EarlyMusik@a... wrote: EarlyMusik@a... wrote:
> The issue here is perception. And it does make you think. It makes you > think about how sad the perception is of singers, particularly in church > settings where people believe that you should sing for G*d, and not for pay. > If that's the case, than church music degrees should be given free of charge. > After all, training someone to sing for G*d should be a mission as well. > Right? > > Not
Of course Chris is right (and preaching to the choir in this venue)....but sometimes I wonder....let me explain.
When I was visiting my parents in New England a few weeks back, I was surfing the cable on one of those quiet evenings with nothing to do. I came across a local cable access channel that had a group of college-age singers with lovely chorus voices performing the most insipid music I'd ever heard, with a horrible synthetic-sounding orchestra karaoke accompaniment. I forced myself to keep listening to the end, out of a masochistic sort of fascination, I guess, to find out just what it was I was hearing. The text being sung was sacred, but the words were so banal and cliched that I had a hard time imagining anyone could sit in a church listening to them and not end up giggling uncontrollably. So when it ended, I learned that these were students of a music ministry course of study in some local institution of higher learning. I was appalled. They were paying tuition to learn that music?????
I guess I'm spoiled by the terrific music we sing in my Episcopal Church job, and being Jewish, I don't get around to other churches much to hear that other stuff. Now if someone were to ask me to pay somebody to perform the music heard on that cable show, I think I'd have to say "No, thank you, you should pay ME to be subjected to that music."
Peggy
-- Margaret Harrison, Alexandria, Virginia, USA "Music for a While Shall All Your Cares Beguile" mailto:peggyh@i...
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