Of Chairs and Art

On Wednesday, Marty Haugen came and spoke with a group of us. I'm not a huge Haugen fan, but I love the idea of what he does. He writes religious music for the masses, as in throngs, as well as masses, as in worship services. Some of his music is flat, but a huge chunk of it is singable and most people I've spoken to like it. Again, it's good for what it is.

I do however, truly, 100% respect him. He does nothing without thinking about it and has reasons for it. I may not agree with his logic, but at least it's there.

One comment he made was that Liturgical music or arts, unlike some other arts, is closer to making a chair than creating a sculpture. He says that one can create the most beautiful chair ever created, but in the end, people have to sit in it. If it doesn't serve that purpose, it ceases to be a chair. What good is a chair that cannot be sat upon? Likewise, what good is congregational song that the congregation cannot sing?

Hebrew

So, I'm taking Biblical Hebrew this J-term. Now, you can read a lot about the language by following that link, but I'm going to tell you everything you need to know right now. (That is, unless you actually need to know Hebrew).

Hebrew is a language without vowels, so to speak, so people had to invent them in order for it to be read by people like me. That is, idiots. So, these "points" were added, but it's still confusing.So, in order to read pointed Hebrew, one has to memorize the little dots. For example, the first vowel on the list, a patach, looks like an underscore _ under the bet, but it is really a pointed vowel. Full-blown Hebrew has no _'s in it and one needs to be smart enough to know which is which. So make matters worse, look at the last vowel, a kamatz, this is a T under the bet. It makes the same sound, or similar enough that I'm not supposed to learn the difference. Oi! I guess I'll just learn Hebrew and be done with it.

By the way, it is a fun language to learn. I do recommend it.

Introduction

This is to serve as a more academic relation to my other blog. I have a tremendous fear of "academic" writing, so I will write her to get the nerves out. I do welcome comments, both on quality and on the topic, but please be nice--there is a real person behind this blog.

Leading

There are a few things I've learned about leadership while watching people at Seminary. One of the biggest things is that sometimes leading means not being in control. And sometimes the best thing for a group is to relinquish that control and not force it.

One example of such control is during the liturgy, especially during the praying of the Lord's Prayer. Most everyone in Seminary has to "lead" the prayer, which means that no one is praying. Also, it adds to the confusion of who to follow. If everyone has a different idea of which tempo to take the prayer and everyone is leading, no one will be praying together, which is, of course, the point. If none will subordinate and be part of the congregation, then no community will happen. Community is one of the reasons for liturgy.

Part of leading the liturgy, at that point, is to allow the community be that community. When the Psalms are being sung or read it is the same situation. If every person tries to chant at a different rate, then the Psalms are pointless. We are only a community when we lose control and let these things happen.

However, the other side is that there needs to be someone to start things. If it was time for the Lord's Prayer and there was no appointed leader to start the prayer, the congregation would be lost and not pray then either. Likewise, if the organist allowed the congregation to simply sing how they wanted to, the congregation may not be able to sing many of the hymns accurately. This is particularly a problem since the organist must be sensitive to what the congregation needs from them. Sometimes they need to follow the congregation's tempo, sometimes they need to follow the organist's.

I guess this is part of the tricks that musicians and other leaders in the church or other groups need to realize and be sensitive. The reason I brought it up was that the "congregation" at Seminary has yet to realize that they need to be a community in order to be a congregation, without the quotes.