Would appreciate any corrections or recommendations. Let me know if you think it worth posting more like these?
Dear Michael,
I noticed that your settings of the third and fourth stichera at the Praises are in the heirmologic genre of Third Mode. But according to the tradition of the Great Church, these hymns are chanted in the new sticheraric genre of Third Mode. See, for example, the settings on pages 3-4 of Mousike Kypsele (Volume B), as well as those in Stanitsas' Triodion.
I also noticed that your setting of the Doxastikon of the Praises does not preserve any of the
word painting employed in the traditional melodies other than the cadence on high Ni for "proud-minded thoughts." For example, the melody on pages 4-5 of Mousike Kypsele (Volume B) has a cadence on low Di for "in abasement" and a hard chromatic cadence for "suffered." The former is simple to adapt, and the latter can be used intact with the English text.
The fact that your settings do not employ these characteristics indicates that you haven't studied the traditional melodies (which is a serious methodological problem) and/or you haven't made a serious effort to imitate them (which is a serious philosophical problem). In general, these settings employ formulae that are both appropriate for the text and written in an orthographically correct manner; however, the manner in which these formulae are selected, blended, and combined to form a complete piece is not quite traditional. The examples I pointed out above were the most obvious to me right now, but I could also point out many others.
The problem boils down to the fact that even though Papa Ephraim has codified many of the formulae used in ecclesiastical composition, he has not codified the manner in which these formulae are selected, blended, and combined together in order to form a complete piece. Doing so effectively requires careful study of the traditional melodies in order to develop an intuitive grasp of how formulas are combined. For example, I began to develop my own intuition by, throughout the course of a year, chanting every single piece in the Anastasimatarion and Mousike Kypsele and paying particularly close attention to melodic contour, modal variations, rhythmic balance, and how formulas were blended together. Yes, this requires a lot of work, but it is a critical requirement in order for inexperienced people to produce quality compositions. The good news, though, is that after having developed such an intuition it will be far easier to produce traditional compositions in the future.
Basil