Christendom College Bulletin

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Music

But supper being ended, and Musicke bookes (according to the custome) being brought to the tables, the mistresse of the house presented me with a part, earnestly requesting me to sing. But when, after many excuses, I protested unfainedly that I could not: every one began to wonder. Yea, some whispered to others, demanding [to know] how I was brought up.
Thomas Morley, 16th Century

As of Fall 2008, Christendom will offer a minor in Liturgical Music. In order to earn the music minor, students will have to take specific courses, totaling 19 credits, including History of Music in Western Civilization, Music Theory and Composition, Theology of Worship and Its Music, Gregorian Chant, a Choir Apprenticeship, Organ or Voice Lessons, and one class of either Ecclesiology, The Sacraments, or The Second Vatican Council.

Because true education involves the domestication—not the suppression—of the soul's raw passions, and since music taps into this non-rational part of man, an education in good music is extremely important. Natural reason gives us an intimation of the Catholic sacramental vision which stresses the union—not the opposition—between body and soul. Modern Western culture, however, is noted for its dualities (Left Brain vs. Right Brain, the Sciences vs. the Humanities, for example). While the rational pursuit of knowledge via mathematics and science has produced modern marvels such as the computer, the Arts in this century have had little impact on the masses, who are content with "entertainments" which are alternately coarse or sentimental. However, an education in good music helps to integrate the rational and the non-rational, the mind and the heart, the body and the soul in man.

As the Church has given birth to much of the first fifteen hundred years of Western music within her liturgy, Christendom College gives students the opportunity to continue to experience this great "treasury of sacred music" by singing it within the liturgy as members of the Christendom Choir and the Schola Gregoriana. Given that these great musical treasures are truly an integral part of traditional Catholic worship, the college offers two courses (THEO 303 and 304) stressing the unity between worship and its music. Finally, a course surveying the entire history of Western music (MUSC 101) is offered, as well as a course initiating students into the techniques of Western tonal music and methods of composition (MUSC 102).

MUSC 101 History of Music in Western Civilization This course is a one-semester introduction to the history of music in Western civilization. Since this course is open to students with no musical background, it will begin with an overview of some of the simpler technical aspects of music that are a sine qua non for intelligent listening and discussion of this fine art. After this, the course will deal with the study of the compositions, events, and people in music history, but also with writings about music and how music fits in with the culture and other arts of the times. There will be a "listening" component in which students will be required to recognize recordings of important compositions in music history.

MUSC 102 Music Theory and Composition This course begins with a brief review of the fundamentals of music and proceeds to the study of "species counterpoint" and "figured bass." These two disciplines were considered prerequisites to the study of composition during what was known as the "Common Practice Era" (c. 1600-1900), a period of harmonic common practice which included the Baroque, the Classical, and the Romantic eras. Thus students will be drilled in some of the basic harmonic and part-writing principles learned by the greatest composers of Western civilization. Students will also learn to read melodies at sight and transcribe them by ear. At the end of the semester, the student will be required to write some simple compositions. Prerequisite: A basic reading knowledge of music (in both treble and bass clefs) is required.

The following allied courses are available through the Theology Department:

THEO 303 Theology of Worship and of its Music This course provides an introduction to the subject by analyzing and expounding the apposite documents of the ecclesiastical Magisterium, from the Motu Proprio of St. Pius X (1903) to the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy (Sacrosanctum Concilium) of Vatican II and the instruction Musicam Sacram of 1967.

THEO 304 Practicum: Theology of Worship and of its Music This course offers practical experience in applying sound theological principles to weekly sung worship, including the music "proper to the Roman liturgy," Gregorian chant, according to the Ward Method. Pre- or co-requisite: THEO 303; no musical prerequisites. (1 credit hour) Practicum may not be repeated for credit.

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