Sound Theology by Colleen Butcher

Last week I wrote about unaccompanied solos and how even one person can make harmony when the music is right. Today the music focuses on duets.

There are many ways to make music with more than one performer: two of the same instrument (the work for two violas), two different but complimentary instruments (piano and vibraphone), or two people playing the same instrument (one guitar four hands). read more…

Bach’s Unaccompanied Cello Suites  — I hear a swoon even at the mention of the work – is a series of six suites, each with six movements, for solo cello. One musician. One instrument. One performance space.

Manifold echoes.

A significant part of Bach’s genius, and one reason why his music is loved by so many, is that he could write for both beginners and experts. The beginners never feel cheated, because his “easy” works embody the same rich, resonant melodies and harmonies of his most challenging and technically difficult writing. And the true experts make even the simpler suites and preludes sound spectacular. read more…

In the past few weeks, two musical groups have crossed my path. From different sides of the world, in two different languages, I have not been able to get them out of my mind.

On the surface, they could not be more different: Samoan traditional folk songs and American Barbershop arrangements. Young men in suits vs. middle aged men in costumes.

Dig a little deeper, though, and similarities appear: choral singing; obvious dedication and persistent attention to their craft; and groups of men doing something other than sports in public! read more…

In 1959, two albums were released that shook the jazz world: Dave Brubeck Quartet’s Time Out, and Miles Davis’ Kind of Blue. They tracked together through the charts, and both were certified Platinum in 1997. Davis’ has gone on to reach multi-platinum, but Brubeck’s music has probably reached more people.

The premise of the album Time Out was to explore music in different time signatures. Brubeck had been to Eastern Europe and experienced different tonalities, textures and unusual timing of their ethnic and popular music. He believed that jazz music had “become too tame” and that it was time for jazz to return to its “role of exploring more adventurous rhythms.” read more…

We all forget. We get tied up in worries. We fret.

When those days come, the scriptures call us to remember.

Give thanks to the Lord and proclaim his greatness. Let the whole world know what he has done.

Sing to him; yes, sing his praises. Tell everyone about his wonderful deeds.

Exult in his holy name; rejoice, you who worship the Lord.

Search for the Lord and for his strength; continually seek him.

Remember the wonders he has performed, his miracles, and the rulings he has given,

you children of his servant Abraham, you descendants of Jacob, his chosen ones.  Psalm 105:1-6 read more…