It Is Truly Right, Awed by the Beauty, To Thee the Champion Leader

[GabrielCremeens]

Ευλογείτε,

Thought I'd share these... want to make it clear right off the bat that I did not compose these; I transcribed them (in Western notation) from the Paraklesis CD from Simonopetra Monastery (Axion Estin), and from the "Virtue: The Door of Heaven" CD from St. John the Forerunner Monastery in Washington State. I think there's an error in the "To Thee the Champion Leader" transcription; when they chant, "ινα κραζω Σοι", the B should be flatted when they descend from the high C. Sorry it's in Western notation; I haven't had the time lately to devote to learning Byzantine.

Also thinking about transcribing the following Kanon from the Theotokarion of St. Nikodemos: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7eHD2IUViBg

By the way, are these in the right forum?

 

[Dimitri]

By the way, are these in the right forum?

Yes. Thank you for sharing them. In the future I will make subforums for Byzantine and Western notation scores.

 

[basil]

You remind me of myself about five years ago. At the time I had limited access to Byzantine music resources, so I spent a lot of time transcribing audio recordings of Byzantine music into Western notation. I've attached two examples to this post.

Welcome to the forum!

Ευλογείτε,

Thought I'd share these... want to make it clear right off the bat that I did not compose these; I transcribed them (in Western notation) from the Paraklesis CD from Simonopetra Monastery (Axion Estin), and from the "Virtue: The Door of Heaven" CD from St. John the Forerunner Monastery in Washington State. I think there's an error in the "To Thee the Champion Leader" transcription; when they chant, "ινα κραζω Σοι", the B should be flatted when they descend from the high C. Sorry it's in Western notation; I haven't had the time lately to devote to learning Byzantine.

Also thinking about transcribing the following Kanon from the Theotokarion of St. Nikodemos: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7eHD2IUViBg

By the way, are these in the right forum?

 

[GabrielCremeens]

You remind me of myself about five years ago. At the time I had limited access to Byzantine music resources, so I spent a lot of time transcribing audio recordings of Byzantine music into Western notation. I've attached two examples to this post.

Welcome to the forum!

Dear sir,

Thanks; hopefully I can make as much progress in five years- with God's help! (I've used your website before, and found your music very helpful.)

And thanks very much for the transcriptions; I'm glad you sent them, because I was thinking about transcribing that Theotokion! You saved me a lot of time.

Considering the level I'm at right now (i.e. don't know Byzantine notation, limited knowledge of Greek, etc), what would you recommend I work on next, to expand my knowledge of Byzantine music?

 

[domesticus]

Check this site of St. Anthony's monastery in Arizona

 

[basil]

Thank you for your kind words.

Teaching oneself Byzantine notation is actually not so difficult. I suggest the book by Margaziotis, which is available for free from St Anthony's Monastery. Explanations are included in English. There are 121 exercises in the book. If you do two exercises each day (20-30 min) you can learn the basics of Byzantine notation in just two months. Although there is a recording of each exercise, listen to it only after you have completed the exercise (i.e., as a "solution").

Once you have completed the exercises, you should be able to start practicing actual liturgical pieces. I highly recommend the material from St Anthony's Monastery. Since you already know Western notation, you again have a "solution" to refer to in case you get stuck (the Western notation transcription of each piece).

Also make sure to listen to good recordings as much as you can. There are many excellent examples on Analogion as well as on the Greek side of this forum. I do not know any Greek either, but I read the Greek posts of this forum through Google Translate.

From there, it's onto the next level of mastering chronos, intervals, and vocalizations (what I consider to be the three "pillars" of authentic performance, along with the use of correct compositions).

Dear sir,

Thanks; hopefully I can make as much progress in five years- with God's help! (I've used your website before, and found your music very helpful.)

And thanks very much for the transcriptions; I'm glad you sent them, because I was thinking about transcribing that Theotokion! You saved me a lot of time.

Considering the level I'm at right now (i.e. don't know Byzantine notation, limited knowledge of Greek, etc), what would you recommend I work on next, to expand my knowledge of Byzantine music?