Choir
St. Athanasios:
He, the wisdom of God, holds the
universe in tune together.
The St. Athanasios Choir sings
the liturgy a cappella in Greek every Sunday and on special
feast days. The choir rehearses Sunday mornings from 8:15 to 9:15 a.m., followed by singing the Divine Liturgy at 9:30 a.m. The choir is now accepting new
members and anyone who can commit to the choir’s schedule
is welcome. For more information, contact the director, Dr.
Lawrence Sisk.
Every
one of you should join a choir so that you may bring harmony
and concord, so that taking the keynote of God in unison,
you may sing with one voice through Jesus Christ to the Father,
so that he may hear you and through your good deeds recognize
that you are parts of his Son.
— St. Ignatius to the church in Ephesus
CHOIR FAQs by director, Larry Sisk
Why do you need more singers?
Many hands make the work light, and many voices give the choir
options, both musical and logistical. It might surprise you
to know that it is easier to sing softly with more singers.
It’s a paradox, but a large group can produce those
ravishing pianissimos that raise the hair on your neck. Of
course a large group can sing louder too, which gives the
choir greater dynamic range. We like to raise the roof on
Tais angelikais and create a hushed awe with Se hymnoumen.
Remember too that choir members occasionally have to be away
on a Sunday, and having a large group means that people can
rotate in and out to accommodate emergencies, memorials, and
out-of-town family gatherings. Just as in baseball, the coach
needs a deep bench.
Why do you need to rehearse
every week?
There are many reasons for a choir to practice together: to
learn new music; to improve the delivery of the music we already
know; to correct mistakes and maintain quality. All these
are important, but a less obvious reason we practice is to
develop a good choral sound. It’s not enough that everyone
can sing his or her part correctly. The director has to cultivate
a beautiful choral sound that is consistent from week to week
and year to year. Unless all the singers come to rehearsal
regularly, that is impossible. Having a choir rehearsal without
all the singers is like practicing on a piano with missing
strings. No matter how good a singer’s musical skills
may be, he or she owes it to the group to attend rehearsals.
Do all the singers in the
choir read music?
To some degree, yes; but not everyone can pick up a song and
sight-sing it. Most everyone in the choir can follow his or
her part and figure out the rhythm, but not everyone can calculate
all the pitches. We work on that at rehearsals, and gradually,
we improve our musical skills. Bottom line: it is not necessary
to read music to join the choir, and some of our choir members
will tell you that they cannot read music.
Do you have to know Greek
to sing in the choir?
No, all the hymns are written out in both Greek script and
phonetic transcriptions. It is not difficult to read the texts
of the hymns. Greek is easy and fun to sing, and we are beginning
to sing more hymns in English too.
Do you yell at singers when
they make mistakes?
No, I don’t believe in intimidating people. It doesn’t
work. Being mean doesn’t make choristers sing better;
it makes them nervous and causes errors. When we mess up,
we try to correct our mistakes. If you’ve been staying
away because you think the director will yell at you, don’t
worry about that. Ask any choir member.
What should I do if I want
to join the choir?
Contact me at siskla@lewisu.edu or Pete Condos, our choir president, at pgcondos@aol.com.
Related resources
Dr. Lawrence Sisk's web site
Federation of Greek Orthodox Choirs: Chicago Metropolis
National Forum of Greek Orthodox Church Musicians
Society of St. Romanos
New Byzantium Publications
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