 I don't have a new picture of the Parallage Phrases to illustrate what I'm saying, so here's a picture from my visit to the Novodivichy Convent in Moscow. If you don't know what the Parallage Phrases are then please read this first! I reformatted the Intro Parallage Phrases slightly. The first thing I did was make the background color of all even phrases very light gray. I hope it will show up just enough to help teachers ensure students are on the correct phrase without having it drain their black ink cartridge! I haven't been able to print a test page yet so that remains to be seen. Anyway, teachers will be able to take a quick glance around their group of students and at least know their students didn't forget to change their card or didn't grab two cards at once (if they grab three cards we have a problem again!) The second thing that I did was to correct the back sides of the cards. Before, after you finished each phrase you would pick it up, set it above the pile and then pick the deck up and put it on top of the one you just finished. After card 20 you would then be back to phrase 1 again. My goal had been that you could then turn the deck to the backside and continue on to phrases 21- 40. But, I formatted it incorrectly so you had to manually put cards 21-40 in order. Now, it is correctly formatted and you can continue reading immediately! Other Things to Consider... Almost everyone benefits from looking at just one phrase at a time---both children and adults. I had thought that it would be mainly for children but one of my adult students had been using the phrases on a full sheet of paper and then later cut them out. She herself was surprised at how much easier it was for her. For my classes, I went to Staples and had them print the document (8 pages) and then used their copier to make two sided copies. It is cheaper to buy card stock at the store and make the copies yourself. As things were copying I started using their paper cutter to cut the phrases out. I use colorful hair bands to keep the sets together. I also bought an artbin carrying case like this from Joanne's in order to store all of my teaching materials in. I can fit 10 sets of Intro phrases, the Ni Pa Vou Cards, Greek Letter Cards, Interval Playing Cards, Tetrachord mats, Martyrie chits, magic notes and magic wands in it. Now I will discuss the pretty picture:) Pictured above are some frescoes from the Smolensky Cathedral which were done in the late 1500's at the Novodivichy Convent in Moscow. As with many old churches in Russia the cathedral mainly serves as a museum (thus I was able to take these grainy pictures). It was often hard to tell who the saints were since I can't read church slavonic. Because this church was a museum it was more tourist friendly and had this sketch with labels in English.  The thing that I thought was really cool was that most of the icons had hymns associated with them. I have read many books on iconography and don't recall coming across this before. I would love to know the full text to any of these hymns if anyone can tell me where it is. I haven't had time to study the layout of the icons yet but I have photos of the walls, sketches and labels for all three of the walls. I'll share the others too if anyone is interested. 
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 The Holy Face icon above the door to one of the churches at the Optina Monastery. I returned from a trip to Russia three weeks ago. I have added another section to the website called "Other Resources". This is my attempt to put all of the major chanting resources that I have found at other sites online in one place for you to refer to.
I have included many essays that I found enlightening regarding the history and development of Byzantine chant as well as its adaptation into English. If you are just starting to learn to chant you should definitely follow the first three links. I have also included learning resources and references that I have used during my studies. I taught myself the most of the interval symbols and some rhythms using the Margaziotis manual. The other learning resources are more useful one you have that basic knowledge. There is also a section providing links to online and print sources for music in Byzantine notation as well as links that provide service texts and rubrics. Finally, I included links to resources for those interested in composition. The byzantine music formulae are the ones that I used to compile the parallage phrases On a side note, my fall project is to finish the level 1 phrases:) I have been procrastinating for two years now, but the time has come for me to finish them. Actually, my friend Nick is coming to the rescue. We are going to work on them some weekend in August or September. He has tested out the phrases in a number of different teaching settings and I think he's ready for more too. I know that my students would definitely benefit from them. Check out the links and let me know if I missed anything! |
Amy HoggSAHM by day; ByzB curriculum developer by night. My career was in teaching: kindergarten, first grade, bilingual reading, Suzuki piano, and Music Mind Games. Now I paint icons and spend lots of time making materials on the computer. My greatest joy is directing my students in their learning. This blog documents the process and provides a space for my other ramblings as well. Archives
March 2018
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