i am currrently taking music theory from maestro s______ at m_________ c______ - and in his freewheeling and discursive style of discussion he, fairly often, expresses hostility to organized religion, even while explicitly recognizing that, in terms of musicians earning a living, historically the church was the principal or very important source of funding during most of the common practice era
for example, earlier this week, in his jocular way, in a discussion of "evidence" for believing something, he said, as an example pf a belief that lacked evidence to support it, "i could say i believe in mermaids, and that your life would be better if you believed in mermaids too" - perhaps some of the naive youngsters did not understand this as an attack on religion, but it was clear to me and i am sure also to the next oldest student in the class, like me currently a member of a choir, a woman whose career goal is to be a minister (not just m. of music, but even a pastor - she is a protestant) - one of my personal goals has been to become a strong enough singer to be a volunteer cantor at my own congregation - although as the plausibility of this subjectively recedes i now wonder - could i compose psalm settings? or sometimes - could i play cocktail piano in the lounge at the holiday inn?
how does one deal with the hostility expressed towards one's core values by one's cheerful and friendly professor?
i have been thinking - and may express thoughts along these lines to my fellow mature student - that we need to consider maestro s______'s background - he is from a latin american country where, while he was young, there was a us-sponsored violent overthrow of a democratically elected government, which was replaced by a long-lasting authoritarian regime, supported by right-wing elements in the church
and by "authoritarian regime", one doesn't mean merely "a government that throws people into prison for long terms for minor offenses" - one means "a government that murders thousands of its opponents"
so i hypothesize that maestro s______ (who was even an altar boy in his youth, he has told us) has come to his anticlerical attitude in a very understandable way
he also hates musicals, he says - he can't stand the falseness of their optimistic attitude
this reminds me of a robert zimmerman song, "dear landlord" -
please heed these words that i speak i know you have suffered much, but in this you are not so unique
may the creative forces of the universe have mercy on our souls, if any
speaking of pointing things somewhere else -
ReplyDeletei am currrently taking music theory from maestro s______ at m_________ c______ - and in his freewheeling and discursive style of discussion he, fairly often, expresses hostility to organized religion, even while explicitly recognizing that, in terms of musicians earning a living, historically the church was the principal or very important source of funding during most of the common practice era
for example, earlier this week, in his jocular way, in a discussion of "evidence" for believing something, he said, as an example pf a belief that lacked evidence to support it, "i could say i believe in mermaids, and that your life would be better if you believed in mermaids too" - perhaps some of the naive youngsters did not understand this as an attack on religion, but it was clear to me and i am sure also to the next oldest student in the class, like me currently a member of a choir, a woman whose career goal is to be a minister (not just m. of music, but even a pastor - she is a protestant) - one of my personal goals has been to become a strong enough singer to be a volunteer cantor at my own congregation - although as the plausibility of this subjectively recedes i now wonder - could i compose psalm settings? or sometimes - could i play cocktail piano in the lounge at the holiday inn?
how does one deal with the hostility expressed towards one's core values by one's cheerful and friendly professor?
i have been thinking - and may express thoughts along these lines to my fellow mature student - that we need to consider maestro s______'s background - he is from a latin american country where, while he was young, there was a us-sponsored violent overthrow of a democratically elected government, which was replaced by a long-lasting authoritarian regime, supported by right-wing elements in the church
and by "authoritarian regime", one doesn't mean merely "a government that throws people into prison for long terms for minor offenses" - one means "a government that murders thousands of its opponents"
so i hypothesize that maestro s______ (who was even an altar boy in his youth, he has told us) has come to his anticlerical attitude in a very understandable way
he also hates musicals, he says - he can't stand the falseness of their optimistic attitude
this reminds me of a robert zimmerman song, "dear landlord" -
please heed these words that i speak
i know you have suffered much, but in this you are not so unique
may the creative forces of the universe have mercy on our souls, if any