Key
Compositional Challenges - see also "Notes
& Thoughts" page
In
composing music for the anglican church in the 21st century, what should
be the priorities and the guiding principles?
Phil
Hughes: The
main objective of Church music should seek to be an enduring resource
for choirs and congregations not only of today, but for the unforeseeable
future.
One
must balance often conflicting forces to produce works which are original
and cliche-free, but yet which are also "beautiful" and approachable
by many types of listener or participant or both. In doing this, a balance
must be struck between fashionability and tradition: too much weight
given to either of these will defeat the main objectives. We must also
strive to simplify musical expression (not only because of finite
study and rehearsal times) whilst maintaining the music's emotional/devotional
impact.
The
following are quotations from an essay
on church music, "Music and the Word", by Reformation
of the Arts and Music (my emphases):-
"Our
culture is saturated with entertainment noise. We should understand
that music is not a commodity, but a Language, a means
for one soul to communicate ideas and experiences to another soul."
and
also:
'When
you are saturated with poor music,..., it is possible to lose the ability
to appreciate greater beauty. Music is a language, and the style of
music you enjoy may speak well within the limits of its own musical
vocabulary, but, because of its limits, it will not be able to speak
to as much of the human experience as can a style of music with a larger
musical vocabulary. A "classical" music vocabulary might have
the equivalent of 10,000,000 words, but a "pop" music vocabulary
might be limited to only 10,000 words. For example, both may
be able to say the musical equivalent of "why are you dissin' me?"
but only one would be able to say "wherefore was I to this
keen mockery born?" '
If
you are a composer of church music and agree or disagree with the above
assertions, then please do get in touch with
us. If you would like your work to be showcased
on this site, again, please contact us.
