Orthros Doxastikon of the Nativity of St. John the Forerunner

GabrielCremeens

Music Director at St. George, Albuquerque, NM
Good evening to all,

Attached is a composition I did today for the Nativity of St. John the Forerunner, which is this Sunday. Perhaps it will prove helpful to those of you who are chanting Orthros in a few days. Any suggestions for improvement are welcome.

In Christ,
Gabriel

P.S. Apologies for the score not looking very nice - I didn't have the time to put it on normal lined paper or anything like that.

P.P.S. The diatonic modulation on the phrase "the dawning of Christ" is not in the original. Just a little artistic thing that I put in, which is why the fthora and following martyria are in parentheses. Feel free to ignore these. :)

P.P.P.S. The ison should switch to Pa right after the last martyria of Ke.
 

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greek487

Tasos N.
Good evening to all,

Attached is a composition I did today for the Nativity of St. John the Forerunner, which is this Sunday. Perhaps it will prove helpful to those of you who are chanting Orthros in a few days. Any suggestions for improvement are welcome.

In Christ,
Gabriel

P.S. Apologies for the score not looking very nice - I didn't have the time to put it on normal lined paper or anything like that.

P.P.S. The diatonic modulation on the phrase "the dawning of Christ" is not in the original. Just a little artistic thing that I put in, which is why the fthora and following martyria are in parentheses. Feel free to ignore these. :)

P.P.P.S. The ison should switch to Pa right after the last martyria of Ke.

Thank you for this Gabriel!

I liked how you utilized the standard melodic formulas of the mode and how they expressed the meanings of the hymn.

Is there some way perhaps that the phrase "...to show the straight..." at the end of the hymn could be reworked? Each syllable of the phrase gets one beat and then "straight" gets four beats. Perhaps a reworking will help it flow better. Perhaps "show" may be elongated by a couple of beats to correspond and flow more smoothly with "straight"?

I am not a composer, so you might want to take my feedback with a grain of salt.

Also, I think the word "John" is missing the kendimata on top of the oligon.

Ttyl,
Taso

. . .
 
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GabrielCremeens

Music Director at St. George, Albuquerque, NM
Thank you for this Gabriel!

I liked how you utilized the standard melodic formulas of the mode and how they expressed the meanings of the hymn.

Is there some way perhaps that the phrase "...to show the straight..." at the end of the hymn could be reworked? Each syllable of the phrase gets one beat and then "straight" gets four beats. Perhaps a reworking will help it flow better. Perhaps "show" may be elongated by a couple of beats to correspond and flow more smoothly with "straight"?

Thank you for the idea. I actually made a couple changes to this a few days ago, right after I posted it (I have been out of town the past few days). Changing that phrase was one of the problems I addressed. Specifically, I put a klasma on top of "show," as well as a klasma on top of "the." I thing (I hope!) it makes the rhythm a little smoother.

I am not a composer, so you might want to take my feedback with a grain of salt.

I'm not really a composer either, so any ideas are helpful. :)

Also, I think the word "John" is missing the kendimata on top of the oligon.

The thesis actually uses a second oligon, not a kentimata (I think). But, you are right; there is a neume missing. Specifically, there should be a plain oligon right before the oligon/psefiston. The word "John" would be begin on the first, plain oligon.
 
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