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"New Music"

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 "newly newly composed contemporary classical music made by
living composers that  seems so uproot and defy labels,
and can sometimes seem strange, erratic and harsh.'

                                                               - Caitlin Frasure
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​Two examples

​Performers and composers featured on this page

Borromeo Quarter, peforming Delwyn Case's Ruach (see below), photo by Richard Bowditch

Caitlin Frasure, Pianist , part of the duo Ascending ​​and Friend of New Music

Delvyn case III, Wheaton College, Composer, founder of Deus ex Musica

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What does God's Breathing Sound Like?

Sometimes it's Strange and Erratic, Like New Music

The purpose of this page is to encourage you to think of new music as a source of sacred sound.  By sacred sound I mean sound that can communicate and evoke a sense of God's Breathing. The listener may be consoled and inspired, challenged or perplexed, deepened or widened, by the sonic qualities, which may or may not include lyrics. In all of these modes and others besides, God's Breathing is present.

As a Christian I use the phrase God's Breathing to name the way that the Abba of Jesus, the God of love, is present in the world.   God's Breathing is the energizing and animating spirit of God in the hills and rivers, trees and stars, and in human life.  It blows where it will and cannot be contained or constrained by creeds or institutions.  We can communicate God's Breathing and be enlivened by it, but we cannot control it.  The Breathing is always more than us, in the same way that the wind is always more than us.  The lilies of the field understand,

​A primary way that we humans partake of the Breathing is through living with respect and care for the community of life on earth, human life much included,  We communicate the Breathing at home and in family life, among friends and neighbors and strangers; and also in acts of service aimed at helping bring about beloved communities that partake of God's will "on earth as it is in heaven."  In such service we become God's hands and feet; vessels of the Breathing.  This does not make us perfect, but it does make us, in the loving moment at hand, faithful.

Beloved communities are examples of what Jesus called the basileia theou.  In our time, so John Cobb and I propose in Choosing Life,  these communities take the form of communities that are creative, compassionate, participatory, diverse, inclusive, humane to animals, and good for the earth, with no  one left behind.   Such communities are God's dream for the earth.

Another way the Breathing can be communicated is sonic.  The Breathing becomes available to us through music of many kinds: popular, folk, jazz, hip-hop, country, classical, and what people now call 'new music.'   In new music and other forms, the Breathing does not sharply discriminate between sacred and secular; it transcends and includes both.  And its manner of communication can well be received, and sometimes best received, apart from lyrics.   Sometimes the lyrics get in the way of the Breathing, because they distract the mind toward words when the Breathing is in the sound.

But the sound of the Breathing  depends not only on the content of the music and the manner of its performance, but also on the situation of the listener, the expectations she brings to the listening.   Sound becomes "sacred sound" through the listening ear and heart.  To hear music as sacred, we must listen with sacred ears: that is, with ears that are open to the Breathing in its many and multitudinous forms.  In music appreciation is in life the pathways of the spirit are relational.

This page features an essay on "Why New Music?" by the musician Caitlin Frasure  and an example of new music, "Ruach." by the composer Delvyn Case III.  Frasure and Case are Christians, and their ideas express a Christian point of view.  However, their ideas are easily appropriated by people of other faiths and by people who are spiritually interested but not religiously affiliated. The spirit does, after all, blow where it will.  Jesus was Jewish not Christian.  There is no need to limit God's Breathing to one religion or, for that matter, to religion itself.  Sometimes ostensibly secular music is more 'religious' than religious music, for those with ears to hear.

A last note.  Frasure and Case are not process theologians, and I don't want to pretend that they are.   We in the process community very much appreciate their ideas, spirit, and work.

Jay McDaniel, Sept. 2020

Why New Music?

​by Caitlin Frasure

Republished from Deus ex Musica, June 22, 2019

It’s a question that is so familiar to those of us involved in and passionate about new music. By “new music” I mean that genre of newly composed contemporary classical music made by living composers that seems to uproot and defy so many labels, so for now please accept this term as an oversimplified but necessary tool for discussion. And to be honest, we know: It is a fair question! New music is not always as “easy on the ears” as other genres. For Christians, the question compounds itself with moral concern. Should we be drawn to this type of music that can be strange, erratic, and harsh? Why would we stray from attractive sounds or traditionally ordered melodies and rhythms? ...Is it even right to do so?

Possible answers stretch past any one response, but perhaps I can offer a few from my own journey. As a pianist and a follower of Christ who fell in love with new music years ago, I find it not only worthwhile, but used by God in my life as a vocation and a calling. Here’s why:

1. It’s exciting and challenging.

I was not introduced to new music until well into my undergraduate studies, but once it happened I was taken immediately. To a young classical pianist laboring daily over appealing curves of melody, delicate shapes of phrase, and subtleties of dynamics (volume levels), here was an intriguing change of pace! Abrupt melodies, seemingly nonsensical phrases, and dynamic shifts I couldn’t predict! The technical challenges peaked my interest also. Extended techniques for the piano (those ways of playing, plucking, muting a piano’s strings, drumming its case or singing into its soundboard, to name a few) gave me a world of new ways I could use my instrument. Never before performed pieces, some impossibly difficult, sent me into new thrills of what was possible. By the time I entered my master’s degree, I knew I’d always be hooked.

2. It is the future of “classical” music.

My fascination with new music in no way separated me from my beloved Bach or Beethoven. On the contrary, it strengthened my affection for them by taking me back to their beginnings. I started to truly consider the creative process behind music’s inception and learn from composers around me. In doing so, I realized my part in extending the heritage of art music into the future. What new pieces would join this canon? How would any piece stand a chance if it weren’t promoted and performed? I grew excited to serve as ambassador for the music of living composers and champion the future of music for my instrument.

3. It is uniquely relevant to today.

New music is, well, music that is new. It is the music of the world as it currently is. The fact that classical music (“classical” defined broadly here), exists primarily from composers long deceased and usually European is an issue already at large, but the artistic implications are important here. When I play a piece composed by someone living or active within the last few decades, I have a much closer understanding to their perspective. But wait, you may say; surely art transcends time! And aren’t human elements universal? Yes. But. That never negates the reality that art, to create, must always be moving and seeking. (Just imagine the tragedy for us pianists if Chopin hadn’t strived to create past what he’d heard before!)
 
4. It impacts culture.  

A crucial aspect of art is its ability to reflect and provide commentary on culture. Culture wears the garb of the everyday, the here and now. When I work with a living composer, I know their culture, history, and time, intimately because it is also mine (even international composers are relatable more than ever before in our global age). Furthermore, if they are seeking to impact or comment on our culture, I can join that conversation easily. For Christians, this should stand out immediately. Are we not called to be working and making an impact in our culture as witnesses to the love of Christ? Today’s art composers have real questions, relevant ideas, and significant things to say. Shouldn’t we be joining this conversation?

5. It is Powerful.

After a recent concert, I was approached with refreshing honesty from an audience member. “It was wonderful, I loved it! But…” she trailed off, searching for the words she needed, “Some of it was annoying, and made me feel upset. But I still loved it... Does that make any sense?” I assured her that it did! Relieved to see me unoffended, she concluded smiling, “It was even, cathartic.” Cathartic. Isn’t that just what music should be? Somewhere along the line we’ve grown accustomed to thinking of music as purely “feel good” in function. We use it for entertainment, for lyrics, for background, for worship. These are great functionalities for music, but they close the door to listening to music for its own sake and on its own terms. Music is sound. New music challenges us to experience a range of sounds that often evoke emotions, when listened to actively. We may be pleasantly surprised. Or “annoyed,” like my friend. Either way, we’ll be met with a genuine response every time.

6. It Reflects His Work in Our Lives

God has always worked within our broken world. Making “beauty from ashes” (Is. 63:1), He steps into all that is wrong here and brings His beauty as Creator among it. The finest music has always reflected this attribute (intentionally or not, directly or indirectly), by seeking to do the same: to touch with healing beauty (art). Many Christians point to the example of so many classical composers who lived tragic lives yet created masterpieces that uplift us today. New music, if well crafted, does the same.
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Whether looking outward to world events or inward to my personal life, struggle and chaos coexist alongside moments of peace and joy. Bringing new a score to life that has sharp turns of mood, at times chaotic, at times serene, feels quite familiar. It is vividly depicting where I am. But if the piece is artfully made, I know it won’t leave me there. It may never sound harmonious in the traditional sense, but it will offer deeper beauty in meaning. In so doing, it offers a picture of God’s work in us. Fellow believers know that while here on earth, the beauty He brings is not always the “pretty” of this world (a perfect life, miraculous healing, quick fixes), but something far better: Himself, Perfection, to walk alongside us and bring deeper meaning. New music may not always bring those “pretty” chord progressions that soothe the ear, but often enough if we’re listening, it enriches and warms our hearts by bringing art that meets us where we are.

Caitlin Frasure, Pianist & Co-Founder of “Ascending”
www.caitlinfrasure.com
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God's Breathing 
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Sometimes it is quiet and soft, like the breathing of a baby.  Sometimes it is strong and rhythmic, like the belly breathing of Buddhist meditation,  Sometimes it is labored and painful, as when God shares in the suffering of all living beings.  Sometimes it is like the sound of a train and its whistle, warning of an arrival.  And sometimes it is surprising, shocking, and fundamentally resistant to control, as in Delvyn Case's piece Ruach.  Its very violation of expected norms helps clear the mind for the the presence of the Breathing as a source of freshness and freedom, of novel ;possibilities.  Please listen:​
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Ruach is an example of what you might call "new" sacred music.  Typically you won't hear it in church, at least while worshipping; instead you'll hear it in a concert stage.  And it will shock you and shake you and make you laugh.  You'll need to lose control to hear it.  And that loss of control, that relinquishment of the sovereignty of the ego, so that a wind-like spirit might find its way into your heart and open up a free space - that's God's Breathing, too.  Here are Delvyn Case's notes on it:
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The Hebrew word “Ruach” means both “breath” and “spirit.” Fundamental to this word (and to the Greek analogue, pneuma, which also is used in both ways) is a paradox. The notion of “spirit” denotes something ineffable and invisible - yet something that is always ready to break through and make itself known in a transformative way. Catholic mystics, African griots, and Christian Pentecostals are well-known examples of religious people who - when filled with the “spirit” – sing, dance, pray, feel, or see things that are amazing, powerful, and even out of their control. In the same way, our breath is something simultaneously ineffable and invisible – yet also so fundamentally physical that our bodies do it without our conscious thought. We usually only become aware of our breathing when we are experience something surprising or particularly important: when something beautiful makes us catch our breath, our something frightening makes us cry out in terror. In the same way, we are not usually aware of our “spirit” except in special circumstances: in a religious or spiritual state, for example, or when we have to call upon something deep within us in order to create – or to endure. Ruach confronts this paradox by bringing to our awareness many different ways “breath” and “spirit” can become sonically and dramatic present. Throughout the piece the performers are asked to make various kinds of breath sounds with their instruments and their own voices, blurring the line between music and sound. Overall, the piece emphasizes idea of the spirit as a powerful force that is surprising, shocking, and fundamentally resistant to control.

- Delvyn Case

Sample from the Score
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