But, O my friend, do not think that the manner of the whole musical art and its practice is so simple and uniform that the composer of a kalophonic sticheron [the soloistic sticheron kalophonikon ()] with appropriate theseis who does not adhere to the manner of old sticheron [the conventional simple way to perform a sticheron with two choirs] can think that he has done well and that which he has written quite good and free from every condemnation – since, if what he has composed does not include the method of the old sticheron, it is not correct. Do not think therefore, that the performance of chant is simple, but rather that it is complex and of many forms. [...] Thus even in the kalophonic stichera the composers of these do not depart from their original melodies [] but follow them accurately, step by step, and retain them. Therefore, they take over some melodies unchanged from tradition and from the music thus preserved (as it is recorded in the old Sticherarion [the simple sticherarion according to the redaction and its variants since the 14th century]), and they all follow the path unaltered throughout the entire composition. The second composer always follows his predecessor and his successor follows him and, to put it simply, everyone retains the technique of the art. [...]