Many people are unaware that our own musical scale has a Byzantine counterpart, as indicated below:
- Western (Solfège): Do re mi fa so la ti do
- Greek (Byzantine): ?? (pa), ??? (vou), ?? (gha), ?? (thee), ?? (ke), ?? (zo), ?? (knee), ?? (pa)
For those interested in learning it so as to begin to master byzantine chant (much in demand these days), here is a handy mnemonic device for so doing in the form of a song. The tune is Richard Rodgers’ Do Re Mi, from The Sound of Music. The lyrics are mine, with sincerest apologies to Oscar Hammerstein II.
??, a name I call my dad,
???, a Gallic word for “you,”
??, the sound a baby makes,
?? is you and only you,
??, conjoining words in Greek,
??, where animals are caged,
??, arthritis makes it weak.
That will bring us back to
?? – ?? – ?? – ???
?? . . .
???, a Gallic word for “you,”
??, the sound a baby makes,
?? is you and only you,
??, conjoining words in Greek,
??, where animals are caged,
??, arthritis makes it weak.
That will bring us back to
?? – ?? – ?? – ???
?? . . .
Dear Reader,
Can I be direct with you?
War abroad. Socialists on the rise. AI upending human life. Endless uproar online. The modern attention economy doesn’t want readers — it wants users enslaved to the tyranny of the present.
First Things is the antidote: literary excellence, timeless truths, and a fixed point of reference in a culture that has lost its bearings.
But we can’t do it without readers like you.
Our goal: Raise $150,000 by November 1 to sustain First Things in the year ahead.
Your gift anchors readers in the permanent things.
Make your Fall Campaign gift now using the button below.
If you have any questions or would like more information, please contact Giovanni Del Piero, Director of the Editor’s Circle, at gdelpiero@firstthings.com or 212-627-1985.
YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE
The Church in the Age of Therapy
In 1966, Philip Rieff wrote in The Triumph of the Therapeutic that “Religious man was born to…
Canada’s Deadliest Blind Spot
On September 20, the Daily Mail ran a story with the provocative headline, “Our 83-year-old Christian grandmother…
The Faithful Joy of Dolly Parton and Fulton Sheen
Dolly Parton and Fulton Sheen seem to have had little in common. She favored rhinestones; he wore…
