Statistikhengst
Diamond Member
- Banned
- #1
This is indeed political correctness gone way too far, and after the link and quotes, I will give my opinion as to why.
Brandon High School Band pulled from football game performance
At a number of extreme RW sites, they are howling about this. Some, however, are noting that this would also mean that muslim prayers and music are also forbidden. I must say, their howling is justified, but often not for the reasons they are stating. And no, Obama didn't cause this to happen, thank you.
I personally have a HUGE problem with this, for music is a universal language. If you ban music repertoire that has any relation to religion, then you automatically kill about 3/4 of really good singable repertoire for choirs, select ensembles, up and coming young singers and so forth. This would mean that 99% of anything that J.S. Bach wrote would be prohibited, because in virtually every piece he wrote, mostly for the Thomanerchor at the Church of Thomas in Leipzig, is written "In deo soli gloria" (solely to the glory of G-d). Or the wonderful American folksongs arranged by Aaron Copland, for instance "At the River". I guess this also cuts out a large majority of good transcriptions for Trombone Choir, because a great deal of it is based on church music, for instance, reams and reams of notes for Mennonite Trombone ensemble. How about the really incredible Masses, Requiems, Verspers and such for Solists, Choir and Orchestra by composers such as Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Haydn and Verdi, not to mention the same from many modern composers? Jon Rutter's "Gloria"? Wow. Randall Thompson's "Allelujah"? Wow. This is all staple-repertoire for every up and coming vocal ensemble in the USA. How about any song that even has the word "spirit" in it for any purpose? There are tons of Symphonic Band works with religious themes as their material, for instance, a Grade V arrangement of "Amazing Grace", a Grade VI "Danses Sacred and Profane", Reed's "Russian Christmas Music", Press' "Wedding Dance" (from the Jewish Suite "Hassaneh"), McBeth's "Kaddish", Dello Joio's "Variations on a medieval tune" - the tune being "I dulci jubilo". How about the famous evening Prayer from Humperdinck's "Hänsel und Gretel", arranged for all sorts of musical ensembles?
Let's face it: a majority of original band, choir and orchestra compositions and a much larger majority of transcriptions for such are based on religious themes.
I mean, what the fuck? Obviously, this judge did not think far enough about the wide-reaching consequences of his judgement.
This kind of music may have started as music for "the Church", but it has become a major device for teaching young singers and instrumentalists the basics of good, solid, playable music. Remove this music and a huge chunk of really good learning material disappears, What's next, patriotic songs?
No, no, no, no, no!
This is wrong. This is very, very very wrong.
If a HS Band in a community that likes this kind of repertoire wants to play it, they should be able to play it. It's neither an endorsement of any form or Christianity nor is it a condemnation of such. It's just good music.
Brandon High School Band pulled from football game performance
At a number of extreme RW sites, they are howling about this. Some, however, are noting that this would also mean that muslim prayers and music are also forbidden. I must say, their howling is justified, but often not for the reasons they are stating. And no, Obama didn't cause this to happen, thank you.
I personally have a HUGE problem with this, for music is a universal language. If you ban music repertoire that has any relation to religion, then you automatically kill about 3/4 of really good singable repertoire for choirs, select ensembles, up and coming young singers and so forth. This would mean that 99% of anything that J.S. Bach wrote would be prohibited, because in virtually every piece he wrote, mostly for the Thomanerchor at the Church of Thomas in Leipzig, is written "In deo soli gloria" (solely to the glory of G-d). Or the wonderful American folksongs arranged by Aaron Copland, for instance "At the River". I guess this also cuts out a large majority of good transcriptions for Trombone Choir, because a great deal of it is based on church music, for instance, reams and reams of notes for Mennonite Trombone ensemble. How about the really incredible Masses, Requiems, Verspers and such for Solists, Choir and Orchestra by composers such as Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Haydn and Verdi, not to mention the same from many modern composers? Jon Rutter's "Gloria"? Wow. Randall Thompson's "Allelujah"? Wow. This is all staple-repertoire for every up and coming vocal ensemble in the USA. How about any song that even has the word "spirit" in it for any purpose? There are tons of Symphonic Band works with religious themes as their material, for instance, a Grade V arrangement of "Amazing Grace", a Grade VI "Danses Sacred and Profane", Reed's "Russian Christmas Music", Press' "Wedding Dance" (from the Jewish Suite "Hassaneh"), McBeth's "Kaddish", Dello Joio's "Variations on a medieval tune" - the tune being "I dulci jubilo". How about the famous evening Prayer from Humperdinck's "Hänsel und Gretel", arranged for all sorts of musical ensembles?
Let's face it: a majority of original band, choir and orchestra compositions and a much larger majority of transcriptions for such are based on religious themes.
I mean, what the fuck? Obviously, this judge did not think far enough about the wide-reaching consequences of his judgement.
This kind of music may have started as music for "the Church", but it has become a major device for teaching young singers and instrumentalists the basics of good, solid, playable music. Remove this music and a huge chunk of really good learning material disappears, What's next, patriotic songs?
No, no, no, no, no!
This is wrong. This is very, very very wrong.
If a HS Band in a community that likes this kind of repertoire wants to play it, they should be able to play it. It's neither an endorsement of any form or Christianity nor is it a condemnation of such. It's just good music.
