1. Setting

Orthodox plsalmody is liturgical music with a long history as well as wide and varied repertoire which was developed from early Roman chant.

Unlike its Catholic counterpart of Gregorian chant, its repertoire and notation are less known and less accessible in countries without an Orthodox majority.

Musicological investigation, however, is of great Interest, as the earliest forms of Byzantine chant have been influenced by Greek and Hebrew traditions more than its Catholic counterpart and analysis of its genesis may reveal more about those traditions as well.

The autocephalous nature of Eastern and Oriental Orthodox churches has also allowed for stylistically varied developments, many of which, unlike Gregorian chant, are unbroken living traditions, which adds further interest.

Furthermore, microtonal deviations from the pitch systems used in Gregorian chant add another fascinating facet.

The term “Byzantine musical notation” refers to sets of prosodic signs written above or below the text.

Unlike modern Western music notation, which can be likened to a map (showing codified locations for pitches), it can be compared to navigational directions (giving instruction about the melodic direction).

While this system is elegant, efficient for assisting singing in liturgical context and able to notate music of considerable complexity, it is not as well suited for musical analysis (as it is, for example, not easily possible to determine  pitch centres or the relative importance of pitch classes).

To pursue that end, transcriptions into modern Western music notation are of tremendous help.