Catching Up

As you can probably tell, I am becoming busier with course work and so I will not always be able to write on a daily basis, but I will certainly try. The last two days I have been finalizing three presentations for this week. They have entailed more than just reviewing the assigned chapters. This is all so new that it is necessary for me to do a lot of research in order to put a subject into context. This week I will report on communion as a genre of chants of the Roman Mass, on the Patristic Polemic, which was the actions of the early church fathers in the third and fourth centuries to banish the use of all musical instruments from use in the church because of their view of the moral depravity associated with use if instruments. The actually had legislation that could end up with the dismissal of a cantor or anyone from taking up an instrument and persisting in its use. The truth is that Christianity's earliest beginnings root in Judaism and the synagogue, where instruments were not a part of the liturgy. It was more about the use of instruments in society that concerned the early church father, though they made little distinction.

The last piece is on the music of the Temple of Herod, or the second Temple built in Jerusalem in 70 AD. Apparently the playing of instruments accompanied sacrifice in the Temple, which by that time only occurred in the Temple in Jerusalem. Synagogues existed elsewhere with no means of sacrifice, so there was no need to instrumental accompaniment. Vocal cantillation of the sacred text was the rule. See how much I am learning!

On Saturday I attended a day long seminar at Glenstal Abbey on the life and music of Hildegard von Bingen OSB, a 12th century nun with extraordinary abilities to compose elaborate and beautiful chant that is perfect for a soprano like me. The day was more like a retreat with some singing and opportunities to listen to Gregorian chant sung by the monks of the Abbey during Noon Mass and Vespers. We spent time walking the grounds after lunch and chanting in special places along the way, and then we were led to a place in the woods, a magical place filled with rock mazes over grown with the greenest moss, stone piles, and figures from many religions and traditions spread out through the forest. It was awe inspiring and if I ever own land again,with a similarly wooded area I will try to recreate the sense of the sacred in a similar way.

Noirin Ni Riain, an Irish soprano and theologian, and specialist in Hildegard was the workshop leader. I had participated in a week long graduate seminar with Carol McAmis,vocal professor, and Noirin in 2005 through the Ithaca College School of Music. It was a student from that class who later that summer told me about a world music program in Ireland. And it was the remembering of the conversation last September that led me to discovering the Irish World Academy of Music and Dance and here I am. Oh the interconnectedness of our journeys. It was wonderful seeing Noirin. I look forward to other opportunities to work with her while I am here.