Hello.
I want to learn Byzantine Plain Chant. Does anyone know of some good resources for it? Some books, or some recordings I could use? I don't have musical knowledge but I am willing to learn it.
Here is an example:
Thank you.
The video you linked to is Byzantine Chant sung by a Romanian Orthodox choir.
It says you are from Romania; if you presently live there, find a Romanian Orthodox parish that is friendly; I don’t know of any good online resources for learning Byzantine Chant in Romanian, the resources I have are all for the Greek and English forms of it.
If you are in the US:
As Fr. Matt said, the best way to learn Byzantine Chant is from a Byzantine-rite church that uses Byzantine Chant (most Slavonic parishes such as Russian Orthodox, Ukrainian Orthodox, Carpatho-Rusyn Orthodox, and likewise most OCA parishes (except those which are primarily Romanian, and some of those which are primarily Bulgarian, and a few others) do not use Byzantine Chant at least as their primary means of plainsong, but rather use a kind of monody or Znamenny Chant or in the case of those of Ruthenian or Lemko ethnicity in some OCA parishes, a system of congregational song called Prostopinije, neither do the Georgians, but there are only three Georgian Orthodox parishes in the US I am aware of, but they use a beautiful three part harmony of which I also have a recording of its use by some Greek Orthodox, but the main system in the Greek Orthodox parishes and many Antiochian Orthodox parishes, is Byzantine Chant, and of course even among the Russians Byzantine Chant is used, alongside various Russian and Ukrainian hybrids of it with Znamenny Chant at various monasteries, such as Valaam Chant and Kievan Chant.
But your best bet is to go to an Orthodox church near you that uses Byzantine chant, such as Greek, Romanian or Antiochian Orthodox Church or another church including some Serbian churches, some Bulgarian churches, basically, any that makes extensive use of Byzantine chant, which is done in English, as well as in Greek, Arabic (Syro-Byzantine Chant), Church Slavonic, Romanian and other languages (if they stream their services to youTube or another online service like Facebook, you can look there to see if they use it, or it might say if they use it online, and you can also ask them), visit them, find one that you like, that is friendly and willing to teach you Byzantine Chant.
Additionally there are the resources provided by St. Anthony’s Monastery:
The Divine Music Project
Several smaller Athonite monasteries founded by Elder Ephraim, memory eternal, who founded St. Anthony’s in Arizona and who I met ten years ago this month, and other Greek Orthodox monasteries and other Orthodox monasteries using Byzantine Chant in English might also be a good place to learn.
But if you are Romanian and in the US, you should seek out a Romanian Orthodox church (these are split roughly evenly between those under the Patriarch of Romania and those that are part of the Orthodox Church in America, with the Bulgarian parishes likewise split between those under the OCA and those under the Bulgarian Patriarch in Sofia, but all of the above are in full communion, via the Society of Canonical Orthodox Bishops of North America, and have close relations (the OCA is a multi-ethnic jurisdiction which became autocephalous in 1970, and has close ties to most other Orthodox churches in the US).
There is also a Romanian Orthodox monastery under the OCA in Southern California, which is home to several hieromonks which serve OCA parishes, both those which are predominantly Romanian and those which are of other ethnicities, but I don’t know if it is open to pilgrims.
