Reading Psalmodia (PDF) - St. Anthony's Monastery

APPENDIX:. Alternative Analyses of the Scales of the Tones.So far this book has presented an analysis of the scales used in the Eight Tones whichrepresents the consensus of modern writers on Psalmodia. Other accounts exist. In thisappendix a few examples will be offered taken from the Introduction to the Theory andPractice of Ecclesiastical Music by Chrysanthos of Madytum, one of the three GreatTeachers of the reformed notation (Paris 1821/Athens 1977) and from the Interpretationof Konstantinos Protopsaltes (Constantinople, 1845.)Unfortunately, neither the Bishop nor the Archcantor uses the 72 steplet division of theoctave as the basis of his analyses. Both divide the octave into 68 steplets. This means, ofcourse, that the steplets of the octave as Chryanthos and Konstantinos analyse it, do notconveniently divide into six whole tones or twelve semitones. Of necessity, any accountof a scale six tones or twelve semitones analysed into 68 steplets must result in sometones and semitones being seen as larger intervals than others. It follows from this, thatChrysanthos and Konstantinos cannot possibly have accepted the current analysis of theenharmonic scale of Tone III into five equal tones and two equal semitones, exactly halfa tone in size, i.e.Ni............12............12......6............12............12......6............12On page 34 of his 'Introduction Bishop Chrysanthos analyses this scale as follows:Ni............12.............13...3............12............12.....5...........11Archcantor Konstantinos offers a quite different analysis. On page 71 of his Interpretationhe identified Echos III with the Maqam Çargah. (He is not alone in making thisidentification though some writers identify Tone III with Maqam AcemaÕiran.) 1 Hisanalysis of the scale of Çargah, is , however, something of a surprise:Ni............12.........9.......7............12............12...3.............13Signell, for example, analyses the scale of Çargah into 53 steplets as follows:C.........9.........9....4.........9.........9.........9....4While this analysis does not yield a scale identical with the 12..12..6.12..12..6.12 scale, it isat least more similar than that proposed by Konstantinos.1 see KARL L. SIGNELL, MAKAM, Da Capo Press, N.Y. 1986.14