On September 10th, Aleksei Shipovalnikov presented a day-long choir workshop: “Hierarchical Services - Sorting Out the Liturgical Puzzle.”  More than 30 church musicians attended the event hosted by the Diocesan Commission on Liturgical Music and Christ the Saviour Church in Paramus NJ. The workshop included a step-by-step outline of the Hierarchical Liturgy. 

Professor Shipovalnikov offered numerous anecdotes from his extensive background, illustrating nuances that can ‘make or break’ the smoothness of the services. Attendees from diocesan parishes, as well as other dioceses and jurisdictions, formed a choir that sang the hierarchical hymns and discussed their implementation.

Plans are for the workshop materials to be available on the diocesan website in early 2012. They include a comprehensive guide for choir directors, as well as appendices covering special situations such as ordinations and Molieben services, including clearly typeset hierarchical sheet music.