EKPHONESIS

Ekphonesis – In a general sense, the chanted reading and exclamations of sacred text, which are used in the Orthodox Catholic Churches. In terms of melodic character, e. stands between psalmody, in which deviations from the main reciting tone occur only at the beginnings and endings of phrases, and singing proper, which has a well defined medodic and rhythmic form. In the liturgy, e. is used primarily for reading the Epistle, the Gospel, and Old Testament readings, as well as for the prayers pronounced by the priest and deacon. In the Russian Church, traditional patterns of e. were notated in early times by a special ekphonetic notation, and were also preserved in the oral tradition; traditional methods of e. have been preserved more completely among the Old Ritualists than elsewhere in the Church.