Music in Worship Day: Hearing the Sacred in Music: Listening as Prayer

This course will examine various views of the relationship between music and the listener and how spirituality may enter this experience. It will embrace a variety of styles and contexts, both secular and sacred. It will examine how tone, colour, expressive character, musical construction and value systems relate to spirituality and whether the spirit resides in the music itself or in the relationship between music and musicker. It will include the role of memory in the listening process and the interface between words and music (particularly in the writings of church leaders).

We will examine the way the spiritual has been constructed in the history of church music in different Christian theological traditions and from different historical periods from the Middle Ages to contemporary composers. It will include practical exercises that will enable participants to understand their own ways of understanding the musical/spiritual experience and various ways of praying through musicking while learning from the experience of others. No particular musical skills are required. There will many opportunities for discussion, conversations and debate so that various ways of hearing can be shared.

Contact Alison Ogden for all booking enquiries
aogden@sarum.ac.uk  |  01722 424826  |  01722 424800 (main reception)