Some of you who know me well are surely asking: “When is Tom going to turn to Robert Shaw to help consider how music communicates with the human brain?” The answer is: “Obviously, not soon enough!”
There is no way in this brief space to explain how “Mr. Shaw” influenced and mentored me toward the person that I am today – both musically and spiritually. “Mr. Shaw” – and I shall have more to say about that salutation in a later post – was born in 1916 and died in 1999. The primary content of this post will be excerpted from “Worship and the Arts” – a lecture delivered November 10, 1981 at Memorial Church at Harvard University – found in The Robert Shaw Reader edited by Robert Blocker*.
So without further information or introduction – at least at this time:
“On what grounds and upon whose authority are we to decide what is worthy and what is worthless for worship?
I suggest to you that the dilemma is more apparent than real, and that it can be solved by common sense, plain every-day good manners and a helathy combination of humility and industry which, however, lays upon no-one the obligation to matriculate at a School of the Arts.
Let me lay before you four criteria which may help this evaluation.
The first is that of motivation. Let’s say right out that purity of purpose dignifies. Not every continent-straddling, world-striding evangelist is an Elmer Gantry. Though, if we were completely frank and had the wry wit of our grandfathers, we might observe ‘that too big a load of success and too much horse power will tear the heart right out of a clutch of humility in no time at all.’ Similarly, 10,000 ‘How great Thou artists’ are not irretrievably doomed for chanting softly and tenderly in Yankee Stadium.
A second criterion must be craftsmanship. Music is a craft, and it has rules and standards – and within comfortable limits these are knowable. There is handsomely constructed music, and there is cheaply constructed music. We do not ask that every building be an unassailable masterpiece, but it ought at least to have the mortar, brick, foundations and girders specified in the contract.
In the third instance, art and music worthy of worship will have historical perspective. It will have origins – which may, in time, lead to originality. This criterion is very close to what we mean by ‘style,’ and it adds to motivation and craftsmanship the incalculable increments of heritage and tradition.
And that is the fourth and final criterion – the creative miracle of ‘revelation’ . . . for, of course, the revelations themselves begin to set standards. We do not set them. Exposure becomes acquaintance and acquaintance becomes ‘communion’; and finally we begin to understand what an act of worship really is and – what it asks of us.
Jesus was asked, ‘Which of the commandments is the first of all?’ And he answered, ‘You shall love God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’
We were never told that it would be easy.
Nor did he say, ‘all your heart, most of your soul, and – let’s see – about half your mind.’
The truth is that worship should be a heart-wrenching, soul-searing, mind-stretching and generally exhausting experience. One should not be required to check [one’s] mind at the door, should someone get [that one] to the church on time.” (374-376)
More – much more – to follow.
* The Robert Shaw Reader. Edited by Robert Blocker. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2004.
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