Research on Catholic Identity in College Music Programs
  • KellyAFord
    Posts: 3
    I am interested in perspectives on "What does a Catholic music program/curriculum/education mean to you at the post college/university level"? I have begun preliminary research and am looking for others who might be intrigued by this topic, or perhaps can offer scholarly referrals or references to previous research of which you might be familiar. I am especially interested in Catholic colleges and universities which offer music education or performance as a major. I can be contacted at kford@saintjoe.edu and would be happy to discuss in more detail where I am headed with all of this. I can also provide a more academically framed question, if the above is too vague. Thanks! (Mr.) Kelly Ford
  • Mark M.Mark M.
    Posts: 632
    Just sent you an email. :)
  • KellyAFord
    Posts: 3
    Thanks to those of you who have contacted me. I am still interested in more perspectives, from a wide array of people (i.e. public and private university faculty, students, parish musicians, K-12 educators, etc.). kford@saintjoe.edu
  • KellyAFord
    Posts: 3
    Just bumping up my thread, in case anyone else might be interested. Thanks
  • Chris_McAvoyChris_McAvoy
    Posts: 389
    Who I am I to speak on this subject ? No one particular knowledgeable ..though I will say my opinion....

    Secular music does not concern this forum as far as I know, we may not need more Catholic "humanist" music programs...

    We probably need more blind canons/monks as cantors who learn everything through life long apprenticeship and read braille neumes (for whatever isnt memorized) at the local Cathedral and serve as the master precentors.. where their influence will gradually spread out to local parishes in the form of lay confraternities of clerks/cantors , as was common before the reformation.

    University "catholic music programs"... the whole concept needs to be go back to basics, back to how Boethius learned it in the 6th c..

    "In his "De Musica", Boethius introduced the fourfold classification of music:

    Musica mundana — music of the spheres/world
    Musica humana — harmony of human body and spiritual harmony
    Musica instrumentalis — instrumental music
    Musica divina— music of God

    In one of his works within De institutione musica, was to say "Music is so naturally united with us that we cannot be free from it even if we so desired."

    Perhaps there should be more smaller scale type universities that have more in common with "home schooling" or seminaries. In the vein of the Peabody institute in Baltimore which several individuals on this forum have been taught at.

    Thats my own vague uneducated opinion of what a catholic (ecclesiastical) music program means to me.

    Best wishes for your report which surely will be of great benefit and interest to many here.
  • leon.griesbach
    Posts: 32
    This is an interesting questions which I have been mulling over a little bit myself.

    Now the director of music at a cathedral, I graduated as an organ major from CUA, but was semi-adopted into many facets of the graduate program in Sacred Music. While I think CUA has one of the best programs around for the study of Sacred Music, I think there are many elements of my job that I could not have been prepared for in a conventional university setting.

    Even with this education, I would have like to graduate feeling a little more "steeped" in the tradition.

    I have often wondered if apprenticeships might make a resurgence in our field to fill that purpose? Perhaps in many fields like ours that tend to be a little more specialized? I see some benefit to adopting several young musicians as apprentices in my music program years down the road. It would definitely be cheaper than traditional university programs.

    I know some universities and colleges already partner with area musicians and churches with "church music internships". Perhaps this approach is the key. It is a complex issue that ranges outside the realm of Sacred Music into education, the cost of higher-education these days, whether everyone needs that type of education for certains fields etc. etc. ...This subject needs a dim pub, dark beer, and a lot more discussion.

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