The “God is with us” from Compline can be a nice choice, especially during Nativity Fast.

For those starting Matins, preparing for it can be daunting. I recommend that they just begin by singing only the ‘fixed’ portions (like those I listed above) and just plain chanting everything that belongs in a proper tone (except for the Resurrectional Troparia that people will already know). Over time (and I’m talking a period of 3-5 years) things can be added in their appropriate tones.

I have also recommended a similar procedure for those starting Vespers. Where it has been used (starting with learning all the ‘fixed parts’ and singing just “O Lord” in tone and using a simple chant for the rest of the changeable hymns) it has been successful. The trick is to keep it manageable and add new things only when what’s already being sung is “old hat”.

I don’t know exactly how you end the Third Hour and begin the Divine Liturgy, but if there is time for incensing you might consider singing the Great Doxology. It is very easily embraced by the people and will certainly prime the singing pump.

As for our Third Hour, a deacon or our priest censes the church during the Third Hour, usually about the time we sing the tropar. Once the Third Hour is completed, the Royal Doors are opened, and the liturgy begins, "Blessed is the Kingdom, etc." There is nothing in between.

Now that we are using the Triodion once again, I find an additional problem with MCI downloads: I can no longer access them. I have emailed Prof. Thompson in the hope that he or Jeff has a answer. It is probably a problem with Adobe 7.0.

Currently, I am consulting Fr. Petras' Typicon, then using appropriate stichera, etc. for Vespers from the Sisters of St. Basil's Triodion in plainchant, bypassing computerized materials altogether. Maybe things will eventually improve once there are sufficient resources to make more wishlist materials available in print.

(Turns out that I now have to save the file before I can access it, and must manually create a directory path for it before I can save it. Thanks, Adobe 7.0.)

Two updates to Adobe and a resend of the pdf files later, I am once get able to view and save MCI files without having to manually create directory paths. The system once again does it. I still prefer paper.