He established and conducted the monastery choir till 1896 when he went to Berlin, to the Kaiser Friedrich Wilhelm University. Here he studied music at the private conservatory of Prof. Richard Schmidt. In 1899 he acquired the title "doctor of musicology" and returned to Echmiadzin. He traveled extensively around the country, listening and recording details about Armenian folk songs and dances performed in various villages. This way he collected and published some 3000 songs, many of them adapted to choir singing.