The Tone 7 Prokeimenon Melody
This melody is used to sing prokeimena in Tone 7. The tone 7 Alleluia is sung to a slightly different version of the same melody.
Please note: This article assumes you are familiar with the material taught in the MCI Online course, Introduction to Church Singing. If you have difficulty reading the music notation, please review the MCI website articles on musicianship.
The Sunday prokeimenon and Alleluia
The tone 7 prokeimenon which is sung most frequently is the prokeimenon of the Resurrection in tone 7, which is sung before the epistle reading every eighth Sunday throughout the year, as part of the cycle of eight tones. It can be found on page 158 in our Divine Liturgies book. This prokeimenon should be memorized.
The Alleluia melody is only slightly different, going up to do rather than down to la at the end of the second phrases, and changing the rhythm slightly in the third:
This smooth and scalewise melody should present little difficulty for any cantor who has mastered the earlier prokeimenon melody. Just be careful of the places where three quarter notes break into to otherwise duple (two note) rhythm:
Two important examples
The Divine Liturgies book contains a number of prokeimenon in Tone 7, but two of these are particularly important.
The prokeimenon of the Ascension is sung several times during the Divine Litugy of the Ascension of the Lord (40 days after Pascha); it is sung in the place of the usual hymns to the Holy Spirit after Communion, since we do not invoke the Holy Spirit from Ascension to Pentecost.
And the prokeimenon of the Holy Cross is sung on September 14 and on the following Sunday:
Singing the prokeimenon and Alleluia verse(s)
Normally, the verses of prokeimena and Alleluia are sung by a single voice using a simple recitative melody. The ordinary choice for this melody is the usual psalm tone, beginning on do. This means that the one singing the prokeimenon verses must start a minor third up from the final note of the prokeimenon or Alleluia:
Then the prokeimenon begins on the same note as that on which the verse ended.
Listen to the recording of the Sunday prokeimenon to see how this sounds.