From Michael Ruse:
As the title says, this chapter is a background for the next chapter on Early Christian and Byzantine singing traditions. Ancient Greece and Israel – both being Mediterranean cultures – form the backbone of Orthodox Church singing. For example, much of our notation, rhythm, style, and content of early Christian musical tradition draws from these two sources. But the perennial philosophical question is what does Athens and Jerusalem really have in common? As far as Church singing is concerned, a lot of both ancient traditions come together in early Christian and Byzantine singing. The Greeks imparted much of our notation and style while Israel’s psalmody and temple worship gave much content and structure in terms of what we sing. That liturgical singing draws much from King David and the Psalms. So there are two major sections to this chapter: 1) Music and Song in the Old Testament and 2) Musical Arts of Antiquity.
Join us this Saturday at 4:00 to learn about more how these two ancient traditions formed our own singing tradition.