F RST MODE A LETTER FROM THE PRESIDENT A NOTE OF THANKS FROM THE PAST PRESIDENT. Kathryn. Dear Fellow Church Musicians,

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1 F RST MODE THE EASTERN FEDERATION OF GREEK ORTHODOX CHURCH MUSICIANS NEWSLETTER SPRING 2011 Dear Fellow Church Musicians, A LETTER FROM THE PRESIDENT Greetings! I am delighted to share my thoughts with the members of the EFGOCM through my first article in the First Mode. During my term as President, I hope to lead our organization with new initiatives as well as continue those started by my wonderful predecessor. One such initiative will be a yearlong focus on youth. Our district supervisors will be contacting each choir director in the near future to survey your choir s needs and discuss goals pertaining to their youth. Once we have this baseline information, our Youth Chairman, Sondra Awad, along with other planning committee members, will help formulate what direction our initiative will lead. In addition to the EFGOCM s youth movement, the Holy Synod recently requested a personal audience with select members of the National Forum, including our own Maria Keritsis. They expressed to them their concerns regarding Orthodox music in America and are looking to the Federations to help move their agenda regarding youth, psalti and choirs into a positive direction as well. And for all of you who have enjoyed receiving the First Mode by mail well, we have news. This is your last printed issue! Well, not exactly. We will continue to print the First Mode; however, we will mail one copy each to your choir director and parish priest. The rest of you can enjoy reading this electronically at our website: And speaking of websites, please be sure and set this one in your Bookmark or Favorites: It s our EFGOCM website and I hope you will all click on it and cruise around. You will find information about upcoming EFGOCM workshops, conferences and pretty much everything else we do all year round! And last but certainly not least, we hope to see each and every church musician of the New Jersey Metropolis at the Annual Conference in Baltimore this year. Mark your calendar, clear your schedule, pack your bags and get your choir, chanters and youth excited about participating in this year s conference! See you in Baltimore! Drucie (L-R) Outgoing EFGOCM President Kathryn Athanasoulas, newly elected President Drucie Papafil, and former EF- GOCM President Maria Keritsis at the 2010 EFGOCM Conference in Newport News, VA A NOTE OF THANKS FROM THE PAST PRESIDENT It has been a privilege and a treat to have been the president of our wonderful federation. I wish to thank our hard working and fun loving Board for its help and support as well as each and every member of the EFGOCM. I thank His Eminence, Metropolitan Evangelos and our spiritual advisor, Father Nicholas Bacalis who have been very supportive and helpful. With great pleasure I will continue to do all I can to promote our organization that has been so necessary in the continuation of our choirs and church musicians. My best wishes to our new President Drucie Papafil and the board members who undoubtedly will lead our federation to its highest goals. Kathryn

2 2010 CONFERENCE MEMORIES WE NEED YOU to host the 2012 conference!! Contact Drucie Papafil at or call

3 NATIONAL FORUM EFGOCM Participates in National Forum President s Meeting Presidents from each Federation met with National Forum Chairman, Vicki Pappas on March 31-April 2nd to discuss issues and initiatives that affect all Metropolises. Father Tasso Gounaras hosted the delegation at Holy Trinity in Indianapolis. Although some time was allotted for sharing ideas from each Federation, the majority of the meeting time was spent preparing a plan of action on the concerns identified at the Holy Eparchial Synod meeting (see the article on Choir Leaders Meet ). The Eastern Federation Board will take this plan and develop implementation strategies and goals for the upcoming two years with the direction from Metropolitan Evangelos. Not surprising, the Metropolitans were concerned about the youth (or lack of) in our choirs which is the EFGOCM s initiative for the upcoming year. We will have more information on this in our next First Mode.

4 NATIONAL FORUM Choir Leaders Meet with Hierarchs On March 16, 2011, the National Forum participated in an unprecedented meeting with the Holy Eparchial Synod of our Archdiocese. Archbishop Demetrios extended the invitation to National Chairman Vicki Pappas, and posed four agenda items: 1) development of choirs and recruitment of new members, 2) the process of developing the Liturgical Guidebook, 3) youth choirs, and 4) relationships between chanters and choirs. Vicki selected the leadership team with respect to the agenda items. Our Federation s Maria Keritsis, as chair of the Administration Committee, was included. The leadership team also included Dr. Nick Maragos and Peter Vatsures, Chairs of the Liturgical Guidebook; Joanne Kambouris, Chair of the Youth Music Initiatives Committee; and Dr. Angelo Lampousis, Chair of the Byzantine Music Committee. In a positive and cordial atmosphere, the Metropolitans expressed their interest and concern over a number of issues related to our Orthodox church musicians. There was also sharing of National Forum initiatives and products. Some of you received a copy of the summary from Vicki, but for those who did not, here is a short synopsis of the topics discussed: Regarding choirs: 1. Hierarchs wanted to convey how important and vital a role the choir plays in praying with clergy and congregation. 2. Singing in the choir is a ministry; the music should be artful prayer 3. Choirs should support prayer and create a flow. 4. The Metropolitans asked that the traditional melody of Agios O Theos and the Vimatos be sung when they celebrate. 5. Continued and deeper education of choir directors and members is important 6. Rehearsals are important so that choirs are prepared. 7. Parish clergy are urged to communicate religious education to their choirs. 8. More year olds need to be recruited to fill the gaps in choirs. Regarding youth: 1. The hierarchs and the Forum are both concerned over few young people participating in choirs. 2. Similarly, both stress the importance of teaching our youth the hymns of the church (whether in hymnology, retreats, camps, etc.) 3. There is a need for stronger collaboration between church musicians, youth workers, and camp directors. Other issues that were addressed: 1. Relationships between choirs and chanters: the Forum s work in developing instructional materials for aspiring chanters; a listing of the various Metropolis schools of chanting 2. The hierarchs commended the Liturgical Guidebook and wish to be included as part of the process. 3. The need for a common English translation for Christos Anesti was discussed so that church musicians could set the agreed upon text to the transitional melody. The Forum delegation met immediately after the meeting and developed a summary of the meetings and an initial template of action items. The Church Music Federation Presidents of all the Metropolises met the last week of March to further develop a plan of action. Some of these plans already fall under the Eastern Federation s initiatives as identified by the last Executive Board meeting. More information to follow.

5 VIRGINIA DISTRICT We, in the beautiful state of Virginia, are proud to have hosted another EFGOCM Choir Conference this past October. We were thrilled to fill the Saints Constantine and Helen choir loft with 128 singers, 116 adults and 12 youth, for this event! We know some of you were able to take side trips to Williamsburg and Norfolk, and we hope you enjoyed seeing some of what our historic state has to offer. You are welcome here anytime! DISTRICT REPORTS The choirs of the Virginia District are always busy with projects, as you ll see below. On behalf of all of these choirs, I would like to congratulate Annunciation Church in Norfolk on their 100 th Anniversary, and wish their choir beautiful singing on their celebratory anniversary concert! - Renée Root, Virginia District Supervisor Annunciation Norfolk, VA The "Annunciation" choir in Norfolk is in the planning stages of a December concert (TBA) that it will be presenting in honor of the 100th anniversary of the Norfolk church. We hope to augment our numbers by enticing some "vocal" parishioners to join us in preparation for this concert. Of course, secretly, we hope that those who sing with us for the concert will get the choir bug and continue with us afterwards! - Chris Kypros Saints Constantine and Helen Newport News, VA The Newport News choir was hard at work last summer preparing to host the EFGOCM Choir Conference in October. Committees began working to prepare registration packets, solicit donations, and arrange for organizations to help with meals, etc. In early October, everything was in place in anticipation of our guests arrival. We welcomed not only the Eastern Federation, but also members of the Denver Federation, the Southeastern Federation, and even the San Francisco Metropolis Federation. Under the direction of Guest Conductor Dr. James Maniatis from Denver, we perfected the beautiful liturgical arrangement by Steven Cardiasmenos. Mrs. Connie Maniatis served as our Guest Organist, and Ms. Sondra Awad as the Guest Youth Conductor. Everyone present on that Sunday morning was especially blessed upon hearing the angelic voices of the 12 children from the Youth Choirs of our Federations joining the adult choir in singing the Cardiasmenos Liturgy. Friday night s entertainment was graciously supplied by Eikona (the 3 talented daughters of Dr. Jim and Connie), Saturday night s entertainment by our own Hellenic Youth Dancers, and the meals were beautifully prepared and served by the various organizations of our church. From your comments, the combination of Greek and Southern Hospitality was a success. We are very grateful to the many volunteers of our church in support of this endeavor. We also thank you for attending and for being so vocal in your appreciation of our efforts. There was no rest for us after the EFGOCM Choir Conference, however, for in November, we joined choirs from local churches in a concert to benefit the Campus Ministries at Christopher Newport University. And still there was no rest for the wicked or the righteous with Christmas just around the corner! Joined by our Youth Choir, we presented a brief Christmas concert that was followed by our Sunday School Pageant. We are now busy preparing for Holy Week and Pascha. We wish you a Kali Anastasi and Kalo Pascha! We thank you for the honor of hosting you at this past Conference and for your glowing reviews. We look forward to joining all of you in Baltimore in October for the 2011 EFGOCM Conference. - RaNetta Mitchum Saints Constantine and Helen Richmond, VA The choir of Sts. Constantine and Helen has had a productive winter season for service and socializing. The two Sundays before Christmas we visited parishioners residing in seven different assisted living and nursing homes. Sondra Awad, our director played various pianos and directed the choir of regular members and seasonal supporters. Residents rewarded the carolers with Christmas warmth and gratitude ensuring a return performance next year. On Christmas Eve, our fellow parishioners sang with us during the joyous presentation of hymns and carols that traditionally follows our service. Without missing a beat, members engaged their non-singing skills by providing a home-cooked dinner meal to the families sheltered by CARITAS in our Cathedral the week following Christmas. The choir also enjoyed a wonderful Christmas gathering at home of Susan and Tony Prousalis where we ate well, celebrated the season and sang carols together. The season ended on a high note with several choir members and psyaltis participating in the Daughters of Penelope s Annual Talent Show in support of Penelope House. Still looking for the Age of Aquarius, they let their hair down and treated the audience to a sampling of individual singing talents. - Susan Prousalis NEW JERSEY DISTRICT Our District has been very active this year and included the following activities:

6 Greek Folk Singers at Stockton College The Friends of Hellenic Studies at Stockton College hosted a luncheon at the beautiful Sea View Resort at Gallaway, NJ on November 7, Our New Jersey District Singers were asked to sing some Greek Folk Songs. About five years ago we were asked to form a group to sing at the St. Basil luncheon.. This past March we were asked again to sing at the St. Basil luncheon. This group formed our nucleus for this years request from Stockton College. We never know when and where these requests may come from. but we have lots of fun putting the music together. Youth Singers Christmas Workshop Youth singers are alive and well in New Jersey. Our District held its second youth singer s workshop November 20, 2010 hosted by St. George Greek Orthodox Church of Clifton,. The Youth Singer s Christmas Workshop featured only Christmas music. There were 32 youth singers ages 9-19 who arrived with rich, angelic voices and much enthusiasm. The day ended with a mini concert (music learned that day) featuring several soloists. As part of their music packet the youth were given green folders and red shirts which they wore during the concert. What great voices our church choirs will have and some already realize these voices as the young people develop into choir members. Please encourage your youngsters to join their church youth choir. What an added treat it will be to your liturgies. - By Clinicians E. Hope Demitry and Kathryn Athanasoulas DISTRICT REPORTS CONTINUED Christmas Concert at St. Nicholas, Wyckoff Our New Jersey District Choir helped St. Nicholas, Wyckoff celebrate their 40 th Anniversary by presenting a beautiful Christmas Concert on Sunday, December 19 at 4 PM. Youth singers from Clifton, Trenton and Westfield joined the adults in this joyful concert. Many youth joined us because they had attended the Youth Singers Christmas Workshop in November. The Ladies Philoptochos provided delicious refreshments during the reception that followed. We thank St. Nicholas for hosting this concert and wish them many more years. Vocal Master Class Our district has once again sponsored a Vocal Master Class Workshop featuring Chrissllene Petropoulos on Saturday, March 26, 2011, from 1 PM to 5 PM at Holy Trinity, West field. Since this article was written before the workshop took place we can not attest to its success other than saying that it promises to be a very useful and exciting workshop. This will be the third time that Chrissllene has held a workshop in New Jersey. Lenten Concert Our 21 st Annual Concert The Spirit of Lent was held on Friday, April 15, 2011 at St. George, Trenton directed by Kathryn Athanasoulas, and organist, E. Hope Demitry. As usual it included our District Adult Choir from many parishes as well as Youth from St. George, Clifton, St. George, Trenton and Holy Trinity, Westfield. Once again this article was written before the concert took place. This concert is always sung by the choir with great enthusiasm as well as the audience. MARYLAND DISTRICT Cathedral of the Annunciation - Baltimore, MD The choir is busy planning and preparing for the EFGOCM Conference to be held at our Cathedral October 6-9. This First Mode includes information concerning the conference. Please plan to attend this exciting conference, reserve your rooms early and send in your reservation forms as soon as possible. The choir was very excited to host the Cardiasmenos Workshop on March 19, It was very successful, well attended and everyone enjoyed rehearsing the liturgy with the conference director Nick Kyrus. We are pleased to announce that our choir has had an increase in choir participation. We have quite a few new members and are thrilled about this. Our many choirs, Adult Choir, Byzantine Men s Choir and Cassiane Women s Choir sing on various Sundays throughout the year. This year our Junior Choir has sung with the Adult choir on many occasions and this practice works very well. The junior choir is inspired singing with the adult choir and the results are amazing. They sing with more confidence tharos and enjoy standing and singing next to the adults. This Holy Tuesday night, the choir performed Presvytera Anna Gallos, the Hymn of Cassiane. Sophia Tobin's beautiful voice was the solo voice portraying Cassiane.

7 DISTRICT REPORTS CONTINUED We are looking forward to seeing you in Baltimore in the fall. - Fotini Nichols fellowship beyond compare! We are now adding select pieces from this music to our Sunday Liturgy. St. Katherine - Falls Church, VA After a summer break, we began in September as a choir without a director when our director David Jacobs was hired as the new Program Director by the Antiochian Village Camp in Bolivar, PA. We wish David and his wife Tatiana well as they begin their new endeavor. In the absence of a permanent director, several of our choir members so generously stepped up to the plate to direct on an alternating basis. On any given Sunday, you might see Antonia Chelpon, John Doulis, Jim Francis, or Bill Steele directing in the choir loft, sometimes with Nick Kyrus as our guest organist. The choir has become very resilient, adapting to the style of the ever-changing directors. We have even had new choir members join us during this transitional time, and we welcome them all to our choir family. Quite a few of our members have children who are joining us in the choir loft, and we hope that they will become our next generation of choir members! Several of us traveled to Newport News in October for the choir conference. We thank the Sts. Constantine and Helen choir for their hospitality, and we enjoyed Dr. Jim s musical expertise. As we look forward to this year s conference, plans are in the works for a summer rehearsal at St. Katherine s. - Katherine Birnbaum PHILADELPHIA DISTRICT St. Luke - Broomall, PA On September 15 th, our Choir Director, Ginny Botsis and Chanter, Elias Tsikos and two members of the St. George Media Choir attended the Agiasmos Service for church musicians at the Metropolis Headquarters in Westfield, NJ where they were warmly welcomed by His Eminence Metropolitan Evangelos. Several others from the Philadelphia area were among the 70 people who attended the Service. After the Agiasmos Service and a tour of the beautifully appointed rooms on the first floor, we were invited to the reception room for refreshments. Sunday, October 3 rd, was National Church Music Sunday, sponsored by the National Forum of Greek Orthodox Church Musicians. At St. Luke s we observe this special day annually, and give recognition to our Church musicians chanters, choir director, organist and singers, and youth choir director. This year each musician received a framed icon of St. Romanos the Melodist, the greatest of all hymnologists and the patron saint of Church music. From October 14 th to the 17 th, members of our Choir attended the SS. Constantine and Helen Church in Newport News, VA to participate in the 2010 Eastern Federation Choir Conference. This year we sung the Divine Liturgy music of Steven Cardiasmenos. This was a beautiful experience and we so appreciated the direction by Dr. James Maniatis from the cathedral in Denver and attendance by members of the Denver Metropolis. Music, fun, and This year we have invited youth singers to join the Senior Choir on Sundays from 10 am until Holy Communion when they will go to their Sunday School classes. It s a good way to gradually learn our liturgical music and eventually become full choir members. In October, we celebrated a beautiful evening at a St. Luke Dinner Dance honoring our Father Christ s tenth year anniversary at St. Luke. Our choir s rousing rendition of I Will Follow Him took everyone by surprise and added to the festive mood of the evening. Father Christ enjoyed it so much, he asked the choir to accompany him in a pre-christmas vesper service at a local residence for the elderly, White Horse Village. Following the service, the choir sang some additional hymns and repeated the I Will Follow Him performance to the surprise and apparent delight of the seniors! Smiles and laughter! I would like to invite all our district 4 members to the fall conference in Baltimore, MD. It is a joyous experience a chance to learn new music, of course, and to make new acquaintances and friendships! It would be a pleasure to meet you all in person there! If you need any information about the conference or other church music matters, please feel free to contact me. - Pam Sande St. Sophia - Trooper, PA The St. Sophia parish just broke ground for our new church on March 6th. The church will be built on our current property in front of our existing multi-purpose community center. The choir was at a full strength and led the congregation in singing during the Divine Liturgy, as well as outside at the Groundbreaking Service. We received numerous comments at how much the choir added to the day's festivities. - Tom Cox St. George - Media, PA On behalf of the St George Choir of Media, Pennsylvania, hello and best wishes for a Happy Easter Kali Anastasi! Our choir has been busy with the start of Lent preparing for the Salutations to the Virgin Mary. In addition, members of the choir take turns chanting the Prayer to the Virgin Mary and the Prayer to Our Lord. The choir is now preparing for Holy Week; we sing a cappella for the Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday services. Seven members of our Youth Choir join the Senior Choir regularly and are welcomed by all. In preparation for the Fall Conference, the director and a choir member recently attended the rehearsal held at the Cathedral in Baltimore. - Helen J. Beldecos

8 EFGOCM BOARD His Eminence Metropolitan Evangelos President Drucie Papafil 9612 Grove Avenue Norfolk, VA (757) Vice President Fotini Nichols 8507 Reservoir Road Fulton, MD (410) Secretary Virginia Botsis 129 Sutton Road Ardmore, PA Treasurer Paul Mavromihalis Iager Blvd Fulton, MD (410) Spiritual Advisor Rev. Nicholas Bacalis Ss. Constantine and Helen Greek Orthodox Church 30 Malvern Ave. Richmond, VA (804) Supervisors District I (MD) Adam Birnbaum 6036 Buttercup Court Alexandria, VA adamdbirnbaum@gmail.com District II (VA) Renee Root 104A Heather Way Yorktown, VA (757) reneeroot@cox.net District III (NJ) Marie Devino 2050 Florence Ave. Hazlet, NJ (732) mdevino@att.com District IV (PA) Pamela Sande 153 Birchwood Drive West Chester, PA psan46@aol.com Past President/Advisor Kathryn Athanasoulas 114 Winslow Place Garwood, NJ (908) kathanasoulas@hotmail.com Standing Committees Administration Kay Kehayas 950 Hoover Drive N. Brunswick, NJ kkehayas@rocketmail.com Communications Awards/Archives/Webpage Nicholas Kyrus 5320 Echols Ave. Alexandria, VA (703) nbkyrus@comcast.net Scholarship Maria Keritsis 9030 Kings Crown Road Richmond, VA (804) Mfk9@comcast.net Youth Initiatives Sondra Awad 1503 Libbie Ave. Richmond, VA (804) awads@wjcc.k12.va.us Subcommittees Data base Susan Karcanes 65 Fairmount Ave. Clifton, NJ (201) susank622@verizon.net Please visit the EFGOCM website at First Mode Katherine Birnbaum 6036 Buttercup Ct. Alexandria, VA (703) katherinebirnbaum@gmail.com