Below is a post, slightly edited for typos, I made over at Fr. Longenecker’s blog regarding the problem of “Christian” music. You can read his original entry and all the comments here.

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Thanks, Father for this fine post. I am a committed Catholic and a classically trained composer and ponder these issues a great deal myself. Some thoughts follow to contribute to the conversation.

I think at the very heart of this problem with “Christian” music is a more or less complete loss of the notion of “ethos” in most circles in society. This was a doctrine–arguably simply an observation–on the part of the Greek philosophers, particularly Plato in his Republic, that was later taken up by the Church in the very early centuries. Ethos simply states that music has the power to form character and should be used judiciously in the education and formation of individuals and society. Consequently, the choice of music (and by extension, its composition) for various occasions is of vital importance.

In our day we take a basically nominalist view of these things. Nominalism–which had its early heyday with Ockham who also had a great influence on the Reformers–states that things really don’t have essences. We can still affix names to individual things and even groups of things, but this is a mere linguistic convenience. Ultimately, they don’t have a core of reality to them that makes them what they are, they merely have names. The implications of this are less than obvious for everyday life, because we instinctively know and want things to have natures. Thus, what ends up happening when we internalize a nominalist view of things, including music, is that we think we can make something what it is (or is not) by giving it a name that we like. Gay marriage would be a classic example: even though the difference between and complimentarity of the sexes is obvious to anyone, and marriage between a man and a woman is as old as history, we think we can make something utter alien to marriage be “marriage,” simply by using the same name.

We try to do the same thing with music in our day, and for the best of motives in the Christian world: The music has pious, Christian words, perhaps taken from the Scriptures themselves; the music is used in worship and private devotions; the music is sold in Catholic bookstores and reputable Catholic online retailers. Therefore: it must be Christian. But we forget that music itself is also a language, with a vocabulary and a content, fully capable of communicating a message of truth or error. Moreover, music, as we all know, and as recent brain science has verified, bypasses the rational processes and goes straight to the heart.

So, what happens when the words are Christian but the music is communicating something profoundly different than, or even opposed to those words? The answer is that we introduce a conflict into the listener at a very deep level, and one that can’t be sorted out so easily because of the powerful, unmediated way that music communicates, as just mentioned above. To illustrate this point using another art form, imagine the following scenario:

Its Good Friday and its been a powerful Lent for you. You’ve been meditating on the supreme and perfect sacrifice of Our Lord and drawing closer to Him. On this most solemn day, you have resolved to make the Stations of the Cross. You are traveling, so you look up the nearest Catholic Church and go. You walk into the Church and find the first station, and there is Jesus being condemned to death by the Sanhedrin. You look at His face and it has been painted with great care and detail….in the likeness of Elton John. You walk a few stations down to the Fourth Station where Jesus meets His Mother, and there She is — painted in the likeness of Lady Gaga.

Now I think we can all see how wrong this is on a number of levels.To begin, we are importing the images of very worldly, secular people into a sacred space and using them to represent the two holiest people in history. Moreover, these music stars are people who are –without judging the state of their souls — promoting a life style utterly inimical to the Gospel.

My point here is that we can do exactly the same thing with music, but it is actually worse, because, again, music bypasses the rational process and goes straight to the heart. In a sense we are defenseless against it.

Here are a couple of other links that might be interesting to readers along similar lines:

Msgr. Pope’s recent post about the power of music:
http://blog.adw.org/2012/04/where-words-fail-music-speaks-amazing-video-of-musics-power-to-awaken-a-sleeping-soul/

A fine summary of magisterial statements about music and its role in the Liturgy in particular:
http://www.matthewhoffman.net/music/

A good summary of the Church Father’s thinking on music:
http://biblicalspirituality.files.wordpress.com/2010/03/ancient-fathers-on-instrumental-music-by-david-vanbrugge.pdf

An example of the problem, perhaps, and some discussion including a post from me along slightly different lines than the above:
http://marysaggies.blogspot.com/2011/03/scott-hahn-rocks-with-matt-maher.html

Thanks again, Father, for stepping up to discuss this important topic and God bless
you in your ongoing ministry in the Church.

Brian J. Nelson – Composer

Vocalise is now streaming on Pandora. The cover image and bio are pending
links to an external database, but the album itself is live. You can searh for it
by typing in Brian J. Nelson and selecting the link with (Composer) after
my name.

Chao for now.

Brian J. Nelson
Composer

I receved word in late Feb. that the Vocalise CD has been accepted by Pandora and should go live in thier catalogue in 6-8 weeks. Thanks once again to all the performers, recording engineer and graphic designer. Most of all, thanks be to Christ, without whom we can do nothing.

Recently I was asked to draft a “Statement of Faith” with regard to my composing as it relates to my Catholic Faith. I thought I would post it here for your thoughts…

Brian J. Nelson – Statement of Faith

In keeping with the principle “Grace builds upon nature,” my compositional approach is first of all rooted in God’s natural gifts. The first of these is the composing gift itself. The second is the tremendous patrimony of musical beauty and wisdom handed on to us by composers of the past and present. This is, as it were, the “nature” upon which God’s grace can build in my work. It is incumbent upon me to develop it to the best of my ability, availing myself of all the helps of the musical tradition.

With regard to grace, I am reminded of the closing words of the prologue to the Gospel of St. John: “The law came through Moses, grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.” (John 1:17). We also know from other words of Our Lord that he came not to abolish the law but to fulfill it (e.g. Mt. 5:17).

In a similar way, my God-given musical gifts, however good in themselves and well-honed by the tradition, will never rise above the gravitational pull of original sin without grace. Therefore, if I am serious about conveying a transcendent and live-giving message to my audience, I need to be in regular, intimate communion with the Transcendent (& Incarnate!) One: Jesus Christ, and with the Church he founded. Among other things, this means regular prayer, reception of the Sacraments, spiritual direction, and most of all, a sincere desire to walk according to God’s will.

All of the above lead by way of analogy to the other major principle under-girding my work as a composer, namely the Incarnation of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, the God-Man. The musical ramifications of this reality are many but can be summarized here as follows:

1) My music can and should speak of transcendent realities, but not in such a way as to deny our basic finitude as human beings or the sufferings we experience as a result of original sin.

2) Conversely, while not avoiding our creatureliness or the sinfulness and darkness of the world, my music should at the same time, like Christ himself—and united  to his Cross—acknowledge these aspects of human experience and transform them in a redemptive and hope-filled way.

Brian J. Nelson – Composer

[1] I believe this is true even in cases of agnostic or atheistic composers who nevertheless occasionally  write very transcendent works (e.g. Vaughan Williams’ Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis). God can and does use unbelievers to communicate his truth (consider, for example, the prophecy of Caiaphas, John 11:49-50).

Review by William Zagorski

If you can make your way through the arcane intricacies of this headnote with any understanding of its content whatsoever, you’re a far more adept person than I. The headnote may be forbidding, but Brian J. Nelson’s music most decidedly is not. His harmonic language can be complex and nontraditional, but the result is, more often than not, stunningly beautiful. He reflects the influences of his teachers—William Bolcom, William Albright, and Nick Thorne—but they are subsumed into his uniquely personal musical imagination and profound religiosity. I found the Three Motets, op. 7, most compelling. In them he deploys his choir of eight virtuoso singers masterfully. The music’s voice-leading and resultant harmonic structure can be described as Renaissance composer John Taverner meets György Ligeti. What emerges is a sound that is at once ultramodern and ancient—one that makes a strong case for its being timeless. I highly recommend this music to choral directors in search of new and strikingly satisfying repertoire, ditto Nelson’s setting of the 100th Psalm. Special praise is in order for tenor Jason Parr, who also sings Of Spiritual Joy and Sorrow. Here the realm of plainchant is evoked, but with Nelson’s customary and revealing twists and turns. His exploitation of the pieces’ asymmetrical metrical structure proves both illuminating and aesthetically satisfying.

In the instrumental music, one of Nelson’s underlying devices is more clearly apparent than in the choral pieces—at expected cadence points, he often throws a harmonic curve that makes what preceded it, in retrospect, more beautiful than it seemed at first hearing, and similarly enriches that which follows.

This music can prove, to both the singers and instrumentalists, an intonational minefield, but here everyone acquits themselves admirably. The recording, given the variety of sonic demands, is at once vivid and spacious.

I wholeheartedly enjoyed this release on first hearing, and, many hearings later, the power of this composer’s voice becomes increasingly compelling. Available from nelsonmusic.com. William Zagorski

This article originally appeared in Issue 34:3 (Jan/Feb 2011) of Fanfare Magazine

Review by Matthew Warnock

The human voice is a magnificent instrument, one that can scream to the rafters, sending chills down one’s spine, and immediately after deliver a performance so heart wrenching that it leaves not a dry eye in the house.  American composer Brian J. Nelson is an artist that fully grasps the immense range and texture of vocal music, and how powerful the medium of songs can be in developing an emotional connection with his audience.  His latest recording, Vocalise, is a celebration of vocal works and song, full of stellar musicianship, intense emotional turns and world-class composing and arranging.

One of the most interesting and compelling aspects of the album is that it is named after a work written not for the voice, but for the cello. “Vocalise for Solo Cello” starts off the album with a performance that is so fluid and organic that it sounds as if the cellist is simply improvising the melodies for each section of the piece, an accomplishment of the highest merit in the compositional world.  Using vibrato, careful phrasing and sustained notes, the cello takes on the character of a vocalist during the piece, bringing the instrument to life as it weaves and flows through each line and phrase of the work.  It may seem like an odd choice to begin an album titled Vocalise with a piece for cello, but upon hearing the work it becomes apparent that the album is a statement on the universal character of song, that song can be expressed clearly and effectively with lyrics just as well as it can in an instrumental piece.

The vocal pieces on the album are just as compelling as the opening work for cello.  It is quite apparent that Nelson feels a strong connection to the voice and to vocalists, and his writing portrays this connection.  Works such as “Three Motets” are masterfully written for multiple voices.  With a strong focus on melody and melodic development, these works showcase many different vocal writing techniques, all done with the utmost attention to detail and musicianship.   There are moments where the voices swell in and out of the forefront, passing the listener’s attention from one singer to the next, while at other moments the group sings as a whole and in others the men and women sing separately.  This kind of compositional diversity speaks highly of the creative nature of Nelson’s work, and in his ability to draw the listener in with the variety of textures and melodic combinations he uses in his works.

Vocalise is an enjoyable album that appeals to both fans of the genre and musical scholars at the same time.  Casual listeners will be able to become lost in each piece as melody and harmony come together in exciting and captivating ways.  It is a testament to Nelson’s writing style that he can maintain the highest musical integrity of his pieces, while allowing his works to be enjoyed by non-musicians, and even newcomers to the genre, at the same time.

As well, fellow composers and students of vocal works and song will find plenty of inspiration in Nelson’s writing, especially the fact that he is able to write works that are emotional, entertaining and musically interesting at the same time.  It is a rarity it seems in today’s classical music world to find a composer that can keep things interesting and listenable at the same time, while avoiding being an imitation of eras gone by, two things that Nelson accomplishes on this record.

Rating: 5 stars (out of 5)

Thanks be to God, I successfully defended my doctoral dissertation today.

I now officially have a D.M.A.