Softening Opposition to Hard Church Music

(for our church newsletter) On his way from the parish hall to church Sunday mornings, Bob Kuzniak frequently sings his favorite hymns and songs of the Big Band era. He likes music to be "uplifting."

So he voiced some doubts about our use of unfamiliar service music by living composer Gerald Near. It wasn't uplifting, he said; it doesn't have a tune.

I pointed out that Near is emulating ancient chant. Bob appreciates the difference in chanting. Instead of fitting words to a tune, the composer of chant elevates the text, sometimes stre-e-tching syllables for emphasis. A communion hymn for a recent service was like that, "Where true cha-a-rity and lo-ove dwell" (Hymnal 606). Unlike tunes, made of repeated phrases with chords and a beat, a chant is all melody, smooth and sweet. Our word melody derives from meli, the Greek word for honey.

Bob conceded that some songs are uplifting even when they don't swing like the Spiritual that the choir sang last week. There's a piece Bob loves, with instruments playing chords under a flute melody. It all builds slowly to a high point, then falls. It's not a tune, but it's very musical and uplifting.

Gerald Near, from the web site for the PRM program Pipe Dreams

This week, by coincidence, the choir's anthem follows that same trajectory, reaching a climax at the text "They shall mount up with wings as eagles" (Isaiah 40:31): the voices rise while the chords in the organ add glorious color to the eagle's flight. Guess who wrote it? Gerald Near!

Bob also conceded, as we'll be singing this music through late November, "I'll get used to it."

Still, for Bob's sake, I've started sketching out service music that we might use in the future, based on Glenn Miller tunes. But we have to wait 16 years until Miller's songs go into public domain. Until then, you can imagine the Gloria to the tune of "In the Mood," and "Sanctus" á la "Moonlight Serenade."