Psaltiki
The following article was written by Alex Khalil,
who is a Psaltis (chanter) who thankfully resides here in San Diego, and from
whom I've had the privilege of a few
lessons:
Why do we sing in church?
Chant (aka "psaltiki") is not merely a tradition, a relic that we should
maintain simply because we have inherited it. Chant is not something that is
only meant to beautify the services and sacraments of the Orthodox--practically
any type of music could serve this purpose. Neither is chant something static,
prescribed for us by people from another time who had different aesthetics and
culture than our own. Chant is a living tradition and, as such, is made
relevant to the congregation by chanters who are trained in the tradition and
have handed it down to each other over more than a
milenium.
Aside from its function of
the praise and glorification of God, something very difficult for us to
understand and discuss intellectually, chant has a very specific function in
Orthodox liturgical worship: chant is a form of exegesis. Chant is a way of
interpreting, and then realizing, in the truest sense of the word, the meaning
of sacred text. Chant originated in ancient times when texts were written
without punctuation, or even spaces between words. Often, they were even written
left to right then right to left, so that, to one untrained, they would look
like meaningless strings of letters bewilderingly juxtaposed. The Septuagint
Psalms, of which we read six at every Orthros, were first written in exactly
this way. The job of a chanter was to sing, or intone these texts in such a way
that the listener could hear the words and phrases. A chanter was, then, a sort
of de-coder of texts, one who brought them out of "storage" and into the real
world of human experience. This practice was called "upothesis" or "breathing
the text to life". This was very significant for ancient Christians as the
"living voice" was considered as the most important means of communication or
understanding. Texts were considered as mnemonic aids that were only useful in
the hands of one who already knew and understood them from an oral source. Oral
tradition is, to this day, extremely important in Orthodox Christianity. This is
why we practice a liturgy and sacraments, rather than simply "study" together,
read biblical texts, or focus only on preaching. The actual experience of
presence of the divine, something that cannot be described or expressed in
words, is more important than its mere signification through words and ideas
which can, at best, only represent
it.
As the art of chant developed
further, chant became a refined and subtle method of bringing the text to life.
The octoechos, or the "eight modes" of the church are a manifestation of the
function of chant as an interpretive tool. When one sings a phrase such as
"Kyrie Ekekraxa" ("Lord I have cried unto You") in each of the eight modes a
different aspect of the text is highlighted. For example in the first mode Kyrie
Ekekraxa is subdued and penitent, a plaintive cry, calling out to God from a
distance, a "voice in the wilderness". However, in the second mode the melody
echoes a "phimi" or hymn sung before a bishop. This gives one the feeling of
closeness to God, being in God's immediate presence and addressing him more in a
manner that one might address an earthly King. Thus, chant becomes like a
prism; breaking up and separating meanings in the text as a prism splits a beam
of light.
I wrote this essay on
December 12, 2006, while staying at the Ecumenical Patriarchate of
Constantinople. This morning, I had the honor of chanting the orthros and
liturgy of St. Spyridon at St. Spyridon's church on Halki island with His All
Holiness Patriarch Bartholemew I and the chanters of the Patriarchal church.
During the service, I was distinctly aware of the awesome power of the
liturgical music and felt that, for St. Spyridon's day, I should write something
about it for our own church. I am here working on my doctoral dissertation in
music, the topic of which is the chant tradition of the Ecumenical Patriarchate.
In the future, I will write more on diverse topics in chant in order to share
what I have learned with you. Merry Christmas and Happy New
Year,
Posted: Monday - March 05, 2007 at 10:03 PM
