Vespers - July 7

Vespers Music has been posted for next Wednesday Evening (7/7/16)

Updates - 6/29/16

• After singing the Vigil for Ss Peter and Paul last night, several corrections to the Vigil document have been made:
• The "Lord I Call" Now verse is now the Theotokion Dogmaticon in Tone 4
• Two sections of the Magnification (O Apostles...) were incorrect
• An "Amen" was added after the blessing of the bread & after the last verse of the Post-Gospel stichera
• Added "We Praise, Bless and Worship..." after Canon Ode 8 (before the Katavasia)
• Added a  note that the Magnificat should be sung before Canon Ode 9
• Fixed wording on Praises vs 4/3 & Glory/Now stichera
• Changed dismissal "More honorable..." wording from "defilement" to "corruption"
• In Vespers and Matins - Misc section:
• added a cleaned up version of the Traditional Magnificat

Great Compline & Theophany updates

• Added New Link for Great Compline Music
• Updated Theophany Vigil document containing Great Vespers & Matins - previously this document contained Great Compline & Matins
• Added Theophany Great Compline for Vigil document

All Saints of North America

• The variable Vespers Music for All Saints of North America has been posted in one PDF file.
• The variable Vespers Music for next Tuesday evening, July 6 (St Sisoes),
  has been posted in one PDF file.

Ss Peter & Paul Music

New Music

1. Added complete Vigil service for the Feast of Ss Peter and Paul
2. Vespers & Liturgy music for the Feast of Ss Peter and Paul has been reviewed and updated

Welcome!

Welcome to the blog of the choir at St John of Chicago Orthodox Church in Rogers, Arkansas. We've been producing sheet music and comprehensive service documents for several years now. The purpose of this blog is to post notes & updates about the new music we've completed and to document changes to existing music and service documents.

As a new mission, we struggled to learn to sing from the text that we downloaded from the OCA website. This led us to develop software that we use to transform "pointed text" in these documents to sheet music in PDF format. This music is then posted on our website. All of our music is worded according to the formal liturgical language convention: "Thee/Thou" for all individuals commemorated; "You/Your" for more than one persons. Most of the music that we generate is done in the common "Obikhod" melodies.

Our music web page is: http://www.ocanwa.org/#!liturgical-resources/c1gg1. The following is a brief overview of what you will find on this page:

• Daily Sheet Music - currently we produce the "variable" music for Vespers on Tuesday, Wednesday and Saturday evenings as well as for selected feast days. We also supplement the Liturgy music as needed. As the years go by, music for various saints become permanently available (we should have the whole Menaion done in a few more years). We also produce a single PDF file containing all the Vespers music for each upcoming date during the year (these are usually available at least one day in advance).
• Vespers and Matins - everything needed for Great Vespers as well as Tuesday, Wednesday & Thursday Daily Vespers is available here.
• Liturgy - the sheet music here is arranged in the order it is sung during the Liturgy. Different arrangements (or variations) are coded by number and more than one variation is available for most sections of the Liturgy - we hope to add to those available as we add music that our choir sings.
• Lenten Triodian - Vespers and Liturgy music available to for all Sundays of Lent (including the Sundays leading up to Lent). Certain complete services are available  as well as different litanies in lenten tones.
• Holy Week & Pascha - complete Bridegroom Matins services for Sunday, Monday and Tuesday evenings are available. Certain complete services are also available as well as misc music needed for Vespers, Matins and Liturgy.
• Pentecostarion - Vespers and Liturgy music is available for all Sundays after Pascha through the second Sunday after Pentecost as well as Mid-feast.
• Major & Other Feasts - in our parish, we usually do a vigil on the evenings of major feasts. A complete vigil service will be posted in one PDF document. If the Vigil directory is empty, this simply means we have not had a change to complete the service yet. We also provide the Vespers & Liturgy music as well. Other services related to a feast may also be found here.
• St John of Chicago - music and service texts are available for the patron saint of our parish, St John Kuchorev.
• Miscellaneous - other sheet music & service documents are available on this page as well.  

Questions and comments are welcome. And, if you have non-copyrighted music that you would like us to consider making available on this site, please send an email to our general email address.