The Prosomia are special melodies to which Byzantine hymns are metered. They are used in thousands of hymns in the Menaion, Triodion, Pentecostarion, Octoechos, and other service books of the Church. Until now, it has not been possible to learn them without a trained instructor.

Byzantine Prosomia, the Chanter's Companion makes it possible to learn, study, and practice the execution of these special melodies outside of formal choral instruction. For every track on the 2 CD's, two examples of each Prosomion are chanted in English clearly and simply. At the beginning of each track, one of the chanters announces each Prosomion by saying the title and the tone used, thus eliminating the need to refer to the CD label and making the set suitable for use while traveling in a car.

In addition, a PDF file of the music (in Western notation) with texts for all the Prosomia is provided on the second CD. A second PDF file has the music for all the Prosomia without words. The music for any of the Prosomia may be printed out, and words of hymns written in as needed. Both of these files are also available for download below.

The selections are augmented beyond what is only in the Greek Menaia. For example, some are taken from services to Saint Seraphim of Sarov, Saint John of Kronstadt, Saint Patrick, Saint John Maximovitch, the Holy Martyrs of China, and others.

Music for the Byzantine Prosomia CD 1.6 MB pdf file
Music for the Byzantine Prosomia CD no lyrics 640 KB pdf file