Performing Practice
Because Znamenny Chant requires a specific manner of performance, the Chant Books contain several instructions as to dynamics and tempo. For the Old Believers church chant also has an educational function: one has to sing in such a way that the sound astonishes the ear and the truth, enclosed in the chants, penetrates the heart. Znamenny performance practice excludes classical vocal training. Singers perform with their own, natural voices, sometimes in a style reminiscent of folklore. Znamenny Chant does not have any pauses or rests, and all chants are performed fluently. Ideally, singers will sing in such a way that their voices become united in one single voice. Originally Znamenny Chant was performed only by male voices. Today, due to a decay in the traditions and the small number of people able to sing at church services, it is usually performed by both by male and female voices.
Read more about this topic: Znamenny Chant
Famous quotes containing the words performing and/or practice:
“When performing an autopsy, even the most inveterate spiritualist would have to question where the soul is.”
—Anton Pavlovich Chekhov (1860–1904)
“We black women must forgive black men for not protecting us against slavery, racism, white men, our confusion, their doubts. And black men must forgive black women for our own sometimes dubious choices, divided loyalties, and lack of belief in their possibilities. Only when our sons and our daughters know that forgiveness is real, existent, and that those who love them practice it, can they form bonds as men and women that really can save and change our community.”
—Marita Golden, educator, author. Saving Our Sons, p. 188, Doubleday (1995)