Church musicians and new Papacy
Catholic musicians on both sides are already asking questions about what is in store and what the new Papacy will mean in their parishes, and in their lives as Catholics. Traditionalists, naturally, are elated, and ready to plunge more deeply into the Church's treasury of sacred offerings. Those advocating postconciliar views on music will be shaking in their boots. One reason, to be sure, is the difficulty of delving into a style and literature that is largely unknown to them. Reactions may be severe: there is no motivator like fear of the unknown, for good and ill.
We all, musicans and non musicians, struggle to relate our experience and the experience of our own time and culture to a tradition that can appear ancient, and plainly put, outdated.
Pope Benedict XVI, in his writings on liturgy and otherwise, has stressed the need for truth and purity of form in the Church and in our lives as Christians. Nowhere in the Bible or in his example did Christ promise us an easy time of things, and it is in fact the responsibilty of all of us, regardless of our station, to follow Christ's model in our acceptance of suffering in striving for that perfect union with God. This struggle predates the Incarnation, and will continue beyond any point in time within our own earthly comprehension.
Those looking for support for their own agendas in the newly chosen Vicar of Christ, be they political, ethical, or even musical and liturgical, must remember this. They must also be reminded of the limited and specific situation into which God humbled himself to take on human form. He didn't chose a time or place that makes immediate sense or was accessible to everyone, due to the limitations of ongoing worldy time and varying cultural conditions.
Musicians, as much as anyone must strive to understand that time is not our own. Moreover, we are obligated to apply the gifts of skill and creativity we've been given as artists toward spiritual perfection in our own lives and in our parishes. We must never forget that time, truth and purity of form are God's own direct model for our lives and work of suffering.
The demands of truly sacred music are uniquely challenging. Sacred music requires a willingness to go beyond pleasing ourselves and our immediate listeners alone. Sacred music requires humility and sacrifice and loving service to the God the Father and his Church.
Let us not do away with the Church's musical tradition and purity of form in the context of liturgy because it is not borne of modern experience. To do so is to question the wisdom of the act of Incarnation itself.
We all, musicans and non musicians, struggle to relate our experience and the experience of our own time and culture to a tradition that can appear ancient, and plainly put, outdated.
Pope Benedict XVI, in his writings on liturgy and otherwise, has stressed the need for truth and purity of form in the Church and in our lives as Christians. Nowhere in the Bible or in his example did Christ promise us an easy time of things, and it is in fact the responsibilty of all of us, regardless of our station, to follow Christ's model in our acceptance of suffering in striving for that perfect union with God. This struggle predates the Incarnation, and will continue beyond any point in time within our own earthly comprehension.
Those looking for support for their own agendas in the newly chosen Vicar of Christ, be they political, ethical, or even musical and liturgical, must remember this. They must also be reminded of the limited and specific situation into which God humbled himself to take on human form. He didn't chose a time or place that makes immediate sense or was accessible to everyone, due to the limitations of ongoing worldy time and varying cultural conditions.
Musicians, as much as anyone must strive to understand that time is not our own. Moreover, we are obligated to apply the gifts of skill and creativity we've been given as artists toward spiritual perfection in our own lives and in our parishes. We must never forget that time, truth and purity of form are God's own direct model for our lives and work of suffering.
The demands of truly sacred music are uniquely challenging. Sacred music requires a willingness to go beyond pleasing ourselves and our immediate listeners alone. Sacred music requires humility and sacrifice and loving service to the God the Father and his Church.
Let us not do away with the Church's musical tradition and purity of form in the context of liturgy because it is not borne of modern experience. To do so is to question the wisdom of the act of Incarnation itself.
3 Comments:
Thanks, Arlene. I think we have a great opportunity ahead of us for the revival of sacred music in the Church. Millions have now seen and heard a style of liturgy that is wholly reverent and beautiful. And hundreds, if not thousands, of discouraged Church musicians will take heart and begin to educate and share their love and enthusiasm. And blogs like this and the Recovering Choir Director will be a fantastic resource for us all.
Thanks Arlene, for the good points. Though I must admit being mystified over the expectation of a top-down renaissance of sacred music. Have not the particulars of church presentation always been in the hands of the local musician? It would seem to me that if some or many parishes languish on a level lower than reasonable expectations, that will not change by simple fiat from the top. Quality and artistry cannot be commanded like turning in a report on time. Such things need to be cultivated in the human spirit, beginning with the music student, and continuing with people who are in positions of music leadership.
I would hope traditionally-sensitive musicians would realize the opportunity for teaching and mentoring good church musicians has always been with us. No one has ever legislated against that.
When I first entered the music ministry, I was disappointed to find that very little was expected of church musicians. (And incidentally, this was also reflected in the pay offered for full-time ministry.) Shouting passed for 'singing', especially where children were involved, and I sooned learned not to expect teens and adults to come to choir with the ability to read music. I was educated to appreciate all styles and genres of music, and to respect how different styles of music worked better in varied contexts and events. Even in liturgical music, my objections have not been so much that early music, classical music and other high-art music was beyond the abilities of the average music volunteer. What saddened me most was the fact that not only was this repertoire slowly being forgotten, but it was even ridiculed as 'dead white guy music', and so on. Far from seeing this as a top-down requirement to immediately reinstate a badly neglected style of sacred music, although I hope there is such a renaissance, I see it as an opportunity to raise the level of quality in all styles of liturgical music, and to gain a better understanding of what is appropriate for the liturgy or a certain part of the liturgy, how all these elements fit together (you might call this good taste) - an opportunity that challenges those of us who have put in the time to make music a science and a profession to a new vision in which we can be servants. We can enthusiastically assist our musicians and singers to appreciate liturgical music as a channel of God's grace, and thus place a high priority on excellence in delivery and versatility in terms of our knowledge and ability to handle a variety of styles. And, yes, I do look forward to hearing and singing more polyphony and chant. I've been out in the wasteland far too long.
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