Paper presented at “Theory and Practice of the Psaltic Art” – Third International Musicological and Psaltic Conference on the theme “The Octoechos,” Athens, 17–21 September 2006.

The paper reflects part of a personal study on genera and intervals in the psaltic art in Bulgaria. First, the discussion of the “colors” can be traced in Bulgarian theoretical books from the 19th–20th centuries, where we often see opinions that do not coincide. Second, among today’s Eastern chanters we find that some follow the “Bulgarian” practice, others the “Greek,” and still others the “Ottoman.” The disagreements and differences—which sometimes spark friction and disputes—are here regarded as valuable for a comparative study of the teaching and practice of psaltic art in Bulgaria. Many questions arise: “How did so many interpretations come about, each considered correct by the respective psaltai?”, “Are we dealing with differences between teachers regarding tradition, or with different perceptions and theories?”, “What do the sources tell us?”, “Is there anything indisputably correct?”—questions that are also the focus of the present paper.