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A Brief History of PSALM

The acronym PSALM stands for Pan-Orthodox Society for the Advancement of Liturgical Music. In recent years, as Orthodox church musicians have met in a variety of formal and informal settings, it has been our collective experience that when we come together, good things happen: common needs and goals emerge, communication and trust increase. By pooling our collective talents and resources, and by working together, we believe we can better serve the Orthodox Church's mission in the New World, particularly in the English language, with well-ordered liturgical services, sung on a high level of beauty and excellence. Inspired by the quote that serves as our motto, we affirm that as we begin to learn from one another, the Orthodox Faith and its divine singing will indeed begin to spread throughout the land in an unprecedented fashion.

PSALM began in 1996 with the publication of PSALM Notes, a newsletter to help foster communication among church musicians at both the local and national levels. The initial issues were published with the blessing of Bishops BASIL and DEMETRI of the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese. From its inception, however, PSALM Notes has included among its contributors church musicians from a variety of ethnic and jurisdictional backgrounds among its contributors.

The year 1999 marked another milestone in the history of the organization, as PSALM Inc. was incorporated as a non-profit corporation in the State of California. To date, PSALM's accomplishments include:

  • Continued semi-annual publication of PSALM Notes, now in its sixth year.
  • The publication of two issues of sheet music by PSALM Music Press.
  • Sponsorship and moderation of an e-list discussion group, orthodoxpsalm-subscribe@yahoogroups.com, which includes approximately 225 participants throughout the world.
  • Sponsorship of a Roundtable on Liturgical Language, Translation, and Music, featuring Archimandrite Ephrem [Lash] as guest speaker (January, 2001)
  • Serving a membership of 160 paid general and associate members.