Today I had the amazing experience of attending a class dedicated to discussing 'colinde,' the beautiful melodies of carols sung at Christmas time in Moldova. Moldova holds a special place in combining melodies and forms from Ukraine with Romanian words, primarily in the eastern region around the Nistru River; religious songs mostly from Orthodox Christianity with ancient epics about nature and famous characters, and melodies shaped by the modal sounds of many influences. The class was a wonderful time of singing with four Moldovans, and looking at various forms of script used to write the words and melodies.
The special form of notation using shapes is not specific like the shaped note singing of North America, but is relative pitches moving from a starting note with the notation indicating intervals and directions. It looks much more fluid than the shaped notes of Primitive Baptist hymnals. (sorry about all the music talk..... but I think it is pretty cool!)
The text we used was written in Romanian using Cyrillic lettering. This form was used for most academic writing during the Soviet era. I was so surprised the first time I began reading - expecting Russian words - but found that it was Romanian!!! It actually flows very well and for me it is really fun.
I will have had four nai lessons in five days! I am working hard, feeling very clumsy, but loving every minute of it! I do hope my neighbors love it too.......
Thanks for all of your emails! I am so glad people are reading the blog!!
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