www.byzcath.org Forums Mysteries: The Life of Worship The Kliros How to chant the reading?

So over Christmas I was the surprise Epistle reader (there was no one to read and I was asked on the spot). This past Sunday I was asked before the start of Divine Liturgy to read the Epistle. I have expressed interest to become a regular reader.

Basically, how do I learn to chant it? Only one person chants the Epistle and I want to do it that way as well.

Just do it...I don't know if anyone learns to chant per se. I don't know what jurisdiction you are, but if it's a Slavic one that does the rising note or one note method, I'm not sure what there is to learn?

I go to a UGCC parish

If there is a particular parish style, then study it.

And before you read the reading, read the reading. After you are sure you know and understand it, then write it out exactly as you intend to read it, line by line, annotated as necessary with rising and falling notes, pauses, breaths, etc.

Then, practice, practice, practice. Record yourself (daunting proposition, I know), and listen. If it works, all well and good. If not, go back and adjust until you are comfortable.

When the time comes, just commend yourself to the Holy Spirit, and do it.

Thanks.

Aside from learning the chant, I have to overcome my own fear in doing it. I'm seeing this might take a while but I want to learn how to do it.

Read aloud in front of family and close friends until you get used to it. And, if you've been going to Liturgy for any length of time, you know that everybody, no matter how experienced, makes mistakes. Nobody will bit your head off. We are a forgiving bunch, and God more forgiving than all; He appreciates and rewards the effort as much as the deed itself.

Good advice has already been given above.

I will add the usual follow the "KISS" rule - "Keep it simple, Silly". In this case it means don't try to be fancy. Pick a note and stick with it. Chanting the entire epistle on a single note will serve you well for a long time - what is important is enunciating the words clearly so that those hearing you chant don't have to strain to understand. Mistakes happen. Don't worry about them.

Don't rush and don't be afraid to over-enunciate as well. It sounds worse in your head but usually over-enunciating isn't noticed by the congregation.

ConstantineTG,

You might also consider recording other readers from your parish. I checked out audio recordings from my parish library and listened to how the reading was proclaimed by other parishioners before I began as a reader years ago.

It's very important to remember that you are proclaiming the reading, not simply chanting it. Follow StuartK's advice. Read the text. Pray with the text. Practice the text. That's essential.

If your parish uses more than one chant melody for the epistles, then practice using more than one. I would try out two melodies and discerned which one best proclaimed the text.

Above all, relax and have confidence in yourself. If you're well prepared, then don't be surprised at what may happen while you're chanting the text. I call it being "in the zone" where it feels like the Holy Spirit gave you a little extra to reach the hearts of the faithful.

I still remember the look on my pastor's face after I chanted the epistle for the first time. He had a look of "Wow" while blessing me after. When I came up to kiss the cross at the end of liturgy he said to me, "Now that we know what you are capable of doing, we're never letting you go."

Things to watch out for:

Don't read each word individually, but read it as a complete clause or phrase.

Don't make excessive breaks; for it distracts from the meaning

Use the chant which conveys the thought and which you are comfortable with.

Be sure that when you come to the word "immortal" or "immortality" that you don't mistakenly say "immoral" or "immorality".

Of course if you're reading the Apostol in Slavonic, most no one understands the meaning, but as long as you pause at the punctuation they will think you do.

I completely agree with this. It is better to over-enunciate a little than to under-enunciate - this can make you sound like you are chanting with a mouth full of mush.

There are several reading which include long names (Maher-shalal-hashbaz, anyone?); I practice chanting the portion which includes the long name so that it just flows nicely.

I have been chanting the Epistle at my parish for several years and I suppose I do OK.....I do think that I have improved over time, and that my completion of the recent Reader's Course offered by the MCI was helpful. It's one thing to get feedback from the people in the pews who are listening, and another entirely to get it from people who are also readers and understand the history behind the way we chant the readings as we do.

In the UGCC (as in most usages of the Kyivan liturgical tradition) the Epistle is generally read in a sort of slightly ornamented recto tono using one or two notes for the majority of the text and accenting with an additional one or two notes.

As the Admin mentions, when starting out simplicity is the key to consistency; two notes sung well and consistent are far more felicitous to four or six sung inconsistently and badly. And as has been previously mentioned, it is "reading" as an organic whole text, so it should flow and not be choppy. So if you can sing two notes consistently with good flow, you are there, O reader.