Sacred Nine Project: Panhymnic
or, the project that became whatever the pandemic demanded
Folks, we are in unprecented times. I have found it extremely interesting how different people deal with crises in different ways. Living in New Orleans, a city that thrives on social contact, it is not surprising that our city (but not only our city) has been taken down at the knees, while many of its citizens still try to keep the New Orleans reveling alive as much as possible. The other day I was going for an isolated run down St. Charles around mid-day, and to my left, on the sidewalk, were three young people in costume. No holiday…no party…just holding on by a thread to what they love about the city. Personally, I deal with the pandemic in the opposite way; I love quiet, and noise of almost any kind only intensifies my anxiety.
Another way people deal with crises is through their faith, and I am always amazed at how belief systems shape different people’s world view about natural disasters, diseases, and other (aptly named for this project) “acts of God.” Rev. Ralph Drollinger, who apparently leads a weekly bible study group for members of President Trump’s cabinet, asserts that Covid-19 is the manifestation of the “consequential wrath of God,” brought about by, among other groups, gays. Rev. Tony Spell, pastor of Life Tabernacle Church in Baton Rouge, continues to hold large church gatherings, despite having been arrested. He believes the order to break temporarily from traditional worship is an attack on religion, and even claims that people have been cured of cancer and HIV/AIDS in his faith healing sessions. The Solid Rock Church in Cincinnati is still holding worship services also, and when interviewed, more than one congregant says that they are not afraid because they are covered in the blood of Jesus. Anne Graham Lotz, daughter of famed evangelist, Billy Graham, doesn’t necessarily believe that coronavirus was created as a punishment, but believes that God is using the pandemic to teach us a lesson.
The afore-mentioned anecdotes hint at a few beliefs about some people’s idea of God’s role in a crisis:
Disaster and Disease are punishments for sin.
Someone who prays or believes can be spared from Disaster and Disease.
God doesn’t necessarily create the Disaster and Disease, but uses it to keep people obedient.
Faith in God brings comfort to those facing Disaster and Disease.
Since The Sacred Nine Project deals mainly with American hymns, I wonder if you can think of any hymns that deal with Disaster and Disease? If so, what do you think about the theology that the hymn is adhering to? Please fill out the survey below. I will be arranging some of your suggestions, either as solo pieces, or maybe even as a virtual choir piece, or maybe even (can you imagine?) a public performance someday! Here are the criteria:
The hymn (words and tune) must be in the public domain (1924 or earlier, and the earlier the better!).
The hymn must be American in origin, or at least have a strong tradition in American worship.
The hymn must refer directly to things such as natural disasters, plagues, pestilence, disease, or at least text that seems to mirror the circumstances that the pandemic has brought into our lives.
In lieu of direct mention of the items in #3, the hymn can instead make mention of Christ as the Great Physician.
As many of you know, The Sacred Nine Project celebrates the intrinsic beauty in hymnody while indicting it for the problematic theology that it represents. Let’s see what we can create!
STOP! What you have just read is what I wanted PanHYMNic to be, but it didn’t play out as I’d hoped. I did have some interesting discussions with people about possible hymns, but I think people weren’t too keen to focus on the bleakness of the topic. Therefore, I pivoted, and this project became a collection of virtual choir projects that I created (necessitated by Covid) that feature old American poems or hymns.
THE BEGINNING OF MY VIRTUAL CHOIR PROJECTS
"Good Night, Dear Heart," by Dan Forrest
Tulane-Newomb Choir, Tulane University, New Orleans
C. Leonard Raybon, Conductor
James Kelley, Accompanist
April 27, 2020
Before the University's move to on-line teaching due to Covid-19, we had learned and polished this piece, which has become our final project this semester. In a zoom discussion, I asked the choir what they thought about our dedicating the video to the people who have lost their lives to the pandemic. The singers approved, and some voiced that a great deal of music-making during this dark time has been devoted to hope, which is wonderful, but that they hadn't seen enough that has addressed grief. The text, adapted from "Annette," by Robert Richardson, appears on the gravestone of Susy Clemens, daughter of Mark Twain. It is a gentle command to the natural elements that surrond the beloved's final resting place:
Warm summer sun,
Shine kindly here,
Warm southern wind,
Blow softly here.
Green sod above,
Lie light, lie light.
Good night, dear heart,
Good night, good night.
We do not own the rights to this beautiful piece by Dan Forrest and have used it for educational purposes. ...And please be kind, as I learned all the technology for this myself and received no outside help, except that I was forever pestering our accompanist, James Kelley, who is a very supportive techie. I shot all the nature footage on location in Poplarville, Mississippi.
If one good thing has come from this pandemic for me, it has allowed me to really assess my students' singing as individuals. I was able to give them personal feedback about their video, and I think this will create stronger choral singers in the future.
"Softly and Tenderly, Jesus Is Calling"
Words and Music, Will L. Thompson (1880)
Arrangement and vocals, C. Leonard Raybon (2020)
May 7, 2020
"Softly and Tenderly"...do you know it? Well, it would have been used as an invitation hymn originally, and still is to this day. An "invitation" is when evangelical churches, at the end of each service, invite "lost people" to accept Christ. However, in this season, I am using this hymn much more metaphorically.
In my work as founder of the Sacred Nine Project (sacrednine.com) I look for old American lyrics and either try to make sense out of them, or at least find a way to enjoy the music and verse while still highlighting when the words present a challenge. In this case, the challenging text is why I chose "Softly and Tenderly" for this video:
"Shadows are gathering, deathbeds are coming."
The hymnist was probably not responding to a real health threat as we are in now. His message was that we are all going to die one day, and that we should accept Christ before that happens. How can such an urgent message come out of such soothing music?
Here, I am using the hymn as an allegory. "Home," central to the refrain, is health...wellness...normalcy. The passage of time depicted in the hymn reflects our anticipation: How much time before our next rehearsal? Our next hug? A vaccine? And while us waiters keep waiting, the helpers, honored here, keep helping.
The "tick-tock" motif in this arrangement came about by accident. When I had finished recording, I hadn't noticed that I had set the program's metronome to sound during playback. Therefore, at very tender times, that insidious pulse would emerge. Lucky for me, the third verse begins with, "Time is now fleeting, the moments are passing." As a result, an intermittent clock found its way into the project.
“My Buddy”
Lyrics: Walter Donaldson
Music: Gus Kahn
Arrangement: C. Leonard Raybon
Performers (from top left): Melissa Marshall, Lesley Castay, Liz Argus, Leah Huber, Meredith Owens, Chase Kamata
June 8, 2020
The song is presumably from then point of view of a soldier to a friend killed in battle. However, the lyrics are so tender that (at least to our modern sensibilities) they seem to indicate more than friendship.
In this concept, a man with a wandering eye, played by a swell, mid-century comedy/tragedy mask, is a metaphor for Live Theatre, who won't stop looking at the new vixen in town, Corona Covid. I created this for an online fundraiser for Summer Lyric Theatre at Tulane.
“Blest Be the Tie that Binds”
Tune: DENNIS, by Lowell Mason/Johann Nägeli
Tune: DISTANCING, by C. Leonard Raybon
Arrangement: C. Leonard Raybon
June 3, 2020
Performers: Rayne Memorial United Methodist Chancel Choir, past and present Soloists: Laurie Phillips, Rebecca Sullivant, Joseph Tate
The timing of this premiere is no accident. Tonight at this time marks exactly 12 weeks since The Rayne Chancel Choir has sung together, and we love singing together! Making a solo video is not what any of my singers signed on for, and I'm just so grateful that they were open to this idea. I know I'm partial, but I have the best church choir on the planet. They are faithful in attendance, and they want the music to be accurate and beautiful. And they actually mark their scores!
The video "set" that I created for the singers is the Moorish (?) design of Rayne's balconies, and every single graphic in the video (besides basic fonts) comes from our magnificent stained glass windows. Some scenes will be easily recognizable to those familiar with our church, and other elements are more obscure. I challenge our church-goers to find which window each element comes from!
There is a lot going on visually in this video because there are six verses and a lot of textual themes in the hymn. You may have to watch it more than once. I chose this hymn because of this verse: When we asunder part It gives us inward pain, But we shall still be join'd in heart, And hope to meet again. I extended this sentiment to include not only our membership who cannot gather for rehearsals, but also our choir family who have passed. Those honored folks are (in order of video appearance): Karl Matherne Howard Janssen Elizabeth and Jack Hutton (long-time and revered predecessor) Debbie Nice Anita Wilson
We have not been hearing very encouraging things about when it will be safe for choirs to gather again. Right now this is the only modality I have to preserve a sense of choral community. I hope you enjoy watching it and hearing it as much as I have enjoyed creating it!
Poetry: Emily Dickinson
Tune: JEFFERSON, composer unknown, 19th century (?)
Arrangement: C. Leonard Raybon
Performed by the Corona Choir
September 4, 2020
This wonderful group of people (and others who have participated intermittently) form the Corona Choir, which has been creating virtual choir projects since the pandemic began. This particular ensemble hails from France, Germany, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
We live in tumultuous times. If it's not a pandemic, it's social unrest and racial injustice. Emily Dickinson was an American poet who struggled with mental illness. Often woven into even some of her bleakest poetry is a thread of hope. Such is the case with "Out of the Morning." On one hand, she seems to wonder if the night will ever end. On the other, she uses a playful guessing game to express herself.
We hope you find a hint of hope in the choral arrangement of this fine American poem.
"Fairer Than Day" (In the Sweet By and By)
Hymn: S. Fillmore Bennett
Tune: Joseph P. Webster
Arrangement: C. Leonard Raybon
October 30, 2020
I am so proud of my Rayne Chancel Choir. They have come through again with an offering for All Saints 2020. The graphics suggest a migration from earth to heaven, where there is that "beautiful shore." The ornate set for the singers is reminiscent of a table (or piano) with many framed photos on top, some of living family, and some of beloved ones who have passed.
“Paul Laurence Dunbar: Two Choral Études”
Poetry: Paul Laurence Dunbar
Music: C. Leonard Raybon
Performers: Tulane-Newcomb Choir, Spring 2021
May 3, 2021
In rethinking my curriculum for online rehearsals due to covid, this was a very different semester, and has been about the journey, not the destination. I wrote these two pieces, honoring the great African-American poet, Paul Laurence Dunbar, one verse per week. In turn, the students submitted audios of each verse per week, and one video per piece (in which the audio was muted, to decrease student anxiety). The students were assessed weekly and given detailed feedback about eight of the nine of my “Mimic the Muse” system and new video series:
POSTURE
RESPIRATION
PHONATION
RESONANCE
ARTICULATION
TEXT (meaning and phrasing)
GESTURE (facial expression)
DISTINCTION (reliability and musical mechanics)
While this is a lot more work than a normal semester, there are elements of this system that I will keep. It is just a fact that, despite really great intentions, some choir members in a traditional choral setting rely too heavily on some of the stronger singers in their section, and as a result, don’t make the kind of contribution of which they are capable. This semester has required that everyone master the material as best they can. I realize, too, that singers do not join choirs to be required to record themselves in isolation. Therefore, if and when choral singing gets back to normal, I will not require weekly submissions, but I will definitely have some sort of submission requirement. Please forgive the host of sonic inconsistencies you may hear by the sheer awkwardness of piecing these works together verse by verse like Frankenstein’s monster! Also, enjoy these two poems by Paul Laurence Dunbar. Singing is the theme of both!