kulture kafe

Beauty and the Gospel

2011-09-30T18:47:00.000-07:00

Some of the time, I think the people who read these posts never finish them. So this one is quite short. There's an article about this subject in the July 2010 issue of Tabletalk. The author may amuse, anger, or encourage you depending on your world and life view. Curious? Go to this link and check it out:

http://www.ligonier.org/learn/articles/beauty-gospel/

I welcome your reactions in the comment box. You may want to email the author (me) with a personal comment, which is also okay.

Getting our helmets on right

2011-09-21T06:49:00.000-07:00

I noticed in Tabletalk (Ligonier's devotional journal) a reading from Ephesians 6:7. Here, Paul admonishes Christians to "take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God." For Roman soldiers, getting their helmets on right was critically important. With the helmet protecting the head and eyes --the nerve center of the body --battle had cognitive, intelligent goals.

I know this verse well enough, and usually relegate it to the 'spiritual readiness' motif found in this letter. But this morning I found something else to celebrate. Paul admonishes his readers to don their helmets in the same sentence as he advises us to take our sword --the Bible --right into battle. We have no vikings or celts to slaughter in this era. What we do have, I would argue, is the onslaught of intellectual frass that is regularly cranked from our culture's print, video, and audio media.

The Tabletalk article for September 21 notes that this helmet of salvation means that Christians arm themselves with certainty about our redemption, but it goes further. "Furthermore, it demonstrates that we will work to accomplish His purposes for the church, the firstfruits of God's redemption, in line with the instructions of the Lord." Here is a beginning. But I want to go deeper. God's supposed purposes include gospel transformation of the surrounding culture --which includes the arts.

So what does this mean for followers of Kulture Kafe? I believe our helmet is key to discerning the empty philosophies of Warren Buffet, or Lady GaGa, or any of the current icons of pop culture. And, if truth be told, it should likewise help us discern the often empty teaching of certain televangelists and pop psychiatrists. In the Word, we have the clear teaching of God's word on all the various items that we encounter daily --the economy, the education of children, the abuse of the internet for commercial and political gain.

I thank my wife for pointing me to another application from David Powlison in Seeing With New Eyes:

Learning the gaze of God, we come to weigh life aright. We discern good and evil, fair and foul, lovely and degraded....To think Christianly is 'to think God's thoughts after him.' ....Our glasses ae sometimes rosy, sometimes jaundiced, sometimes bluesy, sometimes mirrored on the inside of the lens. The madness in our hearts generates warped spectra. But God sees all things in bright, clear light --and this God is the straightener of crooked thoughts. He makes madmen sane.

The 'mind of Christ' is no mental list of theoretical doctrines.. His gaze brings with it ways of experiencing, patterns of appropriate reaction, and a game plan for engaging what he sees....When the Word became flesh, Jesus lived all God's communicable attributes on the human scale.

Take heart, all who create things of beauty. With Christ's redemption of your life, you inherit a helmet for the battle with ugliness and evil on all sides. Don it, straighten it, and keep the visor clear for the way ahead, because you will need it daily.

Review: James Marriott's Organ Recital

2011-08-27T20:22:00.000-07:00

Several dozen listeners attended James Marriott's recital last Friday, even though Central Floridians seldom give up their Friday evenings for classical music. Maybe it was the promise of Marriott's decision to play several organ 'chestnuts.' Or maybe it was the now-familiar sound of Saint Andrew's newly installed Swartz organ of 70+ voices, which has been showcased before. This recital was one of the most memorable to date.

Marriott opened with Widor's clamorous Toccata from his Fifth Symphony. Despite a few nerves marring rhythmic clarity, it was an exciting rendition. The artist then directed the crowd through a hymn in which he improvised handily through multiple verses. His use of the organ as an orchestra through deft choice of stops and timing was remarkable.

Outside of the hymns, the organ selections included works of Bach, Reger, and Dan Locklair. Marriott delivered the selections with good taste and skill. It was Marriott's improvisations throughout the evening, however, that continuously arrested my attention. The highlight, variants on "A Mighty Fortress" with audience participation, gave evidence of the organists's true genius.

When I think about how rare an occasion it was, and how few took advantage of it, I am reminded of C. S. Lewis's statement in The Weight of Glory,

We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.

Those who did come, however, were treated to a delightful program. I welcome your responses to this review, especially if you are one of the faithful who came to the recital.

James Marriott Organ Recital Feb 26

2011-08-13T19:08:00.000-07:00

James Marriott will give an organ recital on Friday, August 26. The 7:00 p.m. program is free to the public, presented through Saint Andrew's Arts Series*. I encourage you to come and meet the artist after the recital.

Mr. Marriott will play Bach's great Prelude and Fugue in D Major (BWV 532), easily one of Bach's most difficult works. In particular, you will hear rapid-fire scales played on the pedals, parts with TWO voices in the pedals, and a rhythmic, 'perpetual motion' fugue that ends in rippling arpeggio figures between hands and feet.

On the program also, Mr. Marriott plans to present 4 hymn events, complete with improvised or composed interludes that reflect the hymn texts; also Max Reger's Introduction and Passacaglia and Widor's Toccata from Symphony 5 will round out the evening. I recommend this program with enthusiasm.

Stand by for another Kafe gathering event.
--Dr. Terry Yount

*Saint Andrew's is located minutes from I-4, at the SR 46 exit north of Orlando. The address is 5525 Wayside Drive, Sanford, Florida 32771.

Pop Culture Part 4: Forging a New Paradigm

2011-07-18T21:08:00.000-07:00

Quiet Reflection is Not Enough

I relish those rare moments when, together, all of us – pop, crossover, classical, ethnic, ambient, commercial --work for transcendence. Art produced for quiet reflection may be superior to other forms, but it is not enough.

Still, we face the threat of ending up as background to an increasingly hostile working environment. It seems to me, we must resist the impulse merely to coexist. We are, after all, artistic partners. Though we may differ in medium and constituency, we may refuse to surrender to the barbarians at the gate. Their concept of what art is about is flatly more dollar-based than aesthetic-based. Though often faced with compromising aesthetic merit for economic survival, we can survive together.

The Simple Solution

This brings me to a counter-cultural paradigm for artists. We writers, painters, musicians --all of us --will be more effective in solidarity with each other as messengers of beauty in all its manifestations, than in conflict.

Why We Must Change

You may wonder how long we must endure aesthetically weak art in every genre. The short answer is, we are the ones standing in the way of cultural change. Transcendence may need to take a back seat to solidarity with other artists. To make matters worse, pastors and theologians quickly take sides in the culture and worship wars, making peace with our collaborators more difficult. Is it possible that God wants solidarity, not only between Christian artists but between theologians and armchair critics? Perhaps then, and only then, postmodern people, whose tendency is to reduce all art to a baseline of utility and mood management, may be surprised at our mutual appreciation for beauty across traditional divides like style.

The challenge for us all in the West* (especially in the Christian West) is to remain open to various cultural expressions, but never give away the farm to mediocrity. Artists of every kind, who are steadfastly pursuing, teaching, advocating, and creating their best work will continue to rise above mere mediocrity. Hopefully, in the process, we will together produce timeless works for this age and generations ahead.

Terry Yount

[this is the 4th in a series of posts]

*There is an exciting body of work being produced in the East, the Third World, and around the globe. This article concentrates on the currently troubled and divided industrial cultures in Europe and North America who have replaced their rich cultural heritage for what some pundits have termed 'a mess of pottage.'

Pop Culture, Part 3

2011-07-12T19:20:00.000-07:00

Contentment, Banjos, and Taste

Johann Sebastian Bach

I was groomed to be a participant in the professional music scene. I was trained to be a competitive, contest-winning musician in the rarified atmosphere of a School of Music (Eastman). Because of all the exposure to musical perfection on CDs and in concert with conductors like Rafael Fruhbeck de Burgos, Robert Shaw, David Zinman, and Pinchas Zuckermann, I had become an elitist. But like the man said, 'we all change.'

Bela Fleck

It really dawned on me at a Bela Fleck concert. Fleck is a largely self-taught banjo player, jazz musician and crossover artist who defies description. His playing is technically pure. His musicality is infectious. He plays a mix of styles, from Bluegrass to Bach. And he enjoys playing with college students in a jazz ensemble. I was sold.

Andrew Yount

It also happened as I watched my son, a touring, professional rock guitarist, become a musical 'artist' in his realm. It was no small concern of mine that he played entirely by ear as a young musician. Hearing him play today -- virtuosic, compelling, and completely natural --is convincing. I am sold.

Yes, my elitism prevents me from truly appreciating Twisted Sister, the guy named Prince, and elevator music. Compromise with what may appear to be mediocre irritates every true artist. But contentment with a different form of music, for those of us who know from experience, is a means to a greater end.

Being content, however, is never a retreat from lavishing beauty on others. As well, there is refreshment as artists connect with transcendent beauty. For example, listening to Mozart's "Voi che sapete" (from The Marriage of Figaro), I am completely refueled for a trip to the mall that plays sappy saxophone music all day. You may say, and you are right, that I am an elitist in that preference.

Wynton Marsalis

To be honest, however, there are times when some popular music is a dose of reality. I am reminded that my taste in music is quite narrow. My pop culture colleagues, many of whom I respect for their popular preferences, may ignore the Vivaldi concerto emanating from speakers in the sandwich shop. But we can both enjoy Bela Fleck offering a banjo version of a Bach “Sarabande.” And when Wynton Marsalis tosses off Haydn’s trumpet concerto with the same ease as a Dizzie Gillespie original, we are all properly impressed.

So, why can't we all just get along?

[more to come]

Pop Culture: Part 2

2011-06-29T19:38:00.000-07:00

Wedding Woes

Weddings are occasions in which the bride (and her mother sometimes) is determined to avoid tradition. Some may even want to rock the family boat. In the end, most couples gravitate to the same sentimental fare almost every bride and groom chooses.

In walks the wedding organist, that breed of musician that bristles when a bride announces "we've decided we're only going to use the organ for the marches." What that means is, she is going to turn the pre-nuptial music into one of 2 things:

a showcase of her favorite amateur musician friends picking at guitars, singing karaoke songs, or --- her music major sister-in-law playing piano, singing, and trying not to crease the poof in her bridesmaid's dress.
completely canned wedding tracks (yes, you can purchase canned nuptial music) oozing through monitors up front while the bridal party processes, almost in step with the pervasive rock backbeat and edgy pop vocals.

I am a survivor. As the organist, I often have to endure 20 minutes of the above, then when the bride appears, make a quick transition to the bridal processional. When a bride insists on doing the almost banal processional from The Sound of Music, I am not inclined to argue its aesthetic merit against, say, Jeremiah Clarke’s Prince of Denmark’s March.

Lo, after many weddings over decades, I have learned to keep my musical mouth shut. By compromising, I deny my personal taste, and make a friend or two. At least that's what I hope keeping quiet will do. Somehow, no matter how nicely I acquiesce to the family's preferences, I always feel like a phony. How could they be so aesthetically malformed? How did this culture show up, after all their 'exposure' to high art on PBS?

[more to come]

Let us, then, go upon a long journey...

2011-06-18T04:02:00.000-07:00

G. K. Chesterton wrote: “Let us, then, go upon a long journey and enter on a dreadful search. Let us, at least dig and seek till we have discovered our own opinions. This may spare us from the one thing that is infinitely more absurd and unpractical than burning a man for his philosophy. This is the habit of saying that his philosophy does not matter, and this is done universally in the twentieth century, in the decadence of the great revolutionary period.”

Bad Christian Art

2011-06-08T08:13:00.000-07:00

Bad Christian Art
Maybe you have seen examples of what author Tony Woodlief describes in this article from Image, an arts journal that may be viewed at this link. If you have time, leave a comment about the author's remarks. If you don't, join us by hitting the "Follower" button. Upcoming posts will be written by Kulture Kafe followers and friends, so keep tuning in.
Kulture Kafe Council

Is Classical Music Dying?

2011-06-04T16:17:00.000-07:00

Is Classical Music Dying?

In the case of classical music, in comparison to the pop and rock world, it is by all indications a dying art. Who are the current classical ‘movers and shakers?’ Will classical music’s demise affect the Christian faith?

For me, since childhood classical music is a presence and a force that I see everywhere. It is changing. By that, I mean its role is moving from its role as highest of the musical arts to mood management music. Classically trained pianist Jeremy Begbie, who is also professor of philosophy and theology at Cambridge, has written:

It has been argued that classical music is dying in Western culture, and a vigorous dispute has grown up around the issue. Some point to the large number of orchestras (including prestigious ones) struggling to survive financially, dwindling audience figures, the shrinking share of classical recording companies in the overall market...the aging classical music lover, and so on. But in fact classical music is reaching an exponentially larger audience than ever before.

How can this be, you say? We all thought classical music was something enjoyed by enthusiasts of symphony and opera, right? Begbie goes on to support his thesis:

...Internet downloads of classical albums grew by nearly 100 % in 2005. Radio 3, the United Kingdom's main serious classical music radio station, recorded and experienced record numbers of website hits with a recent all-Bach season. Sir John Eliot Gardiner's label, SDG, has begun to offer concert attendees a freshly pressed recording of the performance they have just witnessed.

Of course, that is in Great Britain where children are exposed to classical music. What about worldwide increases in sales of albums, attendance at international crossover concerts by Sarah Brightman or The Three Tenors, and a host of other signals? So Begbie concludes:

… for many, classical music has come to fulfill the role that is common and basic to most music in our culture today: namely, managing our mood. Music creates an ambience, an environment in which we live and move...like the vast majority of popular music, it [classical music] will most often be used as a background to some other activity. Music helps us run better, improves our concentration at work, and so on.

Quoted from Resounding Truth: Christian

Wisdom in the World of Music

(Baker Academic, 2007)

Begbie goes on to point out that some theorists are worried about this trend. Even something as ethereal as classical music has been homogenized into a safe, digestible form we can switch on or off as our mood dictates. The kind of marketing that makes all music a commodity has mildly endorsed this 'heavy' music.

Sleezy marketing of Mozart and Bach may also provoke trained musicians to silent anger. Yes, we may now have football stadiums filled to capacity to hear Andrea Bocelli (or some other classical crossover icon) sing excerpts from opera to millions via television. But what we really have, in my opinion, are classical "superstars" who easily forego the vital nuances of well-performed music. In a sense, we have traded our heritage, the millennium of music we call classical today, for a "mess of pottage" that panders to mass culture in ways that may be destructive to music's deepest value.

So then, how does this trend affect us in the ‘small’ market of evangelical Christians? I believe we can be easily confused by marketing tools. If Sony introduces a series of recorded Mozart symphonies, we should applaud.

But the hidden menace in the ‘pandering to mass culture’ that record labels are exploiting, is that Christians need to become discerning. Why is an album or series of albums so popular? It may be for good uses. When played in the nursery, “Mozart for Baby” could help your infant develop faster. In such ways the classics are being reshaped for a mass audience.

We need to discern an album’s goals. Is it harmless mood management, or might it compete with the Christian religion as a substitute spiritual experience? For example, there is an album called “Music for the Soul” (Angel, 1997). A collection of choral and instrumental music from 7 centuries, it is profoundly beautiful. As the record notes indicate, author Thomas Moore (Care of the Soul) selected the music. He advises listeners to

“Meditate to it, sit with it, and hear it with a friend…Get a musical tan….adjust your heart with its special spirit, and go about your life creatively and calmly with a well-tempered soul.”

Harmless advice, you say? Not exactly. Getting a musical tan…really? For me its use as spiritual catalyst is good, if my focus is on Christ.

I would suggest you find your own “Music for the Soul” among the best offerings in the musical marketplace. In so doing you will find beauty in places where you least expected to. Along the way you may explore uncharted sonic waters that could encourage you spiritually. But beware the marketers!

If ‘truth is truth wherever we find it’, then is beauty still beauty whenever we find it?

Terry Yount, DMA

Organist, St. Andrew’s

Music faculty, Rollins College

Pop Culture: Part 1

2011-06-02T18:10:00.000-07:00

Reflection on Artists in Popular Culture: We are all in this together

by Terry Yount, classical organist and college teacher

Being an artist in contemporary Western popular culture can seriously stunt your growth. I know that, because as a musician, it is impossible to survive without tipping your hat to sentimental tunes everybody wants. Actually, after decades (too many) of serving as organist at weddings, I have learned to ‘dance’ with pop culture while bypassing its often dripping sentimentality. But is such compromise with aesthetic wallpaper healthy? How much emotional manipulation is too much? Finally, how do serious artists reconcile the fact that much of highly regarded, transcendent Western art (and music, theatre, architecture) came from popular or ethnic roots?

Let's begin with pop music. Classical music enthusiasts are apt to rudely lump all popular music into the category of ‘low art.’ We are fond of stroking our philosophical chins and intoning to friends that pop culture has no critics, cannot be truly defined, and requires a level of immaturity quite beneath our standards. In other words, we have become snobs. What few of us have recognized is, most artists (at least the ones I know) cannot avoid participating in popular music, commercial art, and greeting card poetry –because it often is what pays our bills. Outside of economic survival, then, what is pop music's value to the wider culture?

[Stay with me, there's more on the way].

Pointing the Way

2011-05-29T20:42:00.000-07:00

Nancy Pearcey

In Nancy Pearcey's Total Truth, much of the book is dedicated to the breakdown of the unity of nature and grace, resulting in today's relativistic, naturalistic culture. I am still referring to Pearcey's first book as a reference in my study of the arts and theology.

Now Pearcey has deposited another tome onto the philosophical landscape. It is Saving Leonardo, a brave examination of how the visual and performing arts are a manifestation of prevailing philosophies. From the Medieval artists to Picasso, Pollock, Warhol and beyond, Pearcey seems bent on an exhaustive all-out extravaganza encompassing everyone on the modern artistic scene.

The discussion responding to these two books, by artists, musicians, philosophers, theologians, and plain old lay people would be fascinating. Indeed, I would relish an interchange with any who have read either book. Please weigh in with your thoughts.

Better yet, meet with us here in Orlando area for our first Kulture Kafe in a real cafe locally. For details, please email my gmail address: adoptedson.t@gmail.com. If you haven't read Total Truth or Saving Leonardo, no problem. We plan to get started in mid-June.
Terry Yount

2011-05-24T19:46:00.000-07:00

Welcome

2011-05-15T17:10:00.000-07:00

You have entered Kulture Kafe, a place for like-minded folk to engage in a conversation about culture, specifically the arts, and our response to current trends. Anyone who wants to contribute a post to KK is welcome to do so. If you post, we encourage you to own your post with your identity. Everyone who contributes will be sitting around a 'table' like in a real cafe.

When you can, share this blog with like-minded cafe bloggers. As our community expands, your published posts may be discussed in a regular forum, in a local neighborhood restaurant or coffee shop, with friends and visitors to this site.

Three-legged stool represents Truth, Goodness, and Beauty. When in balance, the culture thrives; when out of balance, the culture lunges toward exaggerated use of the stronger legs.

Want to become part of the Kulture Kouncil? Sign up today, request active participation, and receive our RSS feed via email. Meanwhile, look around you and soak up the beauty, truth, and goodness available to you. May God richly bless you.