Sacred Music

This semester I'm singing in two choirs, taking voice lessons and a course on K-12 Vocal Pedagogy. Vocal performance was my weakest point in studying music and I'm hoping to strengthen my voice, it's helped with score reading and playing brass instruments as well, anything where I need to hear pitches in my head.

The point of this post though, is I've run up against a huge amount of sacred music in this endeavor. 

This is not surprising. If you look at the history of music, it's hard not to believe that about 90% of vocal music is sacred music, written for worship. This is 90% (if not more) of everything, all vocal music leading up to and including everything heard on broadway, on the radio, everything. In studying it, there's no escape. I don't have any particular problem with sacred music, in fact I enjoy listening to much of it. Baroque Cantatas, so many settings of Latin Masses. I recently joined a church, specifically for the purpose of singing in its choir. Yeah, I'm going to hell. Anyways. I sing through a mass twice a week, settings of psalms, everything, without blinking. The music director for Sacred Heart is a renown conductor and arranger and his music beautiful in its simplicity; clear, reverent and austere. 

Sacred music is fine, it's great; faith inspires people to creativity beyond what they expect of themselves. 

My problem is gospel music. For a few reasons.

A.) I find praise music deeply disconcerting.

B.) I feel completely out of place singing something like "Keep yo' hand on de gospel plow" But I feel even worse placing stress on the syllables of your and the when they're missing.

C.) I can't deal with people clapping while they're singing. It feels wrong.

D.) I desire a feeling of reverence when singing something like this, and despite the rich history of gospel music, it fails me in that respect.

People tell me I should feel joyful in my faith when singing this music and it just lays bare the fact that I don't know what I believe, question too many things to be enraptured.

Also, despite the syncopation and blues scales, I don't find it challenging or aesthetically pleasing. I'm a snob. 

The CSUS university chorus is singing one piece of which I highly approve. It's called You Are the Music (you have to click the name again, twice). Give it a bit to get past the soprano and horn solo, there's no time stamp but starting halfway through is good enough. Without mentioning one biblical word, the piece inspires reverence, and makes one believe -just for a second- in divine inspiration.

Whereas this leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

I've found that actually singing sacred music provides an incredible shift in perspective. However, thankfully, not nearly enough.