GabrielCremeens
Music Director at St. George, Albuquerque, NM
Hello all,
I am practicing the 8-mode Doxastikon of the Dormition of the Theotokos, Èåáñ÷ßù íåýìáôé (By Divine Command), as composed by Papa Ephraim. The music can be found here.
In my copy, I would like to notate the ison. However, I am at a loss as to how to do this. In Papa Ephraim's score, the music is written so that the pieces flow nicely into one another, with the jumps (or lack thereof) for the transitions between the modes clearly notated. This makes for ease of chanting the piece, but makes for some rather unusual martyrias. Also, it presents me with a dilemma as to notating the ison. Should I notate the ison "as usual" for each section? E.g., write "Pa" above the first note of the first section, and expect the isocrates to know, by looking at the score, that this is Pa relative to first mode (which the piece is in at the moment), but is actually Ke, relative to the entire hymn? If I took this approach, then, when the piece makes the switch to Plagal First Mode, I would AGAIN write Pa above the first note... but the isocrates would be expected to drop down a perfect fifth (four notes) from where they were holding the original Pa?
Of course, I don't expect any isocratis to know to do this just at the drop of a hat, some practice would be necessary... but as far as notating this goes, does anyone have any suggestions?
-G
I am practicing the 8-mode Doxastikon of the Dormition of the Theotokos, Èåáñ÷ßù íåýìáôé (By Divine Command), as composed by Papa Ephraim. The music can be found here.
In my copy, I would like to notate the ison. However, I am at a loss as to how to do this. In Papa Ephraim's score, the music is written so that the pieces flow nicely into one another, with the jumps (or lack thereof) for the transitions between the modes clearly notated. This makes for ease of chanting the piece, but makes for some rather unusual martyrias. Also, it presents me with a dilemma as to notating the ison. Should I notate the ison "as usual" for each section? E.g., write "Pa" above the first note of the first section, and expect the isocrates to know, by looking at the score, that this is Pa relative to first mode (which the piece is in at the moment), but is actually Ke, relative to the entire hymn? If I took this approach, then, when the piece makes the switch to Plagal First Mode, I would AGAIN write Pa above the first note... but the isocrates would be expected to drop down a perfect fifth (four notes) from where they were holding the original Pa?
Of course, I don't expect any isocratis to know to do this just at the drop of a hat, some practice would be necessary... but as far as notating this goes, does anyone have any suggestions?
-G
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