Melodic Pulling: How Byzantine Theory Sanctified Wrong Notes
Traditionalists attempt to justify melodic pulling by invoking Aristoxenus and his distinction between fixed and movable notes, but this is yet another error.
Long Division and Byzantine Music: Systems Beat Vibes
A child should not be trained to imitate somebody else’s clever shortcut. Kids are very good at learning systems. Give them the actual machinery.
Are You Learning Music, or Learning Obedience?
A real music teacher produces musicians. A handler produces loyal followers. Pious language, “lower clergy” mandates, and guru lists are some of the mechanisms used to mask fundamental musical incompetence.
Why The Traditional Byzantine Tuning Is Worse Than Equal Temperament
Traditional Byzantine tuning is not “more natural” than Equal Temperament. It is a patched, contextual, historically compromised system that borrows the prestige of natural ratios without actually matching them.
The Atzem Affair: How Byzantine Traditionalists Became Ottoman Music’s Loudest Defenders
Traditionalists defend the Atzem drama as untouchable ancient tradition, while simultaneously attacking anyone who suggests using Western notation. But something doesn’t add up.
Byzantine Music is Not There to Create a Prayer Mood
Byzantine chant is not a machine for manufacturing a private devotional mood, nor is “prayer” a magic word that excuses bad singing. The liturgy presents chant first as an offering. That doesn’t exclude prayer or compunction, but it does exclude treating church music as vague atmosphere, emotional self-display, or a shield against criticism.
What Is Byzantine Music? Physics vs. Folklore
Byzantine music is not a collection of moods but a collection of modes; a precise modal system governed by the objective laws of acoustic physics. We strip away the romantic folklore to expose the technical architecture of the Octoechos.
The Monophonic Deception: The Hidden Polyphony of the East
Is Byzantine music truly monophonic, or is it a victim of institutional error? Excavating the “hidden polyphony” within traditional chant, this article dismantles the monophonic myth.