Reflection upon rehearsal for SLGC's appearance at Unity Church

[scarlettina]

So tonight's chorus rehearsal was all about Sunday's appearance. The chorus will be singing in Unity Church's Joyful Arts Ministry. We've been preparing one particular song to perform. What I didn't realize was that we were going to be performing, basically, as the choir for the entire service. Tonight we rehearsed with Unity's musical director and

Comments

[miss_swamp]

some of the stuff we were singing sounded to me like the worship music I've heard in TV commercials for evangelical music CDs

Yes! Fusing "it's all good" with memories of evangelism lessons at church camp. Tonight felt very strange, even though it was fun.

[scarlettina]

It's reassuring to know that I wasn't the only one who felt odd doing this. I'm sure there's more to my discomfort than what I've rambled on about here, but this seems to get at some of the root cause, which is a good thing.

Dig the new icon! ::grin::

[aprivatefox]

I've been trying to explain what has me happy-uncomfortable to mufi for the last hour. I think you've arrived at part of it; thank you.

[scarlettina]

You're most welcome, sir.

[mrdorbin]

Me four-or-five; singing as part of a church choir isn't perfomance, it's ministry (well, that's the sound bite, anyway; it's more complicated than that, because music IS art), and while I obviously personally have no problem with that in general, I'm not totally comfortable with singing with a church without totally knowing what they're about. I get the feeling they're good people, though, so I can back them up for one Sunday. I'm very curious about the services, though. It should be an interesting day.

[scarlettina]

...singing as part of a church choir isn't perfomance, it's ministry (well, that's the sound bite, anyway; it's more complicated than that, because music IS art)...

Precisely! Complicated, complicated, complicated. As I wrote to pixxelpuss over in ironymaiden's journal, the religious/political part of me feels like I shouldn't be able to turn off my context engine when I do something like this—the engine that inextricably connects form to function. Part of me thinks that music is music, for and by itself, and that context shouldn't matter. I find myself wondering if I should be disturbed by the fact that I've made an art of turning off the context engine so I can enjoy the art for itself. I also wonder if this ability is a survival mechanism for me as an artist