What is the weekly cycle of Eight Tones?

There is a tradition that St. John of Damascus (died
760) set up the system of music now used in the Orthodox Church.
It is said that he devised a scale, ascending and descending,
with the voices in octaves. From this scaled he adopted eight
tones, which he called "the principal tones." Then he elaborated
the various tones, creating several tunes for each. In actual
fact, though St. John did develop many songs and hymns for the
services and wrote music for them, the eight tones existed long
before his time -- originating in the early Church, probably in
Jerusalem or Antioch. What the system amounts to is, as inferred
by the term "Eight Tones," is eight modes or forms around which
melodies are constructed.

Traditionally then, the Church music of the Orthodox Church
has been based upon these eight tones, ranged in two groups of
four:

a. Tones 1, 2, 3, and 4.

b. Tone 5 (sometimes called first plagial, tone 6
(sometimes called second plagial), tone 7 (called also grave
tone), and 8 (sometimes called fourth plagial).

There are several forms: "Byzantine Chant" is used
throughout the Mid-East, and "Russian Chant" is used in most of
the Slavic countries, though there is considerable exchange of
music between churches (as you might imagine). In the West
(centered around Rome) the eight tones were developed into what
is called "Gregorian Chant," and in England they were called
"plainsong."

Each week has its appointed tone. On Saturday evening in
Easter week (the eve of the Sunday of St. Thomas), the cycle of
tones commences with Tone One; and so, week by week, the sequence
continues through the successive tones One to Eight, changing to
a new tone every Saturday evening. The various texts of the
hymns and chants for the Tone for the week are found in a
liturgical book called the Octoechos (a Greek word meaning "eight
tones).

The special texts of hymns and chants for fixed feasts (in
the Menaia (singular, Menaion) -- that is, books of songs and
hymns) and for days during Lent and Eastertide (in the liturgical
books called the Triodion [the book for Lent] and the
Pentecostarion [the book for the time between Easter and
Pentecost -- fifty days]) are set in various tones; and these do
not, except by coincidence, correspond with the appointed tone of
the week.

While all Orthodoxy uses the same division into eight tones,
the way in which these tones are sung varies from one Orthodox
Church to another. That is, for example, the Russians do them
quite differently from the Greeks.




Please note that the above article is kindly contributed by the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America.