Association of Armenian Church Choirs of America (AACCA)
AACCA-FAQ-022607-12 Question: The sequence of Mode rotation in the Giratsooyts from Sunday to Sunday seems to get reset on the Sunday of Poon Paregentan to Mode 8. Is this intentional?
Answer: Yes. Regardless of what Mode the previous Sunday is, the Mode of Poon Paregentan gets reset to Mode 8. So Poon Paregentan will always be Mode 8 and Easter (8 weeks later) will always be Mode 1.
AACCA-FAQ-082504-12 Question:I recognize most of the music that plays in the background on the different tabs on this site. But some of the music I do not recognize. Can you put a caption at the top of each page that has background music: The music your hearing is . . . .
Answer: Yes. Going forward, as the background music to pages are changed a caption will be added to the page indicating the name of the piece being heard.
AACCA-FAQ-072404-11 Question: In our church choir, we have a hard time singing all the verses of the variable Jashoo Sharagans Sunday to Sunday during the Divine Liturgy. Of the usual three verses of the Jashoo Sharagans, can we cut out the second verse to shorten it so that there is less to sing?
Answer: No. If you cut out the second verse you are singing essentially an incomplete message. For instance on the Sunday of Transfiguration, the references to Moses and Elijah are critical to the nature of that Sunday. But the references to Moses and Elijah in this Jashoo Sharagan happen in the second verse. So, in such cases skipping the second verse impacts the message of sharagan. The only time you should skip verses (any verse) if there is a technical difficulty in singing the sharagans - whether it is lack of familiarity with the text or music - where an honest acceptable musical rendering is impossible.
AACCA-FAQ-042404-10 Question: I am familiar with the Magar Yegmalian and Gomidas versions of the musical settings of the Divine Liturgy. Have other composers also attempted to write music to the Divine Liturgy?
Answer: Yes, to name a few: Pietro Bianchini (1877), Levon Chilingirian (1898), Amy Apcar (1896), Edgar Manas (1961), Ara Bartevian (1979), and Khoren Mekanejian (1985). If you look hard enought, the music of these composers is available. But the mainstream use and availabity is - as you have observed - Magar Yegmalian and Gomidas. Maybe future generations can rejuvinate some or parts of the music of these other worthy composers.
AACCA-FAQ-042104-9 Question: I don't see the music to Tapors (Processionals) and Jashoo Sharagans (Midday Hymns) on the web site, am I missing something?
Answer: They have not been posted. Posting the Tapors and Jashoo Sharagans will be a major effort - don't expect them to be there any time soon. They are scheduled to be there in the future. But as a step towards getting there, look for samples of Tapors and Jashoo Sharagans to be posted in the Miscellaneous and Tutorial sections of the web site in the near future.
AACCA-FAQ-040904-8 Question: In my church we sing the sharagan "Aysor Anjar", but we only have printed music for the first verse. When we sing other verses there always seems to be disagreement in the singing among different singers because there is not a common printed music sheet to read from. Can you put the music to all the verses of this sharagan on the web site? I think it would be of great help to choirs.
Answer: This has been a common complaint for a while. This sharagan is sung once a year formally during Holy Week's "Khavaroom Service". During this service, all verses are sung, and the singers have a hard time adjusting to each other after the first verse - when the notated music in most cases comes to an end.
Shortly the English text of all verses of "Aysor Anjar" will be posted to the web site. This will be followed by an incremental posting of the music for each verse. Look for this effort to be completed in the next two months.
AACCA-FAQ-031204-7 Question: I was reviewing the text for the Jashoo Sharagan (Midday Hymn) for this coming Sunday, the Sunday of the Steward. In my review I have a couple of observations. The first is that this sharagan is listed as an Orhnootyoon Sharagan (Blessing Sharagan) in the Sharagnots (Book of Sharagans), not a Jashoo Sharagan.
Second, the text in the four verses of this sharagan focuses on the establishment of stewards on heaven and earth in the first three verses, and the fourth verse is dedicated to Mary the Mother-of-God. How does this fit in with the reading from the Bible for this Sunday - the Sunday of the Steward? I was expecting the text of the sharagan to be in closer parallel with the teaching for this Sunday. Why is this?
Answer: You have uncovered an issue that is mostly accepted, unknown or ignored. The fact that this sharagan is only sung once a year on the fourth Sunday of Lent also helps to keep it under the radar screen. The text of the sharagan remotely supports the teaching for this coming Sunday - the Sunday of the Steward. But this is the nature of the Sharagnots. Even though some of the sharagans do get literal in regards to events from the Bible (for instance the text of the Jashoo Sharagan for Palm Sunday is more literal to the events of that day) - many are allegorical.
What would be ideal would be NEW sharagans composed to address such issues and to also provide alternative choices.
AACCA-FAQ-061103-6 Question: I noticed that in much of the new music publications of Armenian church music - such as the Revised Sacred Music of the Armenian Church, Volumes I and II - barlines are not used to the way I am used to seeing them being used. I am used to reading music with time signatures and barlines. Why are they not being used?
Answer: The question should be why were they used in the first place in the Armenian church music you are already familiar with. The use of time signatures and barlines of 2 or 3 or 4 (the most common) beat groupings is a Western Music inheritance - that some Armenian (and non-Armenian) composers, arrangers, and music editors have used to "Westernize" or "modernize" Armenian music. But Armenian church music has its own music history, and plugging in time signatures and barlines is not part of it.
In Armenian church music the music grouping is based on melodic patterns (the Armenian Church musical modes - tsayn ). These melodic patterns support the meaning of the text - the text is in krapar . As for you, if you want to sing or play this music: it is these elements that have to be prepared for, that have to be understood, and then sung and played fluently. Putting in time signatures and barlines confuses and distorts this path.
More clarification is offered on issues such as these through the programs of the AACCA such as its Armenian church music workshops. The AACCA offers workshops throughout the year as well as during its Annual Choir Assemblies. Check out the Bulletins section of this web site for information on upcoming workshops.
AACCA-FAQ-010203-5 Question: How come there are no harmony parts in the Tutorial part of this site for the Requiem Service?
Answer: The harmony parts (Alto & Tenor) will be added to the site - by July 2003.
AACCA-FAQ-100199-4 Question: ( On reading music. )What can be done about choir members that don't know how to read music? It seems that lately the number of choir members who don't read music is increasing, and these members don't seem to want to learn how to read music.
Answer: This is a common issue among our choirs. We should note that this issue is not limited to just the choir but to all participants of the Armenian church services.
Many children learn how to read music before reaching the age of 10. But usually this is the result of structured music education classes, either from a private music teacher or through school music programs. The formula is the same in adulthood, people can take private lessons, or they can sign up at a local college for a music reading class. Within four to six months, they will have learned the basic building blocks of reading music. Then they can continue to build on these skills on their own as they participate in music related functions, such as singing in a Armenian Church choir. But in adulthood priorities change, and the dedicated time needed for music education may not be available. The individual with the need will need to make the decision to either create the dedicated time needed or give up something else that they are doing.
The Choir Association does have a music scholarship program, the Margaret E. Hagopian Fund, that is awarded annually for purposes of music education classes for individuals. The Central Council does offer music workshops on a regular basis, and learning how to read music can certainly be made the subject of select future workshops.
As for those individuals that don't want to learn, your task will be to show them the benefits of being able to read music.
AACCA-FAQ-090699-3 Question: ( On printing music from the Tutorials section. )I am using a Netscape browser so I don't know if this is the cause, but some of the notes seem misplaced and the font of the sheet music is very small.
Answer: You are not doing anything wrong. The music print quality will be poor if you try to print the music as it is out there currently. The current purpose of the music on our web site is to serve as a tutorial for learning music on-line. Being able to print is a different need. The "music sheet" files on our web site would have to be rebuilt in order to produce quality printing. This will be a future enhancement to the Tutorials section.
Please note that the current tutorials pages are incomplete. Soon as they are complete, a formal announcement will be made so that people can formally "try it out". Until then it is a work in progress and your comments and input are welcome.
In addition, this web site is geared towards use of Microsoft's Internet Explorer 4.x web browser. You will need it, for instance, to be able to hear the music to the tutorial pages.
AACCA-FAQ-052999-2 Question: Our choir has begun to sing certain phrases during Badarak in
"solo" mode. Namely, "Hishya Der, yev voghormya." during Diptychs and the "Amens." during Doxology. I would like to know the AACCA's position. I feel this should not be encourgaed as this leads congregation to believe that these are solo parts, and not to be sung by the entire congregation.
Answer: The simple answer is that when you look carefully at the Badarakamadouytz (the small "blue pew books" that we use), the word "Tbeerkun" is found for these responses - the plural not the singular, indicating that all the choir should be singing, not a soloist.
AACCA-FAQ-030699-1 Question: During Lent, when is "Der Voghormia" (Lord Have Mercy) sung? Also how many verses and which verses?
Answer: "Der Voghormia" is not a part of the Divine Liturgy. It is a very late insertion by Simeon Yerevantsi, the Catholicos who used to compose these verses and placed them into the Liturgy. During Great Lent and the "closed" Liturgy, it seems to the people that the Badarak ends with the priest saying the "ee soorp, ee soorp,
badvagan . . . " because Holy Communion is not offered to them. At its conclusion, the choir sings "Der Voghormia" until the priest appears outside the drawn curtain.
In reality, the priest continues to say all the prayers of Communion, consumes the Body and Blood of Christ, says the prayers after communion, then washes and puts away the chalice, removes his vestments and comes from behind the curtain to the chancel usually to deliver the day's sermon.
How many verses and which verses? There are no absolutes here. But for the sake of proper musical presentation, there should be coordination and agreement among the celebrant/deacon(s)/choir. Make sure you agree in advance how many verses are to be sung and in what order.