Christmas 2011/Advent 2012

Christmas 2012/Advent 2012

Charles Hulin IV, 2012

As many of you know, 2010 to the present has been a turbulent time in our home because of the dynamics of a difficult adoption process. Due to this unpredictability, I unexpectedly found myself traveling to Lasker alone last December for my annual Christmas concert. Several friends joined me there for a performance of my Advent cantata, The Promise of a Child, which Kathy would have conducted if she had been able to travel with me.

As I looked around Lasker, I was moved by the many changes in the landscape since the previous July. Hurricane Irene had ruined rooftops and fruit trees, and the grove behind the church was mostly gone.  Across the street, a modular home had sprung up where stately magnolias had bloomed just a few years back. Being in this changed scene without my mate heightened my awareness of my own uncertainty and of the pain of dear friends in the area. Those feelings threatened to eclipse a bit of what I thought I knew about my own purpose and work.

But travelling an entire day by car to play that performance did remind me of the value of my work, or at least of my own level of commitment to it. I had made my way past scores of towns, over various terrains, and across numerous state lines to share an hour or so of music. I was reminded that while my December 2011 journey to Lasker was unique to me, a performer’s path to Lasker is now a well-worn way of self-discovery that is sometimes taken at a pivotal point in one’s life.

My very first experience of Lasker Baptist Church was an evening worship service during the Christmas season of 1995. I was home on break from Juilliard and we had driven over from Bertie County. It was a cold night, but there was great warmth of spirit in the love of the Lasker community.  I played for the congregation to sing “Silent Night” in a moment that was deeply sacred to me: I felt and heard the “glories streaming” of the hymn text, and I also knew the tenderness of my family finally being at home.

In subsequent years, I have often thought of the Bethlehem of the first century and how Lasker might be just a bit like it, at least in its size and the interconnectedness of its citizens. Also, Lasker is a place people travel to, just like Joseph’s Bethlehem.

A great many people travelled to Bethlehem that first Christmas, and their journeys were also uncertain and unique. Mary and Joseph undertook their uncomfortable, inconvenient trip just to be turned away, perhaps by their own family. The shepherds, no doubt desperate for any bit of good news, came in from their work outside the village. And the Magi were making their way from who knows where through the territories of hostile and suspicious potentates. They all trod those paths to worship.  On arriving, they met one other who had journeyed a very long way – Jesus from Heaven on high.

I think we also travel to Lasker to worship. Perhaps this type of travelling is the most “Christmasy” thing we do. Some travel with spouses or children, some with friends, and others make their way alone. For others still, the journey consists of a thought or a movement of the heart. And in practice and performance we travel from one moment of worship to the next, from glory to glory.

However we make the journey, we do travel to worship and to meet.  And like that first Christmas, the meeting can only happen if both earthly and heavenly parties travel to a common point. The stirring of the worship senses requires God and us.

Let us draw near this year.

Reflections 2011

by Charles Hulin

I think we became a little more focused this summer on the unique things we can offer because of the way the Festival is organized.

Due to the intimate nature of the gathering – a few musicians at a time being blessed by the lovely hospitality of a small community – we are able to provide rather personalized retreat experiences for our participants. I enjoyed the opportunity to spend extended periods of time discussing and rehearsing in groups which were  sometimes as small as two members! Through such activities, it seems to me that we were able to keep searching until we found just the insights each of us needed. I usually pray for that to be the case.

Since the Festival is brief, and it also has a bit of a reunion quality for those who return, it provides an opportunity to be re-set and refreshed, as our charter says. There is a sense in which the years of gathering in Lasker are one ongoing activity in which we all share and from which we can live a life of integration. Dr. Falby drew my attention to these dynamics once again with a few concluding statements during our last morning together in July. While discussing our return to our usual employment, he put it something like this: Remember being together in Lasker. You take your own motivation to your job. Your institution brings other things. You’re bringing Lasker to your job.

In terms of performances, there were many highlights for me. It seemed to me that everyone felt good about their performing  this summer.

I thought Katelin Hansen’s unaccompanied singing of spirituals was especially deep and well-expressed.

It was great fun to make music with my wife and son in both creative versions of Liszt works and sacred works of Latin composers.

I was also very pleased with the Liszt emphasis of our concert series as I believe the variety of Liszt’s music was well-represented through our combined efforts. Josiah Antill’s Ballade No. 2 performance was particularly meaningful to me as it was, in a way, a capstone on his years of collegiate study and a touchstone as he prepares for a new life as a newlywed and with new employment. As a pianist, I was personally moved by Joshua Russell’s performance of the Dante Sonata. Joshua is a superb performer and his rendering was much more than a passing display of talent. It was a probing human event. I think his earnest way of confronting the meaning of this work and conveying it at the instrument was a great example of how a Christian musician can make the most of his or her gifts.

And as always, Jeremy McEntire’s easy-going spirit and fine flute playing were a blessing to us all.

On the last night of the Festival, the David Esleck Trio inspired and invigorated everyone. As the first jazz performers in our fourteen years of meeting in Lasker, they did a fantastic job of demonstrating the spirit, elegance, and precision that we all strive for whether we are classical, jazz, or folk-based, etc. Their performance also reminded us of how deeply rooted the great jazz standards are in the American musical landscape. Whether or not listeners are jazz fans or are even particularly interested in music, they know and resonate with the sounds of these works, especially when played so well.

It did our hearts good to see Rev. Joe McLean back in our midst this summer. Rev. MacLean was a seminary friend of my father’s, and he spent most of his career at the Baptist church in Jackson which is just a few miles from Lasker. He presided over my father’s funeral and provided a very powerful reading of James Weldon Johnson’s “Go Down, Death” on that occasion. He later served as interim pastor of Lasker Baptist Church. Through the years, Rev. MacLean and his wife have been great supporters of the Festival, and in 2000, he participated as the scripture reader for Christopher Dillon’s creative presentation of Bach’s Goldberg Variations. In recent years, Rev. MacLean has undergone some health challenges and spent much time regaining the greater use of his limbs. After an absence of years, he walked into the sanctuary one night this summer with only the assistance of crutches and enjoyed an evening of music and fellowship. That was a sight we had prayed for but weren’t sure we’d ever see. I am very grateful it came to pass.

Creation Analysis

Genesis 1: A Creative Model

      Day 1          Day 2   

      Day 3          Day 4

      Day 5           Day 6

      Day 7          Conclusion

When the Lord created his works from the beginning, and in making them, determined their boundaries,he arranged his works in an eternal order, and their dominion for all generations.They neither hunger nor grow weary, and they do not abandon their tasks.They do not crowd one another, and they never disobey his word.Then the Lord looked upon the earth, and filled it with his good things.          Sirach 16:26-29

This beautiful passage is an emblem of the excellence of God’s creativity. The Lord did indeed determine the boundaries, establish an eternal order, and fill the earth with good things.

We human artists create by finding fresh organizations of the wonderful and fascinating materials God made: light, sound, waves, particles, physics . . . and human nature.

A few years ago in Lasker, Dr. Paul Scaringi spoke eloquently and convincingly about the idea that being made in God’s image might mean that we, too, create. The image of God that appears in Genesis 1 is the image of a creative being.

Dr. Scaringi’s thought-provoking message has opened my eyes to the possibility of reading Genesis and other Biblical books through the framework of creativity, both God’s and ours. This “Creation Analysis” project is one of the results of that inspiration.

Might it be that in creating, God set forth a pattern that continues to be evident in the
designs of our own creative work? Could it be that the outline of the unfolding of the creation of the world in Genesis 1 highlights facets and relationships that are present in all created things? It stands to reason that God’s way of creating defined the possibilities of ours.

The posts that follow explore the idea of taking the first chapter of Genesis as a model for our own creative work in music. Application of this model can raise consciousness as we analyze works, and that consiousness can shed light on our efforts at composing music and crafting interpretations for teaching and performance.

My own attempts at coming to grips with understanding and conveying the organization of a work of music have often felt one-dimensional, fragmentary, or disorganized to me – “half-baked,” as my teacher would put it. It has been my experience that working through the ancient model presented in this project can put what one already knows about the organization of a piece of music into a compelling and cohesive context of faith. Thus, the procedure is, at least for me, a remedy for half-bakedness, both musically and spiritually.

Creation Analysis provides a Biblical framework that emphasizes the close relationship between the experience of music and the flow of time, music’s multi-layered organization, and its multi-dimensional relationships to the broader world. It aids us in not losing sight of the fact that a piece of music is a unity, the parts of which are arranged as a purposeful process. Having experimented with this approach with my students at Southeastern University, I have noted that it also has value in assisting the more visually-oriented and less conceptually-minded students in understanding concepts of musical design.

One way this project might work would be to make your way through each of the eight posts that follow, one a day, in your practice or study time. I would recommend choosing the same piece of music to view through all these lenses over the course of the week. Such an approach has an advantage in allowing the concepts to prove their usefulness through your sustained involvement. You should expect each day’s post to invite you into a specific musical orientation while also bringing a spiritual focus to your practice session. Links to the posts have been included at the top of this page for convenient access.

 

After an initial week of this type of work, I am sure you will find many creative ways of adapting the approach or creating something new of your own. I have used this method to critique a recording of some of my own ensemble playing so as to make the next performance better. Over the course of an afternoon, I listened to the recording seven times and considered a different layer of the organization on each repetition. Within each layer for which I listened, I discovered some moment or moments in which my interpretation (or, more honestly, my habits) were out-of-sync with the actual music. The result of this process was a very pointed fine tuning of my playing. Working through the seven layers as you listen to a student perform can also help to organize and explain your reactions and understanding of their work.

As you experiment, I strongly encourage you to share some of your findings in the comments section for each day. The more each of you shares, the more we will all learn and discover.

In conclusion, I want to comment on the image at the top of this post and the images that accompany each of those to follow. Many of you will recognize that the picture above is photograph of my mother (and the original “Festival Mom”) standing in the Lasker Baptist sanctuary. She would have turned 74 this week, and I am dedicating this project to her. It is a kind of collaboration with her as the other images are photographs of paintings of hers that I have matched to the themes of the days.

In describing this project as a collaboration with my mother, I realize that my entire life is a collaboration with her. She taught me much about being creative and about the layered-ness of the creative process. Many times I watched or helped her choose and prepare a surface on which to paint. Then she sketched the forms and applied some basic colors to large areas of the canvas. Then there was the mixing of colors on the palette which led to a greater sense of perspective on the canvas. Finally, delicate brushes and painting knives were skillfully used to bring the composition to life.

Even more than this, she taught me how to live creatively in God’s image – how to see beauty, how to use the time you have, how to connect with others through all sorts of interests, how to prioritize the development of your gifts, how to share your gifts, how to nourish growing things, how to love and endure, and how to give your life to Christ.

Thank you, Mom. It all means more every day.

Charles Hulin IV                                                                                                                    November 16, 2011

Creation Analysis: Day 1

In the beginning when God created^* the heavens and the earth, ²the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of  the deep, while a wind from God^* swept over the face of the waters. ³Then God said, ‘Let there be light’; and there was light. ⁴And God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness. ⁵God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.

At the beginning of the Genesis 1 creation narrative, God is described creating a cycle of time – evening and morning, the first day. How a transcendent God could move and act in relationship to time and its confines is a mind-bending mystery. Yet without this mystery, it seems that we who live in time could know nothing of God.

Time is the medium through which the knowledge of another is acquired. This creation narrative begins with God’s self-revelation in time through which we learn that God is a creator who declares things to be good.

We humans also come to know each another through time. Such knowledge cannot come instantaneously. It grows and develops through repeated exposure. We become part of each other’s lives as we commune where we live or over distance through technological means, and when we visit in each other’s neighborhoods.

A musical performance is a distintive enactment of these facts. Audiences come together for spans of time to focus on being with another. That other is the performer. This is part of the special energy that exists between audience and performer. Through this profound ritual of communing through performance, more of what it means to be human can be revealed.

Returning to Genesis, it seems that the creation of the day-and-night cycle of time made it possible for the rest of creation to unfold in a way that would be meaningful to us. Without that evening and morning, the writer could not have gone on to tell us about what happened on the second and third days . . . And without that series of days, we would know nothing of the orderliness of God’s creative endeavor.

Music is a time art, and creative work in music requires a meaningful articulation of the flow of time. Segments of time are the spaces in which music is built and the canvases upon which it is painted.

While we musicians sometimes focus a great deal of attention on organizations of pitch, other listeners frequently express their experiences of music in terms related to time: “I like this song because it has a good beat.” Since we make music in the midst of a varied community of listeners, it seems worthwhile to consider the experience of the many non-musicians to whom we hope to minister. It might sometimes be the case that our specialized training and approaches focus our ears on things that are far from the conscious experience of the majority of our audience members.

As you meditate on your music today (ie. as you practice), consider its movement through time.

What is the tempo?                                                                                                                              What is the meter?

Do the tempo or meter change?

What are the phrase lengths?

Are there significant rhythmic motives?
Do they repeat?                                                                                                                                       Do they change?

Are there any surprises regarding the piece’s movement through time?

Is your rendering really in tune with the trajectory of the phrases and the expectations they create?

Creation Analysis: Day 2

And God said, ‘Let there be a dome in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters.’ ⁷So God made the dome and separated the waters that were under the dome from the waters that were above the dome. And it was so. ⁸God called the dome Sky. And there was evening and there was morning, the second day.

This passage seems to speak of form, and form is closely linked to phrasing. Whereas phrases are more local level patterns that help us to feel the articulation of the flow of time, form involves larger scale patterns that we might note as they begin and end. Then, we process the fuller implications of those big-picture patterns using our memories of them. Groups of phrases add up to such sections, and sections are a higher level articulation of the flow of time. The overall form is comprised of the grouping of such sections. This is a very clear example of how music, like other creations, is multi-layered in its organization.

Moving from the articulation of the flow of time to form early in our analysis helps us put the details in perspective. Performances sometimes leave us with a desire for more detail or more sweep. One without the other fails to reach the level of creative tension necessary for a compelling work of art.  Reflecting on form early gives us a global view that provides an understanding of the details in the context of the overall sweep.

As you ponder your music today, consider its high-level design:

What are the piece’s sections?

What are their relative sizes?

How does each function?

How does the music move from one section to another?

What is the overall form?

How can you articulate the sections of the form?

How do you hear the details in the context of the big gestures?

Creation Analysis: Day 3

And God said, ‘Let the waters under the sky be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear.’        And it was so. ¹⁰God called the dry land Earth, and the waters that were gathered together he called Seas.          And God saw that it was good. ¹¹Then God said, ‘Let the earth put forth  vegetation: plants yielding seed, and fruit trees of every kind on earth that bear fruit with the seed in it.’ And it was so. ¹²The earth brought forth vegetation: plants yielding seed of every kind, and trees of every kind bearing fruit with the seed in it. And God saw that it was good. ¹³And there was evening and there was morning, the third day.

On the third day, God caused the dry land to appear and to bring forth vegetation.

I see the land as being analogous to harmonic structures from which melodies and accompaniments arise, and I think of the plants as the various textures and accompanimental patterns we encounter in a piece of music.

As with using movement in time as a starting point, examining accompaniments before looking at the melodies they accompany may be a little unorthodox, but there is some logic to it. First, examining accompaniments flows naturally from a consideration of sections since our perception of sections can be influenced by changes in accompanimental patterns. Second, sometimes we might focus on melody at the expense of our awareness of the beauty and intricacies of the accompaniment. Third, considering accompaniment before melody encourages us to be aware of the lively interplay between melodies and their musical settings.

Harmonies, accompaniments, and textures are all often distinct markers of musical styles. They can also endow music with a sense of growth, and we human beings relate deeply to things that grow. Contemplating the great diversity of vegetation, the myriad art forms of nature, ministers to us.

As you study today, explore these questions.

What gives a sense of growth in the music?

What are the harmonic materials?

How do the harmonies progress?

What types of accompaniments and textures are found?

How do they contribute to a sense of growth and development?

What sort of environments do they provide for the melodies?

How might you convey the precise life and character of the accompaniments?

Creation Analysis: Day 4

And God said, ‘Let there be lights in the dome of the sky to separate the day from the night; and let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and years, ¹⁵and let them be lights in the dome of the sky to give light upon the earth.’ And it was so. ¹⁶God made the two great lights—the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night—and the stars. ¹⁷God set them in the dome of the sky to give light upon the earth, ¹⁸to rule over the day and over the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good. ¹⁹And there was evening and there was morning, the fourth day.

On the fourth day, God created the lights in the dome of the sky that are described as being for signs. There are many things that can act as signs in a piece of music, both on the score and as the music is heard.

We become acutely aware of musical signs during musical transitions. Sometimes these signs are new melodic ideas that will be explored in depth in the section that follows the transition. Other times, a single unexpected pitch serves as a sign as it begins a modulation to a new key. Harmony and melody often meet most meaningfully at the level of sign since a single pitch in a melodic line can change the course of the harmonic progression.

Many times, signs such as dynamics and expressive markings shed light on the form.

Today, as you examine your score and listen to how the work finds it way, consider the following.

What sheds light in this music – on the page and as you hear it?

Is the music lit by the sun or the moon?

What things function as signs in this music?

What are the signs of change?

What do the various signs tell you?                                                                                                      Why are they there?

How can your knowledge of these signs guide you in highlighting the course of your music in performance?

Creation Analysis: Day 5

And God said, ‘Let the waters bring forth swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the dome of the sky.’ ²¹So God created the great sea monsters and every living creature that moves, of every kind, with which the waters swarm, and every winged bird of every kind.   And God saw that it was good. ²²God blessed them, saying, ‘Be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.’ ²³And there was evening    and there was morning, the fifth day.

On the fifth and sixth days, God created the animals that move in the air, in the sea, and on the land.

Within the world of a piece of music, the melodies might be the animals. They move through the accompaniments and textures that enliven the surface of the form. Just like animals in a landscape, they draw our attention. They also have characteristic ways of moving as well as specialized ways of relating to their surroundings. Some are carried along by their accompaniment, others crawl through their environment, while others, still, are barely distinguishable from their setting.

Let the following questions guide your exploration of the melodies in your music today.

What is the nature of the melodies?

What is their range and tessitura?

How do they move?                                                                                                                                    Do they bow? Leap? Walk? Run? Fly? Creep? . . .

How do they relate to their surroundings?

How do you need to inflect them to convey their essential and unique qualities?

Creation Analysis: Day 6

And God said, ‘Let the earth bring forth living creatures of every kind: cattle and creeping things and wild animals of the earth of every kind.’ And it was so. ²⁵God made the wild animals of the earth of every kind, and the cattle of every kind, and everything that creeps upon the ground of every kind. And God saw that it was good.

26 Then God said, ‘Let us make humankind^* in our image, according to our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the wild animals of the earth,^* and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.’ ²⁷ So God created humankind^* in his image, in the image of God he created them;^* male and female he created them. ²⁸God blessed them, and God said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth.’ ²⁹God said, ‘See, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit; you shall have them for food. ³⁰And to every beast of the earth, and to every bird of the air, and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food.’ And it was so. ³¹God saw everything that he had made, and indeed, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.

Before the sixth day was finished, God created a very special kind of animal – the human being. This
seems to be the climax of the Genesis 1 creation narrative.

To me, seeing our creation as the climax has nothing to do with us dominating the rest of nature.
Instead, I think its climactic quality stems from the fact that we appear to be the part of God’s creative work that completes the world. To suggest that the moment of our creation is the climax is to recognize the special intimacy with which God created us and to sense the deep personal investment God has made in the human race. Incidentally, I learned this from listening to the emotion in my father’s voice when he read from the Bible about our creation: “So God created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them, male and female he created them.”

So when we search for the climax of a piece of music, we might do well not to assume that the climax is the moment in which the most power is expressed. A broader view, which I think reflects this passage, is to see musical climaxes as moments that express a sense of wholeness, and do so with joy, a high degree of personal warmth, and, perhaps, vulnerability.

As you seek for the crux of the music as hand, sensitize yourself to the following.

What is the shape and goal of each phrase?

What is the shape and goal of each section?

Where is the climax of the entire piece?

How is each of these moments created?

Are you treating some passages like climaxes that are not really?

Are you performing the actual climaxes with a sense of abundance?

Creation Analysis: Day 7

Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all their multitude. ²And on the seventh day God finished the work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all the work that he had done. ³So God blessed the seventh day and hallowed it, because on it God rested from all the work that he had done in creation.

On the seventh day, God rested.

Here the Genesis 1 narrative moves beyond issues of dominion, and everything is in its place.

Sometimes we become so focused on what we think of as the action of a piece of music that we lose sight of the profound quality of resolution that comes at its close. Most pieces of music convey some sense of rest as they end. This might involve pages and pages of music from which all the dissonance has been removed or it could consist of a single chord. Either way, our awareness of where and how resolution takes place affects the attitude with which we perform and the meanings that our performance might convey.

As you come to the end of this creation analysis project, contemplate the resolution of the work you’ve been studying.

What techniques does the composer use to bring the piece to rest or closure?

What is the quality of that closure?                                                                                                          Peace? Joy? Tragedy? Resignation? . . .

What musical factors contribute to that quality?

How can you convey the specific quality of repose that is achieved?