Representatives of the Kazakhstani Metropolitan District completed advanced training courses on “Methodology for Teaching Liturgical and Church Singing Disciplines to Children and Youth”

From October 24-26, 2024, at the Moscow Theological Academy, advanced training courses for children’s choir teachers titled “Methodology for Teaching Liturgical and Church Singing Disciplines to Children and Youth” were held in a hybrid format (in-person and online).

The event was organized by the Moscow Synodal Choir and the Department of Continuing Education at the Moscow Theological Academy.

With the blessing of Metropolitan Alexander of Astana and Kazakhstan, representatives of the Kazakhstan Metropolitan District participated remotely in the educational forum. These participants included: G.V. Guliyeva, director of the Sunday school at the Annunciation Church in Alatau village; E.N. Shamsutdinova, head of the children’s choir at the Church of St. Paraskeva Pyatnitsa in Almaty; N.O. Golovina, head of the church children’s choir “Tsevnitsa” at the Ascension Cathedral in Almaty; and I.A. Belitskaya, choir director of the Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Akzhar village.

Lecturers and workshop leaders included prominent figures such as A.A. Puzakov, head of the Moscow Synodal Choir and honored artist of Russia; N.Yu. Plotnikova, professor of the Moscow State Tchaikovsky Conservatory and doctor of arts; V.I. Sorokin, professor at the Gnesin Russian Academy of Music; M.S. Krasovitskaya, a long-time teacher and author of the textbook “Liturgics”; N.S. Asmus, head of the children’s division of the Moscow Synodal Choir; D.V. Denisov, head of the scientific and methodological work sector of the Andrei Rublev Central Museum of Ancient Russian Culture and Art; and priest Michael Asmus, secretary of the Synodal Liturgical Commission.

The training program included theoretical sessions on the methodology of teaching church singing disciplines to children and youth, the history and structure of the liturgical typikon, the literary structure and language of hymnographic texts, and the history and structure of Russian church singing, as well as the interrelationship of hymnography and iconography. The practical portion featured workshops on sound production in children’s choirs, balance in mixed church choirs, and the basics of Orthodox bell ringing.

The educational forum received 122 applications from 30 dioceses of the Russian Orthodox Church across Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Germany. A total of 116 participants successfully completed the courses.