The Bible and Music

I enjoyed listening to Dr. Saler talk yesterday in class, his passion and knowledge on Arvo Part made me very intrigued on this composer. In addition, the power point handout was very helpful. His background in dodecaphony was interesting, in that it seemed to have a lot of components, but it was still simple at some parts of the song. For instance, I thought there were a lot of different “segments or parts” in the song each with its own intensity and mood. On the contrary, each part was simple; it did not seem like there were a lot of instruments involved with each part. After he released a piece called “Credo” he fell into an unfavorable view with the soviets, that caused him to go on hiatus.

Dr. Saler, also, talked about how he developed tinitinnabuli technique. It was odd because when he played it, I thought it was soothing and very light, but I did not like it. It was too simple. Unfortunately, right after this I had to leave so I do not really know what was discussed after that

I greatly appreciated Dr. Saler’s lecture about Arvo Part today in class. Prior to this course, like he predicted, I had never heard of Part. The part of his talk that I found most interesting was in his explanation of the use and symbolism of tintinnabuli. Listening to the piece ‘Fur Alina,’ I thought this composition sounded a bit like a music box to me. I was confused on how to feel during the piece because it has a great element of beauty, however there is a sense of overall melancholy mood to the work. Therefore, I liked his explanation of the technique of coupling symbolizing the combination of beauty and suffering in the world as well as the capacity for sin and forgiveness. This was very insightful to me, and it made me appreciate the compositions we listened to for class more knowing the depth behind the music.

On Friday night, I had the privilege of attending the Indianapolis Symphonic Choir’s performance of Mendelssohn’s Elijah. As this was my first time attending a symphonic choir, or any performance of this type, I did not know what to expect. In preparation for the performance, I brushed up on my Biblical history to recall the story of Elijah in hopes this would help me follow the performance a little better. My biggest fear in attending the performance was not being able to understand the music or its Biblical references. However, despite this general fear, I was very excited for this new experience, and I certainly was not disappointed.

Upon arrival, in addition to realizing I was greatly underdressed, I was struck with the immediate beauty of the concert hall at the Palladium and the impressive size of the choir. Feeling a bit like a fish out of water, I was anxious for the lights to dim and the performance to begin. I simply cannot describe the feeling of amazement I experienced when the conductor motioned for the choir to stand and I heard the great force of the choir’s first note. It was then that I realized the powerful nature of the collaboration of skilled musicians and the moving effect of a live performance. Even after listening to many online recordings of similar performances, I was not prepared for the strength of the sound.

After recovering from the initial amazement of the choir, I found that I was having great difficulty understanding the words being sung by the choir and the soloists. I recognized the great beauty of their voices, but I wished I knew the words behind the emotion they were conveying with their song. I have found I often have difficulty in pieces we listen to for class as well, but in the live performance, I did not have the luxury of searching the lyrics online to follow along. Thankfully, soon into the performance, I realized that the program would be my saving grace, pun intended, because the words were printed in the program. I found that I enjoyed the choir even more when I could also follow the story of Elijah. However, as nobody else in the audience was referencing their program, I feared this behavior might be rude or disrespectful and tried to be discrete about it. I then found myself wondering if those around me were just appreciating the beautiful music or if it is possible to develop an ear for understanding the words to these types of musical performances.

What I most appreciated about reading the words alongside the performance was that each line was cited to its Biblical reference. Being able to see the passages that were referenced in each song gave me insight to how a long piece of music, like Elijah, can be created from multiple books of the Bible. I was most surprised when passages from the New Testament, like Matthew, would be referenced in the construction of a piece about an Old Testament prophet. Indeed, one of my favorite pieces of the performance was partially referenced to Matthew 13:43. The tenor sang, “Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in their heavenly fathers realm. Joy on their head shall be for everlasting, and all sorrow and mourning shall flee away forever” (Mendlessohn’s Elijah). At the end of the play, I found this promise to the people to be uplifting.

Perhaps more than anything else I took away from this experience, I felt privileged to witness the sheer passion and love each member of the choir, symphony, soloist, and audience member had for the art of music. This evident joy inspired by the music was very moving, and it is obvious why the Indianapolis Symphonic Choir is celebrating its 80^th season. This was the first time I attended the symphonic choir’s performance, but I am sure it will not be my last.

Today in class Dr. Saler came in to speak with us to talk about the most performed living composer in the world, Arvo Part. One of the things he said that really stuck with me was when he gave the example of how one would say “thank God” after almost getting into a wreck but making it out okay. I haven’t given much thought to how I think God plays a role in what happens on earth. This really got me thinking, trying to find my stance on the question. He also passed around one of the books written about Arvo and when I looked at it the things that jumped out to me were some of the weird drawings throughout. Some of them were musical notes written by Arvo, which I found really cool. I know have something to go home and think about.

Arvo Part is not only the most performed living composer in the world, but has also had this title for six years. He is heavily admired, not only by classical artists, but rock musicians as well. Part’s pieces are usually very slow, long, solemn, and have a lot of depth. His compositions are often associated with the term “holy minimalism”. “Holy Minimalists” such as Gorecki, Taverner, and Part are explicitly religious and compose using sacred texts. His compositions have very little melody and very little tonality, but are easy to tell apart from other compositions. Arvo Part created a new style of tonality that became known as “tintinnabuli” or “little bells”. His first piece that used this technique was “Fur Alina” and was composed in 1979. What is most striking about Part’s compositions is that, regardless of if you’re religious or not, you will still notice the oppositions that are symbolized by his “tintinnabuli” technique. The two notes that are played together throughout the compositions can symbolize several oppositions. These complimentary notes can symbolize sin and forgiveness, good and evil, and even life and death. Part’s tonality and technique is unique from other composers and is what sets his compositions apart from those of other composers.

Today I had an interesting conversation with my co-workers about worship services and singing. All three of us are Catholic, and we were talking about our favorite songs played throughout the Lenten season. At one point my co-worker Patty, expressed how disappointing it was when she finds herself to be the only one singing during mass at her parish. Barb and I chimed in that we too would also run into this problem. I would be in church, singing my worship for Jesus, when I have a realization that everyone around me is completely silent, leaving me the one lone singer in our pew. Patty joked that she doesn’t even have a good singing voice, but she still sings loud and proud! I have often wondered two things: one is why are some people afraid to sing during church and two, is this more of a Catholic issue than a Protestant issue.

So why would someone be nervous to sing worship songs during the religious service they attend? Sometimes Dr. McGrath will ask us to sing a few notes in class in front of our peers and our responses are dead silence. It is easy to feel embarrassed and shy in front of students your own age in a small classroom. However, churches are usually bigger than a Butler University classroom, and you are usually around a more diverse population, full of families and older couples, not just fellow college kids. To me, this would make the atmosphere easier to sing in. However, some people still cannot find their voice in church during song time. I think some individuals believe that singing should be left to the professionals in the church choir or whoever is leading the song at the front. Some are just not into singing.

I grew up in the Protestant Church for most of my childhood before converting to Catholicism. Even while attending Catholic Mass I will still visit my friend’s Protestant Churches from time to time. I notice a huge divergence in music between both churches. Protestant Churches tend to have more upbeat music, with live music, guitars, drums, and modern day singers. Catholic masses tend to have quieter instruments, mainly the organ and piano, with older more traditional hymns. The songs are slower and less modern-sounding. This could be a reason why millennial Catholics relate less to Catholic music and do not sing as much.

Has anyone else in class experienced this?

I’m was very pleased with listening to what Dr. Robert Saler opinions were about Arvo Part.The only previous knowledge that I had of Part was the link that was shared with us. The piece was extremely neat to listen to. It was calm, collective, and emotional. I loved that kind of music because it was one of the pieces that I most connected to this year. I know that I typically skim over music like this type because it has never appealed to me; however, this piece has changed my entire viewpoint of music. It was a wonderful piece.

I thought this performance was amazing. I did not know exactly what it would be like but was interested to find out that the performance was done by the Indianapolis Symphonic Choir, Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra, Indianapolis Children’s Choir, and four opera singers. I think my favorite part of this performance was hearing the choir join in with the orchestra. The choir was loud and emotional and really added to the story of Elijah.

At our arrival at the Palladium we were given a brochure that had the words the choir and opera singers would be singing. This was extremely helpful because it was hard to actually hear the words that were being sung. The venue itself was beautiful, ornate, and intimate. There was a good crowd but it seemed that  anywhere you sat was still a good seat. The children’s choir was a nice surprise. They were in the balcony behind us and sang a couple parts. It was cool hearing the contrasting voices of the youth verse the adults that made up the choir. Overall I’m glad that I went and I feel more cultured after hearing it.

Cool side note – I know a soprano in the symphonic choir. Her son was on the middle school tennis team that I coach for.

I am excited to hear how our speaker talks about Arvo part. The music played on the piano was very intentional, calming, and played with a lot of emotion. I liked how the comments mentioned that its important to focus on each sound as each blade of grass is as important as a flower. Without each sound in the song, the entirety of the song would be incomplete.

I’m excited to hear what Dr. Robert Saler has to say about Arvo Part. Using the link that professor McGrath shared with us, I read about Arvo Part and watched the video of Part playing music and talking a little bit about it. I thought Part’s piano playing was very calming, and I could tell that a lot of emotion was portrayed through his music. The text states, “His music gets labeled as timeless, spiritual, and meditative.” The one thing I was confused on is the multiple mentions of pain being expressed through his music… I would like to know more about that. Overall, it is very cool that Part is the most performed living composer!