The Teaching of Byzantine Music on Mount Athos - Lessons of the Elder Dionysios Firfiris (USB Card Included)

These recordings, conducted approximately forty years ago, serve as invaluable and unique tools for those interested in being initiated, employing a dual approach to hymns through parallagi and melos. This methodology represents the safest path for individuals to delve into the art of chanting and is completed by applying the oral tradition to the musical text.

Choosing to immerse oneself in Athonite chanting tradition inevitably leads to the exemplar-paradigm, represented by the rendition of hymns by Elder Dionysios Firfiris. These recordings are the result of sixty years of applied musical study, as the protopsaltis at the Protaton in Karyes and the feasts of Mount Athos. A rendition that was kneaded through lengthy services and countless hours of musical study, through which deacon Dionysios mastered psalmody and managed to render it in accordance with his vocal capabilities, with an incomparably magnificent humility: “What little I learned, I cultivated as best I could. Beyond that, I have no pretensions of being a protopsaltis (head chanter), merely a humble chanter, only seeking to assist the priest in performing the services.”

Numerous audio recordings of Athonite fathers have existed for over six decades. The audio material in this publication differs from the diverse Athonite recordings, focusing specifically on the teaching of ecclesiastical hymns and should be considered as “tools” to aid students/monks in approaching, learning, and internalizing Athonite psalmody.