Dignified Protestants now say that truth is relative. Evangelicals only allow that it is relative to current top-40 music charts.
Monday, May 01, 2006
Musica Sacra Journal
The new edition of Sacred Music Journal is available for download. This issue is entitled A New Beginning for Sacred Music. The complete issue is available here: http://www.musicasacra.com/
5 comments:
Anonymous
said...
A quote from the article: "Music has a principal role, since it expresses that sense of the sacred and sustains it through time."
This is true, but sacred music is supposed to be the dialogue of worship. Where it is not a dialogue, it is in danger of becoming a concert. Too many of the high churches have classical concerts, while the evangelical churches have rock concerts, but neither is forming the dialogue for worship. It somehow distances itself from the whole attitude of worship while worshipping at the altar of aesthetics.
Most of the music we do at Trinity is liturgical and in some sense a dialogue between the celebrant and the congregation. On Good Friday we did Requiem by Schutz that was mostly monologue, but the texts were profound and anybody who was following them engaged eternal questions. Saturday evening I sang for the funeral of a man I didn't know but who had recently died at about 60 of Alzheimer’s disease. We opened the service with Onward Christian Soldiers. Then I sat down to listen to the comments of the family. Their comments put many things in perspective. It was disturbing to listen and then have to sing a song that I didn't know very well and that was in the style of many of the hymns I've sung at Catholic services recently. Maybe you know it: "On Eagles Wings". The accompaniment was not very well crafted musically. I had trouble with it in the rehearsal just before the service, so my heart was pounding in the interval before I had to sing. I thought about what the song had to say in this context. It must have held some meaning for the family, because had they requested it. It’s a psalm setting and a nice tune, but not profound in the sense of the Schutz requiem or even in the formal dignity of our liturgy. But I thought, this is a hopeful moment in the service, and I felt strong in my own faith at the time and tried to communicate it. "He will raise you up on eagles's wings; bear you on the breath of dawn; make you to shine like the sun, and hold you in the palm of his hand." It came off pretty well. I think it communicated hope in a setting that wasn’t feeling very hopeful to that point. Music at a funeral is a strange element, but it often works. I don’t know if that is what you mean by dialogical Karen, but I’m interested in hearing more about dialogue in worship. I prefer liturgical worship because it puts the emphasis on the elements of the mass instead of on the sermons and whatever else might be thrown in to a church service these days; guys riding in on motorcycles or what ever. In the articles by William Mahrt, there is a lot about music as a dialogue between the congregation and God.
I have noticed that the whole cycle of Orthodox liturgies is conducted as a dialogue put to music--almost like a classic Greek drama with three actors--God, the priest (who speaks for God and also represents the people of God), and the Choir (the people). The whole thing is interactive.
It only took me a few liturgies to see that the whole liturgical process is a dialogue, but it has taken many liturgies for me to begin to hear how deep this dialogue can go. The words are very often rich in symbolism where it takes a Bible passage and interprets it, very poetic (even in the clumsy English translations) and it becomes a perfect devotional blend with the music, which is always ethereal. The music direction must follow the tenor of the words, that is, the mood the music sets must be sensitive to the import of the words--hushed for humble and prayerful, triumphant and joyful when God triumphs, etc. I've heard it said by choir directors that Orthodox music must be directed much differently from Western Christian music. Orthodox music (in its proper setting) must never be conducted as a concert, but as a prayer.
Ray-- The 17th century Latin poem set to music I would really like to hear. I'm very fond of the settings by Ralph Vaughn Williams of George Herbert's poems. The poems of the Metaphysical Poets of the 16th century are very beautiful literature and several English composers have set them to music. You can find most of them on the EMI label. They make great devotional music.
But even these lovely poems/hymns/anthems are still not the dialogues I hear in Orthodox music. Perhaps it's because when I hear them I'm only hearing one half of the dialogue, the part that represents the devotion of the believer.
After your choir sang that 17th century poem, did any change their way of thinking about worship music? Are they re-thinking the issue of bringing CCM in your church as worship music now that they've heard what worship music can really sound like?
I will give some more thought about this business about dialogue in worship. I saw on Turner Classic Movies last week "the Jazz Singer" with Al Jolsen. If you remember it was the first talkie The story was about a young Jewish man who wanted to be a jazz singer instead of a cantor in his father's synagogue. The film was mostly a silent film with several interludes of synchronized sounds when there was singing. There was one scene that was very striking when the father and the congregation is singing in the synagogue--it was a beautiful scene and to me it showed a dialogic form of worship.
I think Al Jolsen gave up too much by becoming a jazz singer.
I believe I have heard "The Call", but I'm not sure. Who was the composer?
Regarding tempo, if one of our less competent choir leaders leads the choir in singing, often they go too slow. Most Orthodox music is slow anyway, so if we're dragging, we're really dragging. Feels like we're caught in a time warp where everything is elongated.
Our chanting of kontakia and troparia tends to be fast, mainly because we're chanting in English music texts that were written for Greek or Slavonic. English tends to be very cluttered with prepositions and articles, so it makes our chanting sound jumpy when it's not meant to be so. What we need are new English translations and/or some adjustment to the chant music to accomodate English.
Sounds like your church has prefers a diet of happy-clappy music. It's good that you got them to consider something else--too bad that alto wasn't willing to learn.
5 comments:
A quote from the article:
"Music has a principal role, since it expresses that sense of the sacred and sustains it through time."
This is true, but sacred music is supposed to be the dialogue of worship. Where it is not a dialogue, it is in danger of becoming a concert. Too many of the high churches have classical concerts, while the evangelical churches have rock concerts, but neither is forming the dialogue for worship. It somehow distances itself from the whole attitude of worship while worshipping at the altar of aesthetics.
Most of the music we do at Trinity is liturgical and in some sense a dialogue between the celebrant and the congregation. On Good Friday we did Requiem by Schutz that was mostly monologue, but the texts were profound and anybody who was following them engaged eternal questions.
Saturday evening I sang for the funeral of a man I didn't know but who had recently died at about 60 of Alzheimer’s disease. We opened the service with Onward Christian Soldiers. Then I sat down to listen to the comments of the family. Their comments put many things in perspective. It was disturbing to listen and then have to sing a song that I didn't know very well and that was in the style of many of the hymns I've sung at Catholic services recently. Maybe you know it: "On Eagles Wings".
The accompaniment was not very well crafted musically. I had trouble with it in the rehearsal just before the service, so my heart was pounding in the interval before I had to sing. I thought about what the song had to say in this context. It must have held some meaning for the family, because had they requested it. It’s a psalm setting and a nice tune, but not profound in the sense of the Schutz requiem or even in the formal dignity of our liturgy. But I thought, this is a hopeful moment in the service, and I felt strong in my own faith at the time and tried to communicate it. "He will raise you up on eagles's wings; bear you on the breath of dawn; make you to shine like the sun, and hold you in the palm of his hand." It came off pretty well. I think it communicated hope in a setting that wasn’t feeling very hopeful to that point. Music at a funeral is a strange element, but it often works.
I don’t know if that is what you mean by dialogical Karen, but I’m interested in hearing more about dialogue in worship. I prefer liturgical worship because it puts the emphasis on the elements of the mass instead of on the sermons and whatever else might be thrown in to a church service these days; guys riding in on motorcycles or what ever.
In the articles by William Mahrt, there is a lot about music as a dialogue between the congregation and God.
Mike--
I have noticed that the whole cycle of Orthodox liturgies is conducted as a dialogue put to music--almost like a classic Greek drama with three actors--God, the priest (who speaks for God and also represents the people of God), and the Choir (the people). The whole thing is interactive.
It only took me a few liturgies to see that the whole liturgical process is a dialogue, but it has taken many liturgies for me to begin to hear how deep this dialogue can go. The words are very often rich in symbolism where it takes a Bible passage and interprets it, very poetic (even in the clumsy English translations) and it becomes a perfect devotional blend with the music, which is always ethereal. The music direction must follow the tenor of the words, that is, the mood the music sets must be sensitive to the import of the words--hushed for humble and prayerful, triumphant and joyful when God triumphs, etc. I've heard it said by choir directors that Orthodox music must be directed much differently from Western Christian music. Orthodox music (in its proper setting) must never be conducted as a concert, but as a prayer.
Ray--
The 17th century Latin poem set to music I would really like to hear. I'm very fond of the settings by Ralph Vaughn Williams of George Herbert's poems. The poems of the Metaphysical Poets of the 16th century are very beautiful literature and several English composers have set them to music. You can find most of them on the EMI label. They make great devotional music.
But even these lovely poems/hymns/anthems are still not the dialogues I hear in Orthodox music. Perhaps it's because when I hear them I'm only hearing one half of the dialogue, the part that represents the devotion of the believer.
Ray--
After your choir sang that 17th century poem, did any change their way of thinking about worship music? Are they re-thinking the issue of bringing CCM in your church as worship music now that they've heard what worship music can really sound like?
I will give some more thought about this business about dialogue in worship. I saw on Turner Classic Movies last week "the Jazz Singer" with Al Jolsen. If you remember it was the first talkie The story was about a young Jewish man who wanted to be a jazz singer instead of a cantor in his father's synagogue. The film was mostly a silent film with several interludes of synchronized sounds when there was singing. There was one scene that was very striking when the father and the congregation is singing in the synagogue--it was a beautiful scene and to me it showed a dialogic form of worship.
I think Al Jolsen gave up too much by becoming a jazz singer.
Ray--
I believe I have heard "The Call", but I'm not sure. Who was the composer?
Regarding tempo, if one of our less competent choir leaders leads the choir in singing, often they go too slow. Most Orthodox music is slow anyway, so if we're dragging, we're really dragging. Feels like we're caught in a time warp where everything is elongated.
Our chanting of kontakia and troparia tends to be fast, mainly because we're chanting in English music texts that were written for Greek or Slavonic. English tends to be very cluttered with prepositions and articles, so it makes our chanting sound jumpy when it's not meant to be so. What we need are new English translations and/or some adjustment to the chant music to accomodate English.
Sounds like your church has prefers a diet of happy-clappy music. It's good that you got them to consider something else--too bad that alto wasn't willing to learn.
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