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Byzantine Music Defined

[... Before deciding exactly how Byzantine music is to be taught in North America, one must first decide what the field will encompass. To European or academic observers, the most logical answer to this question would appear obvious: the spectrum of practices and repertories represented by the mainstream received tradition of Byzantine chanting as practised geographically from Bucharest to Beirut. Although these are by no means uniform - differences with regard to the use of elxeis (musica ficta), ornamentation, ison-placement and the finer points of tuning are frequently disputed by European and Middle Eastern singers - the variations between different schools are in most cases relatively minor, especially when compared with the "Byzantine" repertories and practices that have been cultivated over the past 75 years in the United States.

This paper will therefore examine the history of Byzantine chant's reception in America in order to determine what are or have been perceived as the boundaries of the Byzantine musical tradition and why. It will do so by placing variations in musical practice within the broader social contexts that have affected the development of Hellenism and Orthodoxy in the New World. In particular, it will identify four non-mutually exclusive approaches to the transmission of Byzantine chant: preservation of Old World practices, whether in their entirety or selectively; restoration of allegedly "purer" practices; acculturation, defined as the adaptation of received traditions to a new cultural environment; and assimilation. ...]
- Dr. Alexander Lingas. First Axion Estin conference proceedings, New Rochelle, January 2006.

[...Byzantine Music is monophonic. It has not called on parameters of musical construction, such as harmony and counterpoint, yet it has produced a wealth of extraordinary rich melodies, as well as, complex musical forms and carried the monophonic genre to heights of refinement and wisdom... Singing a melody always includes its cantillion, together with a continues drone accompaniment. ...]
- Composer Michalis Adamis