Colour Your Music (B)

Colour Your Music (B)

In Colour Your Music (A), we discussed about colours and we made a comparison between the Optical and the Musical and we find so many similarities between the two spheres of art as far as colour is concerned.

Here instead, I would like to point out some very interesting differences.

We know that there are many different types of colours. The spectrum is so vast. The colour of an object depends on what rays it reflects and absorb. There are 2 poles to the colour chart;

TRUE BLACK -------------------------------and--------------------------------TRUE WHITE

Every other colour falls between these 2 extreme opposites or limits.

However, musical or audio colours have no such limits nor "dead ends" so to speak. The spectrum is endless and infinite. New sounds can and will always be created. Every sound is unique in itself. Not a single rain drop produce the same exact sound.

There is no limit to frequencies. The only limit is our instrumentation in producing extremely high/low frequencies. Even our human ears have limitations in the perception of frequency. For example, Dogs can detect higher frequencies than we humans. That does not mean that there is no sound above what we humanly can hear. It only means that me have our limitations.

I am mentioning this because I want you to realise (if you have not already) that sound or music can be so "infinite". So vast, so enormous, so intangible and yet so mesmerising. Therefore, to harness this unseen energy of sound, one must be prudent and wise. We need to be stewards of this heavenly gift. We need to prepare ourselves, both physically,mentally and spiritually to be good stewards or to be crude, worthy stewards.

In my training as a musician, I always come across statements made by my teacher like "Ben, I cannot see what you are trying to do. There is no direction in your music"

Initially, I could not understand what my tutor meant. But when I finally did, Lo and behold! A new horizon of understanding and discovery began to unfold! And it is this revelation that I want to impart to you. But, it can not be achieved overnight.

It is no wonder that the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra has "Hear and You will See" as its motto.

How can one see what one hears?

Lets take a peek into the animal kingdom for a moment here. Bats are blind but they are excellent navigators. Dolphins and whales communicate in a complex language made up of various frequencies of sound unique only to their species.

We humans are not very far off. When we speak to a total stranger for the first time via phone (without visual contact), we are somehow forming a picture of that person as we speak. We are able to judge roughly the characteristics, personality, physical build up etc etc of the stranger who is on the other side of the line. In a similar way, criminologist are able to sketch the face of a suspect just by relying on verbal information given by eyewitnesses.

As far as music is concerned, it is very much possible to paint a picture to the listener with musical colours. This is a very intricate process of communication. This is the kind of communication that unites the souls of men and bring them into union with God in expressing what words or other means of communication can not do.

The late Pope John Paul II wrote something to this effect in his encyclical addressing to all artist. He said that beauty of music is like a little window in which through it we can catch but a glimpse of the immense beauty of God. How profound!!!

*catch a glimpse suggest visual activity.

Musical ideas can be well projected in the minds of the listener if it is well coloured.

Not all professional musicians, bands or orchestras are able to communicate effectively at this level. In my experiences, there are only a handful who can.

There were times when I listened to live performances and the performer was able to keep me at the edge of my sit - literally speaking. I could see what he was doing and not only that BUT I could anticipate his next move. This sort of anticipation is what makes the music even more beautiful and captivating. It is like as though the performer casted an invisible net over the audience and communicating with us through this undetectable frequency or wave length.

During this concert, my soul and my senses blended and I was transcended to a realm not always experienced in the mundane everyday living. It was an ecstasy, a sober inebriation.

That is what we ought to aim to achieve when we perform sacred music. The senses must be blended with the soul and NOT letting the senses dominating the soul leaving it dry and (the soul) captive to the senses. There is no freedom in that.

Let me quote from the then Cardinal Ratzinger's book "The Spirit of the Liturgy" on the part when he was commenting about Plato's writings on music ascribed to the mythological greek god Appollo, the god of reason and light.

"This is the music that draws senses into spirit and so brings man to wholeness. It does not abolish the senses, but inserts them into the unity of this creature that is man. It elevates the spirit precisely by wedding it to the senses, and it elevates the senses by uniting them with the spirit. Thus this kind of music is an expression of man's special place in the general structure of being"

Ratzinger then goes on to mention the music Plato ascribe to Marsyas.

"It drags man into the intoxication of the senses, crushes rationality, and subjects the spirit to the senses. The way Plato allots instruments and keys to one of these two kinds of music is now obsolete and may in many respects surprise us. But the Appolonian/Dionysian (Dionysian is another term for Marsyas) alternative runs through the whole history of religion and confronts us again today. Not every kind of music can have a place in Christian worship."

So how then can we achieve this level of intensity in sacred music?

Yes, colour your music. And colour them well with the right balance. The right tone and shading.

We need to phrase our music. Through phrasing we can give direction to the listener. We can place accentuation and dynamics as "landmarks" to guide the listener. The swelling and diminishing of tonal qualities can sway and nudge the listener into the right direction. We need the right softness or loudness and the right touch to persuade. There is a time for climaxes and a time for gentleness. The right stylistic approach is also very crucial. (many more can be said)

You may not grasp fully what I am trying to express in the paragraph above simply because words alone are ineffective in teaching this. This skill can not be attained just by reading a written manual or in just a few practical lessons. This is simply because this is a highly sophisticated and specialized skill. But do not fret for it is achievable.

We can, if taken one step at a time, bit by bit, one day at a time. Let the Holy Spirit guide us.

We must make a conscious effort to increase the level musical awareness and critical ear. This will in turn help us to understand better on how to colour our music and vice versa.

We pray for an increase of love and awareness in serving our Lord. Let us model our attitude and spirit in serving one another and God according to the teachings of the apostle and the life of the Virgin most Holy. Amen.

Colour Your Music (A)

Colour Your Music (A)

Imagine a world where everything you see is black and white. Wouldn't it be a little dull? But wait, lets go further and try to make it even worse.

Now, imagine the black and white that you see has no shading. By no shading I mean that we cannot detect the darker tone parts (that are away from light) from the lighter tone parts (that are expose to more light). Suddenly, we lose all sense of dimension. Everything is reduced to 1 tone. There seems to be less liveliness. Nothing seems appealing to the sight anymore. Nothing seems real.

If you cannot imagine the above then try to imagine yourself being locked up in an asylum where the 4 walls, ceiling and floor are all bright white and your clothes are as white as the cell. Even if you were sane, you will no longer stay sane after a while.

Lets look at the other extreme. Imagine that your house is painted (inside and outside) luminous green, bright blue, purple, bright pink, yellow, blood red, brown, dark green, olive green, and then your furniture are of contrasting thematic designs and random colours. Now that will be quite a scene. How gaudy!

Alright. Let us come back to reality. Now take a good look at nature - mother nature. Let us take some time to admire God's art work. Everything is in perfect order and has its purpose and its unique colour. Notice how God blends the colours so well that no honest man can look at it and say "Yucks, Mother Nature is so ugly. The colours just don't match!" Even a blade of grass has many different tones of green. We can justly say that God is an Artist of the highest calibre and has a divinely perfect taste for beauty. He doesn't make mistakes.

Thank God that we inherited His artistic talents since we are made in His Image. Therefore, we as humans do have potential don't we? Except the fact that we do make mistakes from time to time - GOD doesn't.

So far we have discussed Visual Arts (The Optical). What about Audio Arts (The Musical)? By Audio Arts I mean Music. Music have colours too.

We must shade our music with darker and lighter tones in various colours which compliment each other (otherwise it can be pretty gaudy like the imaginary house which I discussed in the 4th paragraph).

We need to be wise in selecting our musical colours, shading and tone.

ie: Phrasing, dynamics, expression, accentuation, decoration and etc.

We also need the right "brush" and right technique to create the desired "brush strokes" in order to bring out certain descriptive effects (brush strokes can equate to touch in music - but we shall discuss touch another time)


But how exactly do we colour our music?
Do we know when, where and how to shade and colour our music so that it becomes 3 dimensional/real (as oppose to the 1 dimension scenario in paragraph 1)and thus put "life" into the music we play? Once there is "life" in the music, then we can successfully use the language of music *(please refer to my first posting) to communicate effectively -- To communicate what the music is trying to say so that it transcends the human soul and heighten the level and intensity of our worship.

As taken from the LITURGICAL CATECHESIS FOR LAITY ON THE GIRM:

1) "Putting our prayer into music not only helps to unite us in the prayer we make, it also gives a unique expression to our prayer that words alone cannot achieve."

2) "In a poetic way, the Instruction notes that the intense union between God and the Church in the celebration of the Eucharist can be described as a union between lovers whose nature is best expressed in song (GIRM 39) As we gather to hear God's word, to eat the Bread of Life and drink from the Cup of Salvation, our prayer (in song) must reflect the joy and depth of this profound mystery of faith. In doing so, we can follow the instruction of St. Paul, who told the Church to 'sing together psalms, hymns and spiritual songs' (Col 3:16) as we wait for the coming in glory of the one whose death we proclaim."

3. "GIRM 39 - one who sings prays twice."

4. "Our singing is our prayer."

So to really reflect the joy and depth of this profound mystery of faith, we ought to have the right kind of music (singing included) OR the right/appropriate way of playing them in order to achieve this effect.

Therefore, to colour your music and shade them well with various tone colour is one of the ways how we can hope to achieve this. With this understanding, we again come back to the disturbing question:

Do we know when, where and how to shade and colour our music? In other words, Do we know when, where and how to phrase our music, use the different dynamics, express, accentuate and decorate our music?

Failing to do so results in
Gaudy music = Loudness, laud, noisy, distortion, inbalances,
crowdedness, unsoothing and etc
Dull music = Mono-tone, lifeless, uncommitted, lacking in direction,
inexpressive and etc

We need to come together in our practice sessions to figure that out in each and every song we play. Those who feel that they need to upgrade their skills and enhance their musical knowledge & develope critical ear are encouraged to do so.

Let us ask God to help us on this. Let us also ask Him to show us the way in how we can learn to colour our music well. Above all, let us do this so that we can heighten the level of worship befitting for a King. What we do in our music do affect the congregation. Help us O Lord to fulfill what we as music ministers are set out to do in the first place according to the GIRM for Your Glory and Yours only. We pray for unity in our cause to provide music for Your Chruch and people. Teach us to love one another despite all our own short comings & imperfections. Help us to provide a prayerful atmosphere for our fellow parishioners. Let us Worship you in one voice, one heart and one song. Amen.