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Props to Grenetta Mason and Donna Kelsick who organized a fantastic Urban Wellness Retreat that I participated in today. The workshops and offerings touched on a wide range of interests – alternative medicine, diet and nutrition, financial planning, aromatherapy, spa treatments, as well as yoga and Reiki sessions. They have a real sense that personal wholeness is about mind, body and spirit connection. They day was full of conversation and learning alongside some wonderful souls who are looking for balance and wholeness in their busy lives. And I love that the event was nestled right in the heart of Harlem (a beautifully rehabbed brownstone that is a B&B) and drew from the resources that are within this community. It was great to be part of an event that is intended to bring some measure of wholeness and connectedness to individuals, to our community and to our world.
This past Sunday was an extremely eventful day, the crest of the first big wave of energy and activity for me here at Park Avenue Christian Church. It was World Communion, a day when many denominations celebrate their unity with Christians around the globe. I’ve been thinking recently that we should see every Sunday as World Communion, in the way that I have heard it said that every Sunday is an Easter celebration. It is so important for the American church to be intentional about welcoming the marvelous gifts of our sisters and brothers around the world. Serious engagement with music and language from other cultures can help to expand and deepen our prayer and praise. And it is a way for us to be connected to and in prayer for people and places that we might otherwise forget.
For our celebration we invited a steel drummer, a percussionist and a Trinidadian friend who is an actor and poet to lead us in music and poetry from the Caribbean – a excerpt from a gorgeous Kyrie samba by Glenn McClure; the joyous response ‘Halle, Halle, Halle’; ‘God or Mammon’, a challenging poem by the Afro-Trinidadian poet, Alfred Cruickshank; the Communion hymn ‘Let Us Talents and Tongues Employ’ and others. It was a truly joyful feast of the People of God! One of the most beautiful moments in the service was the Postlude – a simple setting of ‘Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring’ played by solo steel drum with some light chordal accompaniment from the piano. The congregation sat in grateful silence and it felt, in some way, like we were hearing Bach’s piece again for the first time through the distinctive, sparkly tone of the steel drum. We gave our guests a gift by honoring and celebrating the music and culture of our Caribbean sisters and brothers but, at the same time, they gave us back something of own culture, infused with a fresh sound and spirit. It was a blessed moment.
And on Sunday afternoon I was officially installed as the Minister of Music at Park Avenue Christian Church. I was joking with friends that they should bring their toolboxes to worship. When I think about the word installed, my mind goes to a dishwasher or a light fixture - something that has a sense of functionality and/or permanence in a place. But the truth is that the service was a time to intention, before God and this congregation, that I am going to put down deep roots here. It was a moment to remember that my ministry through music is not just something to dabble in but it calls forth deep commitment and discipline, prayer and focus, and love for all of God’s people in this faith community, in this neighborhood and in this city.
And to add further to the sense of arrival and permanence, I got word on Monday that I was approved for an apartment. The original place I mentioned several postings back did not work out but this one is even better and cheaper in the end. It’s the ground level and first floor of a brownstone in Harlem with a spacious living area (enough room for my piano!), 3-bedrooms, 1.5 baths, and a private backyard with real grass! It’s not much further from church and in a great neighborhood. I am feeling very blessed.
So all is moving forward, deepening slowly…and I have a strong sense that God is in and through it all.
I’ve been traveling a lot in the past month. This weekend was a quick jaunt to New York City for a fundraiser. For the last 6 years I’ve been the composer and musical director for La Compagnia de’ Colombari (The Company of the Dovecote) and it has become a very important part of my creative life. We’ve been working on an adaptation of medieval Mystery Plays, Laude in Urbis (Praises in the City), which we have performed on the streets of Orvieto, Italy during the Feast of Corpus Christi. The piece finds creative energy in a collision and juxtaposition of texts, cultures, musical styles and languages – all within the framework of a populist (i.e. street theater) aesthetic. The “frame” play is St. Luke’s account of the disciples on the road to Emmaus, post-resurrection. As Christ comes alongside, he opens the Scriptures to them. In our production, we literally walk the audience through the town performing various stories from the Bible. These are alternately pious and bawdy tellings of The Creation, The Fall, Noah and the Flood, The Sacrifice of Isaac, The Nativity and the Harrowing of Hell. Music and dance provide glue between the scenes and invite the actors and audience to move and sing together, breaking down the barrier between them (no “fourth” wall). In the final scene, Christ breaks bread and the disciples finally recognize him, at which point an actual feast of wine and food is shared by those who have attended the performance. Talk about communion! The piece is not evangelistic in nature but invites people to hear and see these well-known stories anew – through poetic and idiomatic translations of the original Medieval texts (both Italian and English); striking casting choices (imagine an African-American woman playing God and a child on a red motor scooter playing the Holy Spirit); through music that spans from chant to Dylan-esque folk music; and through lighting and gesture that find their inspiration in the frescos of Fra Angelico and Piero dalla Francesca. I think we are also (perhaps secondarily) doing theology through theater – helping actors and audience to explore fundamental questions about God, humans and the relationship between the Divine and Humankind. It’s exciting work.
I flew into Laguardia on Friday morning and headed to the Museum of the City of New York in Harlem, where we’ve made some great community contacts. The plan is to get to a point where we have two events a year: our Corpus Christi piece in May or June and an Advent/Christmas piece in Harlem during December. We especially want to draw from the amazing creative energy within New York City, including the wonderful mix of African-American and Latino culture in this part of the city.
We had a long afternoon and evening of rehearsal, in which we pieced together an invocation from a Trinidadian poet, several Psalm settings (two newly written for this occasion), a small excerpt from the Second Shepherd’s Play, an Italian Christmas carol and then a finale with all the actors musicians and dancers. This final section included a piece that I composed for my friend Damayanthi Niles’ ordination back in April. It’s a setting of a prayer by St. Augustine of Hippo for choir and percussion.
“All shall be Amen and Alleluia.
We shall rest and we shall see.
We shall see and we shall know.
We shall know and we shall love.
We shall love and we shall praise.
Behold our end, which is no end.”
- from An African Prayer Book, edited by Desmond Tutu
The vocal parts are set in an almost chantlike fashion with lots of imitation and open fifths and fourths (sort of a cross between minimalism and Medieval organum). When you add the steady drive of the percussion underneath it all, it’s pretty exciting. I was satisfied with the piece when the choir at Trinity sang it back in April and was happy to adapt it for this context. What made this particular performance memorable was the inclusion of thirty 8-year old tap-dancers! Thanks to our growing relationships in Harlem and the tireless work of our artistic director Karin Coonrod, La Compagnia connected with Community Works, an arts organization that provides dance and other Arts enrichment for public school students. I was asked to make an mp3 of the piece and sent it to the dance teachers. Then they choreographed the music and taught it to the students over several weeks.
The rehearsal was pretty amazing. On one end of the room were a group of classically trained singers and a percussionist; on stage at the other side of the room were the tapdancers. And then in the last section of the piece we added step dancers in front of the singers. This style of dance comes out of an African-American context – it’s a high energy, full body movement with rhythmic handclapping and fast movements of the arms and legs. The energy that these four women brought to the piece was just tremendous and put the piece over the top. I thought my piece was already a unique juxtaposition of styles but then add tap dancing and step dancing on top of that. And to think that a group of 8-year olds in Harlem have heard and danced to a setting of St. Augustine!!!! This in itself blows my mind. A fourth-century saint meets the ‘hood. And the text is such a joyous, positive affirmation that I hope they can carry through their lives.
I have a feeling that this is just the beginning of some new possibilities. The interconnectedness and complementarity of the music and movement have got me imagining other ways that seemingly disparate things can find a resonance and a commonality. So often I want to compartmentalize different artistic and musical expressions, but working on this piece I felt the ONENESS of the Spirit if just for a few hours. I sensed the shared human connection between the saint who wrote this amazing text, the children in all their diversity, the different styles of dance, the singers, and ultimately with the Creator. It was a huge moment of affirmation – of my creative gifts, and of a calling to nurture and build the sorts of bridges that will allow these sorts of moments to occur in the future.
