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Iain Quinn
The Founding and Development of the Trinity Chorister Program
The Trinity Chorister Program (Trinity Episcopal Church, Hartford, Connecticut) was founded in September 2000 to provide children from the Greater Hartford region with an opportunity to sing the finest sacred music written for treble voices in weekly services. Currently there are 23 children enrolled in the program which meets every Monday and Thursday for rehearsals and each Sunday for the 10:30 am service. The children are attracted to the program from a wide variety of backgrounds, and since the beginning of the program a significant outreach of the parish has been served with many families joining the church as a result.
The choristers sing repertoire ranging from Gregorian chant to contemporary works. They represent the parish at regional and national courses of the Royal School of Church Music and this summer will represent both the diocese and the state as they sing the liturgies at the National Cathedral, Washington D.C., for "Connecticut Day."
- What are the plans for the program in the future?
- What has been the greatest challenge since the program was founded?
- What has been the greatest success since the program was founded?
Jason Roberts
Secular Music in a Sacred Setting: Luther and Early Reformation Contrafacta
Most of Luther's chorales were contrafacta: that is, they placed a new text over an existing melody. I examined the sources for Luther's tunes and found that he borrowed almost exclusively from sacred sources. A repertory of popular religious folk songs served as his greatest resource. I also posed the question of what can be learned from Luther's attitudes about sacred and secular music.
Three Questions:
- Why is there no equivalent today to the popular, sacred repertory of Luther's time?
- How was such "popular" music received in church at the time?
- What connotations do today's popular styles carry with them in contrast to the styles of Luther's time?
Melanie Ross
Liturgical Theology through an Evangelical Lens
[abstract not available]
Daniel Sullivan
J.S. Bach's Goldberg Variations
Through a very incomplete and cursory examination of Bach's Goldberg Variations this presentation sought to introduce the audience to some of the most elementary and basic organizing principles of western art music as well as to situate the Goldberg Variations within this privileged form of art as one of its most spectacular and monumental achievements.
Three questions you WISH you had been asked following your presentation
- What is the point of making music; or why did and do people compose it?
- Why do you make music?
- What is the role or purpose of music as you see it?
Sidney Symington
Thespian Theology
This talk explores and celebrates the connections between the performance of narratives and their spiritual power. Mr. Symington advocates development and prioritization of theatrical activity in faith communities as a sublimely affective tool for theological exploration and community enrichment. He notes the loss of intrapersonal integration brought about by scientific achievement; whereas the several areas of human consciousness once came together in the venues of our faith traditions, modern lives are increasingly splintered. Mr. Symington admonishes faith communities to nurture art programs, especially drama, as a vital element of spiritual formation.
- How does doing drama in the faith community prepare people for their lives outside in society?
- What if people are shy, have stage fright, or just don't like performing in front of a group?
- Could you say more about embodied theology, especially from a Christian persepctive? What is it about Christianity that demands doing beyond word and worship?
Paul Weber
Messiaen the Theologian
This presentation dealt with the use of religious symbolism in the music of Olivier Messiaen. Messiaen described his own musical language in theological terms, and this project attempted to examine the use of this musical language to communicate a theological message in the Messe de la Pentecôte of 1950. The presentation gave a summary of Messiaen's chief compositional tools before focusing on the third movement of the Messe, entitled "Consecration."
Questions:
- Can music have meaning in and of itself?
- What is significant about the delivery of a theological message through the medium of music?
- How does extra-musical meaning enhance inherent musical meaning?
Evan Wels
Bernstein and His Chichester Psalms: The Fine Line from Times Square to Lincoln Center
[abstract not available]
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