Father Justin Patterson of the OCA uploaded the video above to Facebook. It is the Paschal troparion sung to Appalachian harmonies, but conforming to tonal rules of the Slavic Orthodox. It was sung at a music workshop at the All American Council of the Orthodox Church in America, meeting in Atlanta in July of 2015. He filmed it and is aware that I am using it on this post.
I listened to it. I fell in love with it. I played it over and over and over, delighting in the melody and harmonies. I had tears in my eyes a couple of times. And, I found myself wishing and wanting an entire Divine Liturgy setting to be written using this type of harmonic/liturgical structure. We speak about how the Orthodox celebrate the Divine Liturgy in the language of the people who have been evangelized. We do not as often speak about how the Divine Liturgy has melodic settings that, over the centuries, have adjusted themselves to the culture in which the Church has grown. One only has to listen to the difference between the Mount Lebanon choir singing the Divine Liturgy in Arabic, a Greek monastic choir on Mount Athos singing the Divine Liturgy in Greek, and a Russian Orthodox choir singing the Divine Liturgy in Church Slavonic to hear the differences. Throw in the Romanians, the Serbs, the Africans, etc., and anyone can hear that the tonal principles of Orthodox music have found creatively different expressions in different cultures over the centuries. In all cases, the Divine Liturgy is carried out in a respectful fashion, but the melodic and harmonic structure varies.
In the long run, I hope that an American tonal / melodic / harmonic structure develops that reflects something of our heritage as a nation and a culture. While I know that there are various melodic traditions that have entered what became the USA, I think that the Appalachian religious harmonies lend themselves quite well to adjusting themselves to the tonal traditions that we have received from the various jurisdictions. The video above shows what can happen when efforts are made to compose using that type of harmonic structure.
I should mention that this is not merely an attempt to be American, as though it is not quite as good to be Arab, Greek, Slavic, etc. Rather, many cultural studies have shown that people in a culture respond best, and understand best, music that is written in their heart melodies and harmonies, that is in melodies and harmonies that reflect the music that they learned as children. When we compose musical settings of the Divine Liturgy that both respect and honor what we have received, yet express it in melodies and harmonies with which we grew up, we contextualize the Church in the same way that we do when we adjust the language of the Divine Liturgy to the language that is spoken by the people of a particular country. When the music we hear matches our heart music, it is easier to hear and understand the words that are being chanted.
Well, enough philosophizing. Enjoy the troparion above, and join me in prayer that a full setting may yet be published to the honor of God and the spiritual profit of the Church.
I was skeptical at first, Father, but I dig this. Thanks for sharing.
It is very beautiful. On the other hand, I remain skeptical about an “American” tonality at this point. American culture is not homogenous in any way, and has abandoned the sort of Anglo-Celtic folk music that influences this piece. It would be as foreign to many Americans (especially the youth and the minority communities, but even those of Central and Eastern European ancestry like myself) as Russian or Byzantine chant is. Probably the greatest folk influence on contemporary American music is the Delta Blues, which has influenced jazz, rock and urban music for over 100 years. Perhaps this could be experimented with…
I think we make this “problem” of “needing” an American Orthodox musical tradition far more complex than it actually is. We allow hard line traditionalists from other countries to insist that it is unacceptable (some even claim a violation of cannons or even heresy) for us to simply adapt Byzantine monophonic structures to fit Western scales and the rules of English grammar. This leaves us fishing around with polyphony which, by necessity makes hymns much slower, more drawn out, and somber so that the text can still be understood in real time. I’m sorry but, pretty as it is, the above piece doesn’t sound at all resurrectional to me. It certainly doesn’t say Pascha. It sounds like what it is — a float down a lazy river on a raft, or a Baptist funeral. While I have certainly heard many monophonic chanters go too far in either their emotional interpretation or their demonstration of technical adept, at least at its best, the tenor of the rendering matches the occasion.
That doesn’t even get into the fact that Appalachian folk music, or any American folks music including the blues for that matter, is just as ethnic as Byzantine chant. It isn’t a matter of “young” Americans not connecting to it, but rather that this country is simply far too young for “American” to actually be an ethnic/cultural identity in and of itself out of which has sprung a uniquely American music. The blues may have been co-opted by many other styles, but such co-option is extremely controversial and breeds a great deal of ill will, even 60 years after Elvis. The Church adopting such structures would do great harm to our capacity to evangelize in this country.
At the end of the day, my opinion is totally irrelevant as I am not an expert, a leader of the Church or even a very good person. But I will say that if the push to create an “American” music for the church simply causes us to replace one ethnic tradition with another one simply because most “white” people are too ignorant of their own history to know its ethnic, that, combined with the ongoing inability to resolve the jurisdictional problems (which is another problem we make more complex than it really is) would make it very difficult to remain an active, committed member of a parish. Ours currently is already torn apart by endless debates about the merits of one musical tradition over another. Replacing them all with something no one could relate to simply because it is “American” would be disastrous.
I enjoyed your insights into musical history, and I appreciate your criticism of the Appalachian sound – like a lazy river. Perhaps it is not appropriate for use in a Divine Liturgy. I was rather shocked by some of your other sentiments. Aside from your assertions of America’s utter lack of a “real” musical heritage, I think you overestimate the importance of the jurisdictional problems and American Orthodoxy’s search for its own music. I am a layman far from any large center of Orthodoxy, so it may be hard for me to understand the tensions in Orthodoxy about the jurisdictional problems and debates on music, but no one ought to despair of participation and membership based on such things. What does it matter how the cathedrals are distributed? The point is our worship of the Trinity, the unity of our faith, and the reception of Christ in the Divine Liturgy. We cannot get this anywhere else. Let’s keep perspective about this. Everyone has strong feelings on church music, but we can all rest assured that nothing changes quickly in Orthodoxy. Why do you feel alarm?
The video above was obviously produced by Orthodox folk who love the Shape Note tradition. I’ve sung with Shape Note singers, and it is a great experience. It may never fit into Orthodoxy, but that is not the point, here. The interesting thing is that no bishop organized this. This is musical innovation at the grassroots level, and whatever one may personally think of the Shape Note tradition, it is something old and uniquely American. It has been sung in Appalachia- where this group sings- since before Independence. Surprisingly enough, you are the first person I’ve encountered that seemed to know what it was, and yet disparaged it. I play samples of Shape Note to my history students, and they are always awed by the sound of it. I do think that addition to the vast, varied, and multi-ethnic traditions of our Universal Church ought to come from the local level and not be imposed from above. I do suppose it is up to the bishops to bless new musical arrangements such as these as they are proposed. Consider the process of the canonization of saints that rise from local veneration. I ought to know more of the history to say, but it seems to me that this is a natural growth out of a pious parish that wishes to set aside something from their own heritage for inclusion in American Orthodoxy.
American Orthodox folks like you and I ought to be able to see our unique and modest position in this country. I am an Anglo convert, and I feel as if I stumbled into the most beautiful and powerful religious community on Earth, and we are a small number in this land. Outsiders are skeptical. My own family thinks I was duped, but at least they don’t think we are Mormons anymore. We share a priceless treasure in Orthodoxy, and we have the sacraments and the Divine Liturgy. Outside of the big cities, the music is frequently sub-par, but that is not the point. We have seen the true light. We have received the heavenly spirit. We have found the true faith: worshipping the undivided Trinity who has saved us. Orthodoxy is so large, there is room for all of us even with our small numbers in this land. Do not worry about jurisdictional problems or musical innovations in distant corners of America. Worship and pray and be thankful.
“Applachian Orthodox”…
Silver John in black with a beard singing in Greek?
“On Jordan’s Stormy Banks I Stand”, when sung in a minor key (as originally written), is pretty close to the sixth tone Kievan chant sticheron melody.
Being born and raised in the Cumberland Gap region of Appalachia I can say that this truly touched my heart. Thank you so much for publishing this work. When listening I felt a true joy and simultaneous sorrow. Joy for the nostalgia of my heritage and sorrow for all of the lost souls that I know in Appalachia. I actually had tears welling up in my eyes as my wife played the tune again. May the Holy Spirit guide the Orthodox Church in evangelizing this land before all of its regional traditions are extinct by secularism. Glory to Jesus Christ!
David and others tell us in the Psalms over 150 times to sing. Six times we are called to sing a new song. And I take this opportunity to mention especially Psalm 150 which calls for the use of many instruments. My favorite is Psalm 33:3, “Sing unto him a new song; play skillfully with a loud noise.”
My understanding is that when Sts Cyril & Methodius went north, they took Slavic folk music and worked it into the Octoechos, and that this is the basis of the Slavic Orthodox music, and later the Slavic monastic chant. Why can’t that happen in the US? Our predominant folk music heritage is British/Celtic, which I think would work very well, as evidenced by this video.
In my church, we have a brilliant choirmaster who conducts us in singing music from the Byzantine, Greek, Romanian and Russian heritages, as well as English. We also sing some responses in Spanish, being in California. Our choirmaster is also a composer; his works, based mostly on Slavic chant, remind me of what I’ve heard of the baroque compositions written for use in churches in the New World. He always brings us the best of what is available that we can sing at our level of competence. I wish other Orthodox parishes were so blessed.
Why can’t we gather the best of what we already have, sing it with love, be open to new quality compositions, and wait for the “American Orthodox” sound to emerge from our heart? It will take patience that will need to last beyond my lifetime, and it will take nurturing the Orthodox composers among us, whom I do not think we appreciate enough. Most of all, it will take prayer.
Dana
Dana, may your prayers be answered!
That is what I am hoping will happen.
Fr. Obregon, is this music available in written form? Can it be acquired for use outside of Orthodox tradition?
It can be used by anyone. Let me ask a person who attended about who has the music.
I’m intrigued by all this. I’m an Eastern Catholic that practices deeply as Orthodox (I want to recover all our true Orthodox traditions) and I am also a composer in my small but inspired way. I’m influenced by Galician, Greek, and Russian chants. Yet, what more than one of my friends has pointed out is that my music has the air something else in it…And the two suggestions that have come up most often are computer game music and movie music. It has never occurred to anyone, though, that what I composer is incompatible with the Liturgy – nothing is staged; it is utterly what comes from the heart and is natural, and it works. The connection with the modern culture may be unusual, but it is certainly there, and enraptures those it catches.
Dear James: I think it is more likely that the common thread is the Appalachian element: acknowledged in yours, unconsciously there in compter and game music; perhaps known to the composers of those pieces, but maybe not.
Father I am also a Cuban and a convert I used to be OCA, but eventually I moved to GOARCH the jurisdiction of my Spiritual Father. Itsalways great to find a Cuban Orthodox. Where in the States are you? I will love to write to you. I didnt seean emsil on the website butI must have missed it please drop mea note to ztheist @yahoo.com its an old email address that I hardly use anymore but wecan talk there. Have you thoight what about acaribbean adaptation of Byzantine chant in Spanish???