☧ Chanting Art ☧

"what sweet turns Byzantine music has! Some fine as the nightingale, others like a soft wave..., all yield, emphasize the divine meanings. But you rarely hear these beautiful shots. Most people who sing say they are lacking, lame, molded. They leave holes! And most importantly, they say them without an accent. I wonder; don't these books of theirs have sharps? Is it like today's grammar, without accents, without acutes? They say it very shallowly. Everything is going straight, as if a bulldozer passed and leveled everything!
"Pa-ni-zo, pan-ni-zo", they bake the oven and no bread comes out!... Others emphasize everything loudly, they say everything straight, everything is nailed, and you think they are hitting nails with the scythe. Yes, true, or completely listless or harsh..." (Elder Paisiou Agioreitou, Speeches I - With pain and love for the modern man, Holy Hermitage "Evangelist John the Theologian", Souroti Thessaloniki, p. 354-55.)