Is this necessary?

Polemikos29

Νέο μέλος
Since so many people graciously and patiently answered my novice questions in the past, I'm seeking clarification on another issue. I live in a community with maybe ten total Greek speaking parishioners and no one has formal training in byzantine music. So the help from you guys is all I have and is greatly appreciated!

In this picture in the part I circled, I noticed a μεταβολή κάτα τόνο . So, the παραλλαγή changes to Δι on the hard chromatic scale but at the pitch of Γα. In the phrase until the next μεταβολή, the melody goes from Δι to Κε, which is 12 μόρια. If there was no change at all, and it stayed on the soft chromatic scale, wouldn't it be the exact same thing, 12 μόρια from the pitch of Γα? I'm sure I'm missing something... Why is this μεταβολή here?

Thanks so much!
 

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mmamais

Μαμάης Μιχάλης
From your point of view, you are right, it could be pointless.

It is meaningfull if viewed from the perspective of the music mode (tropos). The idea is to initiate a hard chromatic tetrachordon on Ga so that NH - GA soft chrom. = Pa - DI hard chrom. So at Ga puts a fthora to make it Di, that is the top of the hard chrom tetrachordon. However, a hard chromatic tetrachrdon frequently is followed by a diatonic tetrachordon and that is what he wants to do here so he puts a diatonic fthora on Di soft chrom (which is actually a Ke hard chrom).
In this way, the hard chrom tetrachordon (the low) is followed by a diatonic one (the high) and briefly makes a cadence on hard chrom (low). This "movement" is common in this mode.

I read my writing and understand nothing. I hope you fare better.
 

Polemikos29

Νέο μέλος
I get what you're saying... Thanks for the explanation! I guess it does make sense when you compare it to the other hymns before and after it.
 
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