Defining the Awe
of Religious Music
By Robert R. Schwarz
Music is an inherent part of
every society. The unearthly sounds
of throat-singing in Mongolia
and Siberia are as important to
their cultures as Bach is to
European cultures or drum-driven
song and dance are to Native
American cultures. Since music
is such an important part of
life, it should not be surprising
that the Bible says much about
it; in fact, the longest book
in the Bible is its song book—Psalms. ( from
" Got Questions.org",
a volunteer, non-denominational
ministry )
He who sings well, prays twice . ( Saint Augustine of Hippo )
He pulls in
to the small parking lot of the Graham Memorial Presbyterian church ; it is a
small church attended by many senior citizens proud of their several decades of
worship tradition. Tamaron , wearing a
black suit jacket and green shirt, takes a final glance in the rear view mirror, alights
from his car and heads inside.
He walks to
a small room and is greeted by the music director Vicki , a woman in her
mid-sixties who, sensing Tamaron's
nervousness, immediately puts her applicant at ease with a sincere,
welcoming smile. Tamaron will remember
her as a "youthful appearing woman with no false nature. "
He will also remember how his nervousness now increased because Vicki was "so nice , " and that meant he
had to please her.
Vicki soon
was at an upright piano playing two songs which Tamaron had never heard. Standing behind her, this young man with his baritone
voice sings both selections, one an
opera aria. Vicki then picks up a hymnal
, hands it to Tamaron, and requests that he sing a particular hymn . Not only
is Tamaron completely unfamiliar with the piece but he must sing it without any
accompaniment other that the one note Vicki now taps on the piano.
Today Tamaron
will tell you that by his standards he did poorly, yet Vicki offered an
"encouraging word" after he had finished singing and then asked him
to come back in an hour to meet the choir section . Her invitation brings a smile to his heart. When
he returns after a turkey sandwich at a nearby outdoor café, Tamaron is
introduced to 18 men , most between the ages of 70 and 75.
This is the choir section which
Tamaron would direct if hired, and when he reflects on what they would expect
from him—improve their musical accuracy, sound, and tone quality—he begins to sweat.
But at day's
end, Vicki asks Tamaron if he'll take the position. " I'll
do it right away!" he says.
Tamaron later
describes this climax: " It was at this moment that I realized this isn't
just a job; it would be a family ; it felt like home ! A place I wanted
to be , a place in my life that had been
missing. "
12 Years Later
" Taste and
see the goodness of the Lord ."
(
refrain of a hymn inspired by Psalm 34 )
Tamaron—or
"Tam", as he is known—is once again waiting for an audition, though
this time confident of his professional
skills, which have been honed by 12 years of
directing church music. He sits
in a darkened church sanctuary , waiting to be ushered down
to the church basement . There he will be evaluated
for the position of music director of the St. James church in Arlington
Heights , Illinois . St. James, with its more than 12,.000
parishioners and five choirs ( three
adult , one children's, and a teen choir ) has an illustrious history of producing
semi-professional Broadway musicals in which one or more or its three
priests frequently make cameo appearances.
 |
| As the baritone soloist at a high school honors music festival |
Tam
wants to know more about the sound quality of the sanctuary and begins to test it by listening to his own
whistling. Minutes later, he is downstairs and being introduced to one of the
choirs and to the music director search committee. The church pastor, Fr. Matt Foley, will arrive
later. In a no-nonsense business tone , Tam
is told, "You have 30 minutes . " At
that moment , he remembers the advice given
from other music directors: Use time effectively.
Tam's final
test comes when he is asked to direct the hymn, " Taste and See." It happens to be his favorite , and it allows
him to express his core belief: We
always have to sing our faith. When the
choir sings it, Tam feels "connected" to everyone in the room ,
especially the choir members, whom Tam perceives are enjoying this same
connection. He is also feeling what he had felt intensely in that
small church room 12 years ago: I am at home !
Fr. Matt has
arrived , and he perceives that the
singing has energy unusual and spirited . It is exactly what Tam wanted to
achieve. The priest shares what he has just felt with Tam , who later say during our interview,
"I knew then that I really wanted the job . "
A Music Director's Challenges and Some Opinions about Music
During our
recent interview in Tam's small , task-filled
office,
he talked openly and often
candidly about work and life. One
quickly notices that he runs on high voltage and welcomes meaningful conversation . He is a tad
over six feet tall, has blue eyes and
dark brown hair, and wears glasses. His workday clothes were khaki pants, a
necktie, and a checked dress shirt with sleeves partially rolled up .
 |
| With new bride Natalie |
Since his singing roles in the Lyric Opera
chorus included the tragedies " Faust " and the " Damnation of Faust, a logical
question was : What in life makes him
sad ? "People who can’t see
life for the goodness and possibilities that can be, " he replied. Hatred and homeless people
also sadden him . He tries not to read
newspapers too often. As for what gives him happiness, it is his wife , Natalie,
and three children: Julian 7, Claire 4, and
Daniel, 15 months. "I know it
sounds sort of dorky, but I really do love coming to church on Sundays. I just
love being here with everybody and
glorifying God. " For fun, he
plays a lot of basketball at a local X-Sport Fitness. He's a Cubs and Bulls fan and has remained
loyal to the Los Angeles Lakers . And he
loves to "make a good steak for the family. "
Tam weighs 180 pounds, a 100 pounds less than when a high school
senior. He admits dieting was perhaps
his biggest life challenge,
especially making up his mind to say no
to certain foods and realizing he could
not be in complete in control of his life.
It was a year of discipline with Weight Watchers. The result:
" It changed my life. I became more of a take-charge person. "
"Music
has always been a part of my life and has been at the heart of my faith and
spirituality," Tam said. He grew up
in a house "always filled " with music. "My dad was a drummer, and my sister
and I were always performing different things for my father and his friends who
came over. Tam's mother used to dance with a modern ballet company in Los
Angeles. Tm started playing the piano at age six . " Because music was all he knew when he started
college, Tam today advises youths who
seek a career in music —a career known
to often be financially unrewarding—to have a backup career
in mind.
The Eucharist
Prompts His Conversion
In 2006, Tam
began attending the Catholic mass with his wife and two years later made his profession
of faith after attending classes of the church's Rite of Christian Initiation of
Adults. Music had played no small role in Tam's conversion. While
attending the Catholic mass , he had been
giving rapt attention to how its music and liturgy
"had this elegant flow . " He also
had thought a lot about the church's "beautiful faith history" and
how the Eucharist seemed to be "
drawing him into a faith I longed to be a part of. "
 |
| Dad , baby Claire and son Julian |
Tam wants his
St. James congregation to sing wholeheartedly so they will then sing as one
"communal" voice . " When that occurs, " he said with some
passion, "It's a really moving
experience and helps people grow in faith. When I sing, I try to let myself go and let my spirit in. " His personal favorites are
the Mozart and Verdi requiems and Bach's
" Saint John Passion", whose chorus he has sung with several times.
In
discussing how Americans since the
1960's have radically changed their
taste in popular music , Tam said that listening
to today's hit tunes is "an altogether different experience; a lot of it
is pointless and repetitious and without
a meaningful message of love or loss. Some of it can be very crude. "
Two
technical questions (perhaps with obvious
answers?) were posed to Tam: What's the fundamental difference in sound quality
between a high school orchestra and a top professional one; and, can an
orchestra play well without a conductor ?
Good orchestra sound, Tim explained, occurs when the musicians , after years of experience, blow
and bow their instruments with greatly
matured skill and when the orchestra "blends" its music
and faithfully follows how the music score, its style and dynamics
( softness and loudness ) . With singers, he said, it's a matter of how their voices have
seasoned physically. "The quality of a really good singer is how softly can he or she sing those low notes with
the audience still able to clearly hear the text. "
Challenges and
Goals Today
Music
naturally has a prominent role in a large parish like St. James with its almost
80 ministries. No wonder then that Tam's
biggest daily challenge is organizational or, as he said, "keeping the choirs and
accompanists informed as to what's going on. " Another full-time challenge he expressed this
way: " Because you have various
levels of experience and talent , you don't want to squash anyone's desire to lift his or her voice up to God . It's not necessarily how
good each musician is; it's working hard to find the choir's singular
voice ." He works especially
hard to help a choir "hone its vowels " and fine tune its sounds. "It's a difficult
tight-rope act because you want them to lift up their voices to God to make their singing a prayerful
experience. If the choir gets
passionate about a song they're doing, then
you can get a sound that's from heaven. " The director, he added, must inspire and motivate a choir as would the manager of a champion
athletic team .
Tam's other goal? " Right now, I'm living my dream. I want
to help inspire others to reach a deeper
level of understanding of Christ and to deepen their faith through music. "
He paused, then affirmed: " And I want to be a good father and
husband, because at the end of it, family is the most important thing for me.
"
THE END
All comments are
welcome.
© 2016 Robert R.
Schwarz
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