetraphonic music (http://www.stanthonysmonastery.org/music/encyclical.pdf)in Church.


This will now become Exhibit A for whenever anyone asks why we don't have a pope. I had no idea I was scandalizing the whole "Greek Orthodox race" by my preference for music that is related to my language group. Then again, I guess if the whole world spoke Greek like God intended, we wouldn't have problems like this. Yeesh.