The Bible and Music

Dr. McGrath sent us some music composed by Frank Felice prior to his visit to our class.  The thing that I took away most from his music was its ability to demand your attention.  For example, I started listening to his work while I was working on some other homework.  I soon found myself drifting off into the music – unable to focus on the homework I was trying to work on.  I was eager to meet the composer in person whose music grabbed my attention.

Frank Felice is very similar to his music – demanding of your attention.  He started with audience questions and my favorite one was: “Does composing require a lot of trial and error, or does it come naturally?”  Frank’s response was that it requires both.  This made me think back to his work that I listened to.  I appreciated that he was able to capture the mood of the biblical text they were inspired by.  Listening to it, it seems so natural to make the compositional choices that he did, but that is loaded with hindsight.  It’s like the invention of the swivel chair – it seems so obvious when it’s made, but it takes a lot of creativity to think of before it’s been invented.  Planning out each note and capturing a lighthearted, playful mood is very different from capturing a dark, intense mood.  Even someone who is naturally inclined to compose has a process of trial and error in order to perfectly capture the mood of their inspiration.