Change of the American Soul

On Friday evening, September 24, 2010, BYU held a concert of the combined University choirs. Each one of the choirs performed at least one work by an American composer. Of those performed there seemed to be a message communicated in Everyone Sang, by Dominick Argento, and Shoo Fly Pie and Apple Pan Dowdy by Kirby Shaw. The message was a dialectic of composition styles and feeling in music from post war America to present day America.

Everyone Sang is an extraordinarily difficult composition to sing. It follows contemporary choral compositional technique. The rhythm alone is enough to throw even the most educated musicians. I found myself looking for some sort of direction in the music. The downbeat was nowhere to be found, there was no sense of tonal center, and chaotic entrances of random vowels were enough to throw the audience for a loop. This style of composition does not cater to an uneducated populous of easy listeners. It was intended for a highly elite group of musicians and listeners that would be able to make meaning out of the nihilistic sound that filled the air. This marks a shift in American music and artistic mentality. Music no longer seeks wide spread approval from it’s populous; it seeks to make a point, some artistic point that is purely for art’s sake. If this music is any sort of indicator for the sentiment across the United States, then we have fallen into a chaotic confusing mess of life that isn’t communal any more or shared. This music doesn’t invite the listener in, it excludes the general public and seems to say, “listen, if you can.”

However, if the piece is viewed through the lens of the title, then this music takes one a different feeling. The random entrances, and different pitches, and lack of cohesion could easily be viewed as a mass of voices striving to be heard amongst all the rest of the noise. If this is intended to be a reflection of American national character, I would say it’s spot on. I think that people the nation over have so many worries, ambitions, fears, and opportunities, that they are striving to get above the noise of life to just be heard. It accurately reflects the religious, ethnic, and political plurality that has become America.

Shoo Fly Pie and Apple Pan Dowdy is written in a Jazz big band style. It is reminiscent of the post war era, where Jazz and Big Band music filled music halls and the radio speakers of most American homes. Its message is that of a home grown life. Pie’s cooked at home, and dear old mom baking for her family. This work invites the listener in. It compels you to participate with syncopated rhythms, and Jazz chords that lift you right out of your seat and make your body want to jam. The feeling in the audience was reminisce of the good old days, nostalgic looking back at when times appeared simpler and easier to understand. When compared to Everyone Sang this work compositionally meets that standard; it is simpler and easier to understand. So much so, that the body innately seems to know what to do when that rhythm hits your ears.

The difference in these two choral works is drastically different. They both reflect the fundamental change that America has gone through in the last 70 years. While it is difficult to distinguish if it has changed for the better, the compositional style and feeling of the works marks a difference in the soul of American culture.

The Prayer of Peace

It was a building of grandeur designed to stir wonder and conviction in those who saw it. Gilded in the architecture of the ages; the great dome rises in the distance and inspires one’s thoughts upwards, to the idea of something greater, something bigger than yourself. Novus Ordo Seclurum was the creed. This edifice was intended to be a great light upon a hill to an ever-darkening world. From here the word goes forth to provide a better way to people of all walks of life.

Inside could be found people wearing the finest of clothing, both silks and suits. One dare not enter here without great learning. From the high lectern the congregation takes turns preaching sermons of liberty, equality, and constituency. Their speech persuades all in attendance to either cast his vote in approval or dissent. Fiery rhetoric accompanied by both tears and shouting, is occasionally interrupted with the sounds of applause by some and disapproval by others. This hall represents the greatest minds coming together to decide what the people really need and how best to get it to them. From this room have gone forth declarations of war, appropriations of money to those in need, and re-organizations of national borders.

On this particular day many took the stand to offer some prayer of peace. “End this war” they cried, “bring our troops home.” “This war has gone on to long. It has cost us too much money and too many lives. Our own citizenry has no stomach for this war. A great call has gone out from the international community to get out of Afghanistan and Iraq. Our allies are withdrawing money and personnel. All of these facts lead one to wonder why we are still there; what are we trying to accomplish? Surely God did not intend such a fledgling disregard for life.” As this talk filled the minds of those listening, the carefully crafted language painted scenes of tear stained faces of mothers, families anxiously awaiting the victorious return of a loved one only to find them adorned in silk and polished wood, and blood watering the soil of distant foreign lands. Such a view of the situation took its toll. The sorrow and repugnance shared by every heart in the room at the thought of a meaningless massacre of our brethren was so thick it was nearly palpable. “This must end,” was the thought that hung on everyone’s mind.

Deeply moved, a cry erupted, like a single voice from the body of representatives, making a motion to draft legislation calling for the immediate return of troops to their native land. “This is what the people want,” many said, “this is what they’re calling for, it’s the best thing for everyone.” Amidst the electric energy that swept the room like a brush fire, a man at the front of the hall, sitting above the lectern, arose in a melancholy spirit. The speaker at the lectern turned to see who it was and little shocked said, “We recognize the honorable Judge of the Supreme Court. What say you?” “I should like to say a word before the body casts its vote,” came the feeble reply. “Are there any opposed to this motion?” All eyes fell on the man. After all, it was not common that a judge should be in attendance, let alone request to speak in a session of congress. No one raised their voice in opposition. But, every mind muttered in the silence, “what could the old fool possibly have to say now?” The man at the lectern announced, “If there are none opposed, the body shall now turn it’s time over to the honorable Judge.”

Slowly and laboriously the old man made his way up the scarlet carpet to the lectern. Age had had its way with him, hunching his once towering stature and barrel like physique. He set his cane aside and looked out through his circle spectacles. As he looked over the body something remarkable happened. A sudden change came over him; he rose to his full height and in a deep voice said, “Esteemed colleagues and honorable representatives I am a servant of the people and yours. You have prayed your prayer of peace, and it shall surely be received, if such shall be your desire after I have explained the import, or shall I say the full import of such exhortation. For like unto many of the passionate pleadings of men, this asks more than they who utter it are aware–except one pause and think.

“Is it one prayer? I declare it is twain. If you would beseech a blessing upon yourself, beware; lest without intent you beseech a blessing and receive a curse. If you pray for the blessing of rain, it may come down in such abundance that it poisons the crop you intended to nourish.

“You have heard your servants prayer–the spoken portion at least. I will put into words the other part–the part that you silently prayed in your hearts ignorantly and unthinkingly. You have heard spoken hear today, ‘End this war. Bring our troops home. Why are we doing this?’ The whole of the uttered prayer is compact in these pregnant words. But, while you plead for peace you unknowingly bring war upon the world. What do you suppose will happen when our troops leave the communities of people here-to-for incapable of repelling the forces that took control of their countries to begin with?

“We walked in with the aim to destroy governments of terror, that holy war that has stirred conflict in the Middle East and brought death to untold thousands the world over. We have imposed our western way of thinking upon these people: set up democratic systems, told them they are free, constructed schools, and protected them according to the dictates of the people. But, what will happen now as we leave enemies on the edges of the their borders, remove our support from their government which is not yet fully stable, and leave freedom in the hands of people that do not yet know how to be free?

“We will invite calamity upon such regions. As people turn out to exercise their freedom and self determination in casting their votes with little or no protection, the booths will be ambushed by radicals, and either prohibited from voicing their opinion or ‘compelled’ to vote a certain way. Such will bring terror back into the seats of government and dash the hopes of those who fought along side us for a brighter future. All our work to educate children in freedom before they could be educated in the style of jihad will be lost. Children will again be taken from their homes and inspired to seek out freedom and destroy it, recycling the pattern that brought death and devastation inside our own borders and all the nations of the world in the first place.

“This is the unspoken prayer which you invoke, ‘For our sakes blast their hopes, blight their lives, protract their bitter pilgrimage to freedom, make heavy their steps, water their way with their tears, stain the white sand with the blood of their wounded feet.’ And all this you claim to do for the betterment of the people, when inside your hearts you only cater to the superficial needs of the people for fear you may lose your own seat in government.

“Ye have prayed it; if ye still desire it, vote! The Speaker awaits your decision.”

It was believed afterward that the Judge was a lunatic, because there was not sense in what he said.