A Jazzy Lent

I am conflating several different notions here. Wrapped together are fond memories of yesterday's worship music, especially the jazz influenced music at 11AM. Yesterday Lamar W. gave me a copy of an article by Frank Burch Brown in Interpretation. (Brown gives a nice discussion of "Forth Days" piece by Dave Brubeck), that I have been reading this morning. Finally, Shannon K. will be speaking at Chapel at Montreat College this week; she asked, I suspect rhetorically, her Facebook friends what she should talk about.

Here's a video of the Brubeck piece:



This may push the envelop for some person's concept of "sacred music." And I think that is what's on my mind this morning. For Lent we often "give up" something as an act of devotion, penitence or for any number of reasons. In recent years Protestants especially have offered the notion of "taking on" something for Lent: a new level of devotional reading, works of outreach during the season, and the like.

I think maybe for musicians a good Lenten discipline would be to push your comfort envelop this season. If you love classical music for Lent (Handel, Bach and the boys) try listening to jazz this season and hearing what modern voices have to say about our faith. If you prefer contemporary Christians (pop) music, try listening to some Southern gospel this season. We can get very comfortable with our musical choices and miss a whole lot of good stuff. Give a listen to something not usually on your radar. Don't just listen but strive to find what is captivating about the alternative musical style, and find out how it may add to your Lenten devotional life.

A couple of years ago I spent the Lenten season listening to the Bach St. Matthew Passion. I listened to it almost daily and read liner notes and technical articles about the work. I prayed the chorale texts. It wasn't earth-shaking, but it was deeply moving to spend that much time with a single piece of music and to have its message so deeply penetrating my thoughts for 6 weeks or so.

Try something like that this season. let me know what you try and what you encounter in the experience.