www.byzcath.org Forums Faith & Christian Life Faith & Theology When congregations change from choir-led singing to congregational

A local OCA parish with a longstanding tradition of choir-led singing for all services is about to attempt a transition to congregational singing. What experiences have any of you had with transitioning from one to the other? What works, and what doesn't? Your input is important, because this transition may be a source of heartache from some, and relief for others. Any input would be appreciated.

I have no experience with transitioning, but do have one thought on the general subject. In principle, the chants of the OCA are simple enough that the music could be sung congregationally. On the other hand, if the people are inexperienced in picking up the various parts and tend to sing only the melody, then these chants work out poorly, because there really isn't much of a melody.

Our BC prostopinije is nicely adapted to this situation. The melodies are great and stand alone in unison singing. They are catchy and thus readily committed to memroy. They also fill in very simply with natural harmonization in thirds and with fairly obvious tenor and base lines. So soon the congregation sounds like a choir. Furthermore, they are musically rich enough to form the themes of splendid choral music as well.

This works.

The progress from Cantor or choir solo to full congregational is roughly :

choir=> cantor
People learn to chant.
Cantor trains a Schola (a group of cantors who sing polyphonically)
When the congregation hears the Schola, then they will gravitate to parts that are in their voice range, and there is true congregational singing.

There must be several strong singers (really of cantor quality) or else the congregation migrates all to a non-chant melody line.

Jim,

Two things:

1. Follow the old KISS rule (Keep It Simple, Stupid!). Make sure that the music that is chosen is singable. Don't start with anything too complicated and sing the exact same arrangements until the people know them by heart (which will be at least a year). At that point you can introduce one new melody and use it as an alternate until the people know it well. Then limit the introduction of new melodies only when everything else has become memorized by most of the parish. With the changable melodies for the troparia, prokimeny, Alleluia and Magnification / Irmos and communion hymns you will already have enough variety to last a long time.

2. If it is possible to retain a few familiar choral pieces (just singing the melody with the harmony provided naturally) do it. That way it will not be as much as a shock and the people will be comfortable with some of the old favorites.

I've been publishing liturgical music for 20 years. Let me know via e-mail if I can help.

Admin

I second the KISS rule when dealing with congregational singing. You can't start out with five-part polyphonic. Children have to learn to crawl, then walk before they can run. Get everyone to harmonize "Amens", "Lord have Mercy", "Grant this, O Lord" and other simpler parts and move on from there.

I think the Galician samoyilka harmonizes easier and the melodies are somehow more intuitive relative to prostopinje having cantored both and at least in my experience it has been easier getting the samoyilka melodies and harmonizations across to congregations than the prostopinje.

But Jim - the OCA has some VERY NICE congregational music with some WONDERFUL Kievan chant, Znamenny and Obikhod. Many "basic" Kievan melodies are not that difficult and harmonize very nicely. For example Tone 1 and 6 Kievan are simple and harmonize beautifully. The Typical Psalms from the Divine Liturgy are often sung to Tone 1, "Bless the Lord, O My Soul" etc. It's not hard to get everyone singing and harmonizing those psalms in Tone 1 Kievan.

Some of the musical settings for congregational singing modified by Professor Drillock et. al. at St. Vladimir's are well done. They have some nice English congregational adaptations of Znamenny, Kievan Chant, and have adapted Ledkovsky's original Obikhod chant compilations from Slavonic.

Theodore Heckman of St. Tikhon's has also done just an absolutely beautiful job in his compiling Greek, Znamenny, Obikhod and Kievan chants in English, especially for liturgical texts including some real gems like the Resurrectional Kanons of Matins, Kanon to the Theotokos, etc.

You have a wonderful and rich musical tradition in the OCA, and you have some good resources for music and texts.

The bottom line is to try simpler melodies and get them down before you tackle Bortniansky, Rachmaninoff, Archangelsky, etc. You can e-mail me if you need some more info. You can do some wonderful things with a willing pastor, congregation, and very patient diak/cantor.

Ahhhh, Kievan chant...obikhod... znamenny:)

(Post-it Note: Actually, I have posted this concern on behalf of the choir director of the OCA parish who does not have internet access. I myself am Byzantine Catholic, and attend at St. Thomas the Apostle Church where congregational singing with 3 or 4 cantors has always been the norm, and EVERYBODY sings. The only problems there are related to cantors who don't read music versus those who do. On the other hand, the OCA church has never had congregational singing work effectively, because the congregation has always preferred to let the choir do the work for them. There may be some deafening silences during the transition, but they can do this. I know they can. I may take one or two of you up on your offers of help, once I know what the choir director needs. For now, thank you for your advice so far, and God's blessings on you all. Your caring responses help more than you know.)

The transition is painful for a congregation that is accustomed to not singing. The best approach follows simpler melodic chants (and there are plenty of those) that follow a consistent pattern. This is often not welcomed by some members of the congregation, who might favor a more complicated, baroque chant for a particular hymn over the simpler version that people can actually sing. It then becomes a political issue in the congregation. If the congregation does not want to do it -- that is, if the majority of the congregation is not in favor of it -- it won't happen.

Dear Friends,

Please let me know of any parishes that don't sing their liturgies.

Perhaps I can work with them . . .

Alex

Don't know about Canada Alex - but try Lourdes - Fr Wasyl absolutely cannot sing and with such a tiny congregation it does not seem possible for them

Well, the transition didn't happen. The OCA choir director stepped down for health reasons. The untrained assistant priest decided to change much of the music, and move the choir downstairs to the right of the tetrapod. Result: 2 or 3 singers instead of 10 to 15, and less congregational singing than before. Not a happy ending, I'm afraid.

Jim, I'm sorry to hear that OCA parishes are experiencing the same cantorial problems that we in the Ruthenian Metropolia are strugling with, you have my sympathy.

Ung-Certez

My own Byzantine parish doesn't have the cantor difficulties you mentioned, Ung-Certez. There are enough cantors, and I hope that there will eventually be a regional workshop to produce more of them. The Van Nuys Eparchy is too far from Pittsburgh to easily train cantors there. Cantors are, after all, not a minor order within the Church nowadays, carry no stipend, and there ARE training costs and ongoing resource expenses- not to mention the amount of time necessary for ongoing preparation. Generally, our congregation sings in unison with few silent voices. And there is a solid bond between the clergy and the laity when it comes to various programs, expectations, etc.

The OCA parish's music problems stemmed from a lack of clerical expertise in how to manage a transition to congregational singing, as well as a lack of confidence in the knowledge of the laity. There's also a kind of time warp in the local OCA parish that does not exist in the Byzantine parishes when it comes to how the clergy and the laity relate to each other. I say that, because our recent Metropolia newsletter, when discussing meeting the needs of parishioners, mentioned that today's Byzantine laity expect professionalism on the part of their clergy in handling programs, etc. Unfortunately, it hasn't worked that way locally at the OCA church, probably because the clergy have a totally different view of the their role and that of the laity itself. Not enough consensus building or planning has gone on there when it comes to effective community worship. They can turn it around by bringing in outside help to do a workshop on congregational worship, but it's unlikely. It is one more reason why the Byzantines are so much more successful locally than the OCA in attracting converts, even formerly OCA ones like myself.

Just one note - it sure helps if you give people books with music in them.

Even people who don't read music can follow the basic ups & downs.

Our esteemed Administrator's liturgical handouts bear SIGNIFICANT responsibility for improving the quality and quantity of congregational participation in many of our churches. If you give people music, they will sing better than if you don't.

Sharon

I second our sister Sharon's insight.

When I first came to our monastic community I couldn't sing at all! When I saw how much singing we monks had to do (really, I should have known this in advance - but somehow it slipped by me) I questioned my vocation.

However one of our gentle choirmasters took me into the chapter room to see if I could at least match pitches. After it was determined that I could, he taught me the basics of monastic choral singing:

1) Listen to those around you! If your voice is the dominant one how can you tell if your on pitch?

2) The aim of monastic singing is to be una voca = one voice. The choir is not the place to show how great a soloist your are - you know the whole communal thing.

3) Look at the notes. Even though I can't read music, I can at least tell if I should be singing the next note higher or lower than the previous one, and whether it is a whole note, half note or quarter note.

Now I can blend in with the rest of the brethren.

PAX

Wow! This is a different result than we got. We moved the cantor's stand from the back of the temple up to the side of the iconostasis when our former bishop visited us. We've been there ever since.

Today, we have a schola of two cantors, five singers, and one lead Psalmist. They've been trained on all the tones and also sing at weddings and funerals.

And yes, Mr. Administrator's handouts have been of great help. Both changes, the physical location of the schola/cantors and the handouts with musical notation, have increased participation manyfold.

I can see it being less successful if a four-part SATB choir attempted it.

We sing our Prostopinije plain and simple. Some of the more trained schola members (former choir members themselves) sing harmony. Guests have approached us asking what music we were singing from, but we have to tell them that we sing the same music the people sing and the harmony is ad lib. The KISS (keep it simple, stupid) method is our guideline.

Our youngest schola member is only ten and her still younger sister will be joining us when we celebrate Pascha. Both can really sing well! We have two simple tests for new members: (1) ability to sing on key and (2) capability to stand the entire length of the Paschal services.

Cantor Joe Thur