Kjo festë për Urdhrin e Shën Ignatit të Antiokisë më kujtoi sa shumë na ka ndihmuar ai në kishën tonë këtu në Tiranë. Vëllai im mori pjesë në një takim të tyre vitin e kaluar dhe erdhi shumë i inkurajuar. Çfarë programi konkret keni për këtë numër special?
Po, edhe unë e kam ndjekur atë urdhër. Vëllai i Anastasias ka të drejtë, pas takimit njeriu vërtet kthehet me më shumë zell për punët e kishës. Çfarë do të botohet konkretisht në këtë numër special, ndonjë intervistë me ndonjë anëtar nga Shqipëria?
Our parish choir director in Dallas joined the Order a few years back and it really helped him organize our music program better. I’d be glad to read an interview with someone from the Albania chapter if you have one. Looking forward to the special edition.
That's great to hear about your choir director in Dallas — our own music program could use that kind of help. I don't think we've run an interview from the Albania chapter yet, but I'll mention it to the editor. Have you stayed in touch with him since he joined?
Так, цікаво, що в Далласі це допомогло з хором. У нас в Полтаві теж співаки часто розгублюються з репертуаром. А чи буде в цьому номері щось про звичайних парафіян, а не тільки керівників?
Our choir here in Portland has been working through the same repertoire confusion Petro mentioned from Poltava. It would be helpful to see something in the special edition about how regular parishioners, not just directors, have used the Order’s resources in their own parishes.
Так, у Полтаві справді часто скаржаться на репертуар, я чула від наших співаків. У цьому номері є невелика замітка саме про звичайних парафіян, які просто приходять і допомагають з прибиранням та чаєм після служби. А у вас в Полтаві як часто оновлюють ноти для хору?
Our choir director here in Dallas has been in the Order for about three years now, and yeah, the music program is a lot more organized like Basil said. Glad to hear the special edition will have that note about regular parishioners helping with cleanup and tea — our folks do the same thing every Sunday. Do they mention any specific resources the Order gives for everyday volunteers?
Our choir director in Manchester has been in the Order for two years now and it’s made a real difference to how we pick music each month. Nice to see the bit about ordinary parishioners helping with cleanup and tea – that’s exactly what my daughter does after Liturgy. Will the special edition mention any resources for smaller parishes like ours?
Our choir in Chicago ran into the exact same repertoire mess a couple years back. I started pulling the Order’s simpler settings for Vespers and had my daughter’s teen group learn them first — they actually stuck with it better than the adults. Have you tried any of those shorter arrangements with your Portland group, or are you still sorting through the full scores?
Our Portland choir tried those shorter Vespers settings last Lent and they worked well with the younger voices too. My son’s family visits from Seattle sometimes and the teens there picked them up faster than I expected. Did your daughter’s group end up using any of them at a full parish service?
Yes, we used the shorter settings for a full parish Vespers last year and they held up nicely. The teens in our choir did latch onto them quicker than the adults, which surprised me too. Do the Portland ones have any particular psalm tones that your group settled on?
Yeah, our parish cleanup crew is the same — a couple of regulars show up every Sunday with their own sponges and just get it done. The article does mention a volunteer handbook the Order puts out with simple checklists for coffee hour and kid activities; our choir director passed it around last month and it actually cut down on the usual last-minute scrambling. Have you guys tried any of those yet in Dallas?
Dragan, slažem se, posle susreta sa tim redom čovek stvarno dođe kući pun volje za parohijske poslove. U ovom broju će biti intervjua sa našim Brankom iz Tirane koji je član već deset godina, plus nekoliko kratkih svedočanstava iz Albanije. Jesi li ti bio na nekom od njihovih okupljanja u poslednjih par godina?
Yes, the Portland choir ended up sticking with the simpler Byzantine tones for most of those psalms; they felt more natural for a smaller group. Interesting about the teens picking it up faster – our lot was the opposite, the older folks had them down in a week. Did you try them with just the men’s voices at all?
Da, bio sam na njihovom okupljanju u Beogradu pre dve godine, baš je ostalo u sećanju kako su svi bili konkretni oko pomoći parohijama. Brankov intervju jedva čekam da pročitam, taj čovek uvek ima neku dobru priču iz Tirane. Jesi li ti možda išao sa njim neko vreme?
Our lot in London does something similar with the sponges, though half the time they forget the washing-up liquid and we end up using Fairy from the kitchen. The checklist for coffee hour sounds useful; I’ll mention it to our parish council next week and see if we can pinch a copy. Have you found the kid-activities one actually keeps the little ones from running riot during the talks?
