St. Romanos the Melodist Society
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Welcome! We invite you to explore the main features of our site...

 

  • NEW MUSIC FILES - View and follow links to our most recent additions to the music downloads.
    • Updated regularly — Be sure to check back often!
  • May 13, 2022: Fr. George Johnson gave a presentation on 'Setting and Executing English Hymnody' at St. John the Baptist Cathedral in Washington, D.C. at a Small Choir Workshop under the auspices of the ROCOR Liturgical Music Advisory Board. Scroll down to view the video.
  • Our new publication, THE EPISTLE BOOK, is now available!
  • In-depth reviews and endorsements from clergy and choral professionals.
  • Teaching Recordings - A Complete Tutorial:
    • Features 32 sound files for the stikhera and troparia of the eight tones, and other hymns for Vespers;
    • Brief explanatory texts are also included.
  • The Church Singer's Companion, a major online book and the heart of this website, has been reorganized:
    • Easy and intuitive main menu and navigation;
    • Explanatory Preface and Introduction to get you started quickly;
    • Hundreds of arrangements of music (and pointed text) in PDF format, some with accompanying video and audio;
    • All files available for immediate download — no cart or online store to slow you down;
  • "Pay As You Can" — Support our work using the PayPal donate buttons.

We invite you to keep checking back as we continue to improve and expand the site, and we hope you will share this resource throughout the Orthodox Church.

 

On May 13, 2022, Fr. George Johnson gave a presentation on 'Setting and Executing English Hymnody'. 

Held at St. John the Baptist Cathedral in Washington, D.C., at a small choir workshop under the auspices of the ROCOR Liturgical Music Advisory Board, this talk by Fr. George is an ideal introduction to the work of the St Romanos the Melodist Society, and the online resources of this website.

 

St. John of Kronstadt
St. John of Kronstadt
St. John of Kronstadt

 

The Delight of Melody. . .  the Benefit of the Words.

 

“When, indeed, the Holy Spirit saw that the human race was guided only with difficulty toward virtue, what did He do? The delight of melody He mingled with the doctrines so that by the pleasantness and softness of the sound heard we might receive without perceiving it the benefit of the words. 

 

~ St. Basil the Great, Exegetic Homilies, Homily 10

 

 

The singing... quickly became melodious, strong, sonorous, mighty, animating, flowing over the whole church, wholly filling the hearts of those who were praying.

 

“I shall never forget,”  recalls one observer, “how, once the hymns of praise (stikhera) were being sung. Father John had by that time almost finished vesting, so as to celebrate Divine Liturgy. Only the chasuble was not on him. Quickly, in a swift movement, more running than walking, he came out of the altar to the choir, joined the singers and began to sing together with them. He sang animatedly, with deep faith, himself acting as choirmaster, again stressing individual words and slowing the tempo where that was required by the logical meaning of what was being sung.

Experienced singers instinctively guessed these words, this tempo and rhythm, and followed him with no small skill and animation. The singing, not very harmonious at first, quickly became melodious, strong, sonorous, mighty, animating, flowing over the whole church, wholly filling the hearts of those who were praying.

It was touching to look at the singers at that moment. It was as if some holy early Christian family, with its father at the head, were singing, singing its victorious, holy and great hymns.”

~ from A Spiritual Portrait of St. John of Kronstadt, by Bishop Alexander Mileant

Icon depicting Romanos' vision of the Mother of God placing a scroll in his mouth, after which he composed the Nativity Kontakion: Today the Virgin gives birth to the transcendent One, And the earth offers a cave to the unapproachable One...
Icon depicting Romanos' vision of the Mother of God placing a scroll in his mouth, after which he composed the Nativity Kontakion: Today the Virgin gives birth to the transcendent One, And the earth offers a cave to the unapproachable One...
Icon depicting Romanos' vision of the Mother of God placing a scroll in his mouth, after which he composed the Nativity Kontakion: Today the Virgin gives birth to the transcendent One, And the earth offers a cave to the unapproachable One...

 

The St. Romanos the Melodist Society produces and publishes English language music of the Russian Orthodox Church.

 

This website is the online extension of A Church Singer's Companion, a project started in 1998 with the blessing of Metropolitan (then Archbishop) Laurus. Inspired by the Russian Sputnik Psalomshchika, the Companion is envisioned to contain the music necessary for every service a parish choir might need to sing, while staying simple enough so that any parish choir can sing it.

The St. Romanos Society produces music in both printed and recorded formats, and conducts seminars and workshops on the proper performance of that music. The Society is a sodality of Holy Apostles Orthodox Church, an English mission parish currently worshipping in Beltsville, Maryland.

To get started looking at music, proceed to the Church Singer's Companion and begin familiarizing yourself with the content. You'll find there are a few more challenging settings mixed in, marked “difficult” or “very difficult”. Audio or video examples accompany some of the music. In addition, the Introduction provides valuable advice about proper church singing and related topics.

And please help support us by clicking on Support Our Work or by going straight to the Donate button at left to leave a donation. Endorsements are provided for your consideration.

Regarding Music Notation: Some music on this site is written with three parts on the top staff and only the bass part on the bottom staff. These settings are designed to give more flexibility to small choirs with variable voice parts. For a full choir, tenors sing the top part, sopranos sing the middle part, and altos sing the lower part on the top staff. Basses should always sing the bass part below the other parts. The top 3 voice parts can be given to any singers in either octave to accommodate the abilities of the choir. Keep in mind that the music will sound better without large gaps between the parts (eg. lower part on the top staff sung an octave lower with everything else sung as written) and that if voice parts need to be removed, the lower part on the top staff will be missed the least, and the middle part will be missed the most.

Added    Location   -   File or update added
02/12/24 Fixed Cycle - Afterfeast of the Meeting, Martyr Agatha - Feb 5 (18)
12/05/23 Fixed Cycle - Kursk Root Icon - Nov 27 (Dec 10)
11/08/23 Fixed Cycle - St. Paul of Constantinople - Nov 6 (19)
11/08/23 Fixed Cycle - Martyrs Zenobius and Zenobia - Oct 30 (Nov 12)
10/27/23 Fixed Cycle - St. James, Brother of the Lord - Oct 23 (Nov 5)
10/27/23 Fixed Cycle - Martyr Longinus the Centurion - Oct 16 (29)
10/06/23 Fixed Cycle - Ven. Sergius of Radonezh - Sept 25 (Oct 8)
09/22/23 Fixed Cycle - Afterfeast of the Cross and Ven. Eumenius - Sept 18 (Oct 1)
09/16/23 Fixed Cycle - Hieromartyr Babylas, Prophet Moses - Sept 4 (17)
08/26/23 Fixed Cycle - Forefeast of Dormition, Prophet Micah - Aug 14 (27)
07/27/23 Fixed Cycle - Holy Martyrs Boris & Gleb - July 24 (Aug 6)
06/30/23 Fixed Cycle - Tichvin Icon - June 26 (July 9)
12/08/22 Fixed Cycle - Monk Martyr Stephen the New - Nov 28 (Dec 11)
11/16/22 Fixed Cycle - Holy Apostle Philip - Nov 14 (27)
10/27/22 Fixed Cycle - Holy Prophet Hosea & Monk Martyr Andrew of Crete - Oct 17 (30)
   
  NEW FEATURES:
9/25/21 Endorsements page added - featuring in-depth reviews of our work.
3/30/20 EPISTLE BOOK added to Bookstore, plus major site enhancements
3/21/20 Teaching Recordings added; A Church Singer's Companion reorganized, navigation improved

 

 
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