To many of my generation, classical music is unfamiliar and, sadly, unappealing.
I was lucky enough to get a fair bit of exposure through my childhood music education, but must admit that I still feel very ignorant of the standard classical corpus. I have a lot of respect for classical repertoire and those who play it, but it’s been rare that I find a piece I’ve really felt an emotional connection with. As a church chorister, there were certain pieces that I particularly enjoyed singing, and some which became emotionally resonant just through being a frequent part of that phase of my life. There have been some classical pieces outside of church music which I’ve loved. For example, much of Carmina Burana, Rodrigo’s superb guitar concertos and some of the pieces I played on saxophone (e.g. Mussorgsky’s “The Old Castle” from “Pictures at an Exhibition”).
In fact, I know enough to recognise the blunder of even using the term classical as such a catch-all, especially since all the pieces mentioned above sit firmly outside the classical period (1750-1830). But to most people my age, ‘classical’ music is just a synonym for pre-20th century, orchestral, old-fashioned, boring…
But surely there must be a future for these works which have stood the test of time, beyond just the dedicated performers and the (ever-dwindling) crowd of elite music appreciators who pay to hear them play live?
The progression of classical music into the Romantic, Impressionist and increasingly dissonant styles of the 20th century led to some strange and interesting aural innovation – but perhaps at the cost of becoming even less relatable to members of the general public. How many people d’you know who enjoy listening to John Cage or Edgard Varèse? A few years ago the Washington Post ran an experiment where world-renowned violinist Joshua Bell performed anonymously in a subway station – and barely drew a second glance from passers by.
So what is the future for classical music?
Well, I’m far from qualified to try to offer an answer to that vast and imposing question. But I think a part of it must be re-establishing the connection between the classical composer or performer, and their audience.
Classical Music on the Social Web
I wanted to share two particular examples I’ve recently found encouraging.
Since I first heard about Movember a few years ago I have felt duty-bound to take part – and guilty that I never quite found the nerve. Well, this year is the year!
The Movember Effect: Awareness & Education, Survivorship, Research
The funds raised in the UK support the number one and two male specific cancers – prostate and testicular cancer. The funds raised are directed to programmes run directly by Movember and our men’s health partners, The Prostate Cancer Charity and the Institute of Cancer Research. Together, these channels work together to ensure that Movember funds are supporting a broad range of innovative, world-class programmes in line with our strategic goals in the areas of awareness and education, survivorship and research.
The official rules of Movember:
You can learn more about Movember here.
I may have bent rule #4 slightly at the start of the month, but my mo is growing strong now! Visit my profile, where you can see in-progress pics, and donate to me or my Movember team: (more…)
This is part two in a series of posts on music in the Catholic Church. Part One covered my background and experience of Church music growing up.
So what does Church music look like today? Well it’s often very much that traditional hymn-singing I talked about.
But there are a few other types of church music…
Raise your hands
One mode of modern church music is what I think of as “Happy-Clappy” style. That’s too disrespectful a name really, but it’s the kind of music where you’re singing songs rather than hymns, the words aren’t based on scripture but are much more informal and secular-sounding, the music is more poppy and modern. Often there are actions (I must confess I cringe just saying that) and there’s a lot of clapping and waving arms in the air.
For a long time I was absolutely dismissive of this.
There’s a body of church music coming from African-American Gospel music, which is more upbeat, lively, and, well, ‘clappy’. I respect that as a genre and a mode of worship, although it isn’t one I’ve ever identified with. I think that’s the influence behind the rise of guitar-based poppy music in Catholic churches, often as part of youth outreach efforts, or children’s masses.
In dedicated family or children’s masses I think the agenda is different, and I think that style of music definitely has a place there. But until recently I would have been pretty resistant to its inclusion in any other masses, where I feel it’s mostly a distraction.
Waking up
I was given cause to rethink this by my experiences in Madrid this summer. (more…)
As I mentioned in my last post, the World Youth Day trip I went on this summer was particularly inspiring for me on the musical front. I’ve long been involved with and interested in church music, but the WYD week exposed me to some new and wonderful types of worship music (along with some old familiars which I like to varying degrees!)
This is the first in a series of posts on the topic of music in the church, inspired by the new music I encountered on that trip.
As it was in the beginning…
I grew up attending Catholic mass every Sunday with my family, which about half the time featured sung hymns. Depending on which local church we went to, some of the mass setting (e.g. the Gloria, Sanctus, etc.) might be sung, but for the most part it was hymns from a hymn book, accompanied by piano or organ.
I like hymns.
There are some fantastic hymns, and sung hymns can (if well chosen and well led) be a wonderful addition to a church service.
However.
The big curse of church hymns is that more often than not, they are performed at a snail’s pace, leaving even capable singers struggling for breath by the end of each tortuous line, and giving you so much time for your thoughts to wander during each verse you’re surprised the thing ever ends! Don’t get me wrong, I’m not some weirdo with a fetish for super-speedy hymns. I’m just looking for a reasonable tempo that’s something approximating speaking speed; enough to give the words some meaning and allow natural phrasing.
I recently had the opportunity to attend the enormous World Youth Day event in Madrid: a gathering of 1.5 million young Catholics from all over the world, joining together to express their faith, celebrate their religion and show support for the church and its leader, Pope Benedict XVI.
Despite the coverage in the UK media focusing mainly on the few thousand protestors, the city was absolutely dominated by positive youthful energy and exuberance, and it was truly a wonderful thing to be a part of. I loved seeing the city alive and loud, and people sharing and interacting in a way you never get on the streets of London. Such a spirit of joy and friendliness in people, with all their defenses down. To a born-and-bred Londoner like myself, accustomed to the buttoned-up “every man for himself” attitude so prevalent in big cities, it was a strikingly different and uplifting atmosphere.
Did you notice I said loud?
The occupation of Madrid was not a quiet, respectful, peaceful one. Far from it! The streets and public transport of central Madrid were alive in conversation and greetings (¡Hola!), but even more so with song and chant, in a huge variety of languages.
My name's Christopher Sutton and this is my personal blog. You can learn more about me