Sing Praises with Understanding — Vladimir Krassovsky
“As a living and copious fountain, O Theotokos, do thou establish those who hymn thy praises and are joined together in spiritual fellowship for thy service, and in thy divine glory make them worthy of crowns of glory” (Irmos, Ode 3, Canon of the Akathist Hymn to the Theotokos). Thus the Church turns to the Mother of God in fervent prayer for those who sing during the divine services.
There is an episode in the lives of the saints—which saint I don’t remember—as told to me by my spiritual father, Father Nicholas, when I was quite young. There was a priest standing before the holy altar during a divine service, and he asked God to let it be known to him who among His flock will receive the greatest reward in the Heavenly Kingdom. When he turned around he saw a tall, radiant man, an angel, among His faithful, who was placing a feather on everyone’s head. Then he moved to the kliros and was among the singers. On their heads he placed golden crowns.
What an awesome responsibility the choir director and singers have, and a very complicated one it is. Think about it for a moment: the choir isn’t accompanying the service and isn’t just participating in the service. The choir is serving in the divine services together with the bishop, priest, and deacon. It is the choir director’s responsibility to facilitate elevation in prayer during the service through text and music. In order to do so, he or she must not only have a profound knowledge of the order of the service but must also take into consideration the symbolic meaning of the different parts of the service.
The director must deeply understand the place that a service has within the church calendar and, alongside, the “liturgical moments” in each service (of which there are many). It is of the utmost importance that each liturgical moment be understood and felt by the choir director at all times.
