Category: Uncategorized

Today in class (10/28), we focused on a style of music labeled “Holy Minimalism”. John Rutter is a famous composer of this style. When reading the interview he did with varsity, it was very interesting to learn that he himself is not religious, yet is known for the religious music he writes. His first submission… Continue reading Music and Acting

Today we started class by listening to different music than last time. It was a calm and soothing instrumental piece. We talked about a more modern composer, Arvo Part, which is different than what we have done in most classes. He is a composer of classical and religious music. With his music, he wants listeners… Continue reading Arvo Part & John Rutter

Listening to some of the more modern music in class today really struck me. It made me realize that music truly is a universal and timeless language. It is no wonder why Biblical texts and other sacred texts are frequently set to music. We have listened to A LOT of different types of music in… Continue reading Modern Music

As we listened to the Arvo Pärt piece in class today, I couldn’t help but notice the similarities between this piece and those that we have previously discussed of the Classical Era. When I personally think about modern music, I imagine drums, keyboards, and maybe a few guitars. The ideas of this modern piece that… Continue reading The Modern Classical Tunes?

Music is often a marching zone for people’s freedom, it’s a way to relate and release their emotions. Sometimes when watching different scenes and acts in a show or movie, you’ll see a trick or something you find cool and when you dig into it to find out how it was done, then sometimes it… Continue reading Influence of Music(extra blog)

In class, we listened to a composition by John Rutter. Even though his music was very pretty, he is not a religious believer and is agnostic. This brought up the topic, “Is it okay to not be a religious believer and still set Biblical text to a melody?” While I am a believer, this question… Continue reading Rutter in the Bible & Music

Something interesting I found from the lecture today is the idea of someone who is not religious having to set a biblical text to music. Professor McGrath proposed the idea that if you are not religious but still have to accomplish the task of setting biblical text to music, you could “pretend” or “act” like… Continue reading Acting

In class on 10/26 we explored the musical experimentation put forth by Arnold Schoenberg. The method that stood out the most to me was his serial music approach. In this method, all 12 of the possible notes on a modern western instrument must be used once before repeating notes. Personally, I do not like this… Continue reading Schoenberg’s 12 note method

Alan Hovaness song played during class is a peaceful, calming song. It’s doing things that tradition music does, it’s doing modern and from the 20s sounds. Then towards the middle it isn’t calming, it is very haunting and sounds like tv static. The ripple before it, there’s a crescendo of eerie/scary movie type of sound.… Continue reading Different Melody’s

In class on 10/21 we began with talking more about Christian children’s songs. The class before, we shared our choices on zoom. Almost all of the songs shared had a verse or a story in the bible they connected to. Some examples included my song choice, “This is my Commandment” which correlates to John: 15… Continue reading Christianity in Media