Since the 10th century, the Russian Orthodox had developed a sophisticated singing tradition. Inheriting its faith from the Byzantine Greeks, Russian Orthodox musicians developed various chant systems, including Valaam, Kievan, Znamenny, and Obikhod, segueing into Western-style four-part harmony in the 18th and 19th centuries. As in Byzantine chant, from which it came, Russian Orthodox sacred music is founded on a system of tone cycles based on a holiday (whether it is a feast day or fast day), time of year and day of the week.
Byzantine chant developed in the Greek-speaking world of the Byzantine Empire, which lasted from 330 until 1453 AD. Byzantine music comprises a system of tones for chanting the services in present-day Greek Orthodox churches. Hymns are chanted by a special singer called a psaltis, and melodies vary according to the season, feast day and day of the week. An underlying, constant tone (the ison) is chanted by a second psaltis to make a chord. Byzantine chant has an exotic, unfamiliar sound to Western ears and has developed alongside Turkish and other Eastern cultures.
As Orthodox from other countries settled in North America, their musical traditions have been brought into the English-speaking setting. Hymns from the various Orthodox church languages are made familiar in the vernacular and used to accompany the sacraments (weddings, funerals, baptisms, ordinations) and to celebrate the feast days throughout the year. To sample various styles of Orthodox music, tune in to Ancient Faith Radio, a source of streaming and archived Internet audio broadcasts and podcasts.
In Judaism, music forms derived from worship at the Temple in Jerusalem, through the 1st century AD. Orthodox Jewish music features mostly male singers because of the prohibition on women singing in public. Lyrics of religious-themed music can be in Hebrew or English, and are based on text from the prayerbook or services. Most melodies are chanted by a cantor, a male officiant of the service. In modern-day Israel, young Orthodox Jews follow Hassidic rock. The words are from scripture, but the beat has more in common with klezmer, traditional secular music of Ashkenazi and Hasidic Jews.