"Chasing the Music" by Rev. Barbara Merritt

Homily from the April 18, 2010 worship service to celebrate the 25 years of Will Sherwood's music ministry at First Unitarian.

My image of Will Sherwood is of a man in motion – not only with his fingers flying across the keyboard – but also moving at a fast clip between the organ and the piano, running down the middle aisle to catch up with the choir and speed walking between the piano (at the front of the sanctuary) and the organ (in the balcony at the back) in order to accompany a hymn.

So there is a way in which Will actually literally embodies the phrase “chasing the music.” But this morning, I want us to focus more on a spiritual and metaphorical understanding of that phrase, and to reflect together on the meaning of “sacred music.” What is the relationship between song and the holy? What happens in our own heart, mind and soul when we hear exquisite melodies and breath-taking harmony?

The poet Rabindranath Tagore tries to describe it in words:
When God commands me to sing, all that is harsh and dissonant in my life
melts into one sweet harmony.
I know that only as a singer, do I come before thy presence.
I touch, by the edge of the far spreading wing of my song –
what I could never aspire to reach. . .
The light of your music illumines the world.
The holy stream of thy music breaks through all strong obstacles.

In this particular spiritual community, it is the music that our music director, Will Sherwood, creates that beats through the strong obstacles of our hearts and our minds. How does he do it?

The choir, who knows him best, has said (and I quote): “We love Will not only for his exquisite musicianship, but also for his amazing improvisations on the piano and organ, his good cheer and wacky sense of humor and his uncanny ability to coax us to perform consistently above our own musical abilities.” (Among many other things.)

I have had the privilege of working with Will for 25 years and one thing I have learned: he likes to deflect attention away from himself and towards the choir, the music, the organ – pretty much anything other than Will Sherwood.

So, rather than make Will even more uncomfortable than he already is, this morning I want to talk about some of the music that he will be performing at the 1:30 p.m. concert this afternoon. To Will I say, “I am only quoting from your early program notes: helping the listeners to understand with greater depth, what they are about to hear.”

And to the congregation I say, “All musical notations are biographical. If you want to understand Will (and if you want to understand what it means to work creatively with your own life and gifts) then listen to what Will has to say about this music.

Here are the ten rules to great musicianship, or what I would call ten rules for the life of the spirit.

1. You must fall in love for a lifetime. Will describes falling in love with the music of Duruflé the first time he heard it in high school. Likewise with Bach’s Fantasia and Fugue. He says they are his “soul pieces”: they tugged at him forty years ago – they tug at him now. What have you always loved? God? Jesus? This city? Your partner? A lifetime of love is required.

2. I’m quoting Will, “Each person resonates to different music and musical styles.” His stretch includes romantic and impressionist, all the way to baroque and formal. We are all full of wonderful contradictions and seemingly incongruous affections. Celebrate that richness!

3. You are going to be asked to do much more than you think is possible. This afternoon Will has been called to this particular smorgasbord of skills: choral conducting, organ performance, choral composition, piano performance, hymn production (including descants) and he did the graphic design for the poster and the program. Plus he’s always repairing the organ and making sure the instruments are maintained. And he made sure the paper was 100% recycled. This list is endless. So is yours.

Which brings us to rule:

4. You must practice. Or as Kodály puts it,
Musician, you must behave like a warrior!
Do the exercises and practice your art.
Show the skill of your body.
And the sensitivity of your heart.

To which I can only add:
Unitarians, you must behave like a warrior!
Do the exercises and practice your art.
Show the skills of your body
And the sensitivity of your heart.

5. From the notes on Bach: “A magnificent marriage of the 'strum and drang tension' and the playful dance.” Welcome to your life and mine sometimes a terrible and difficult struggle – sometimes a playful happy, delightful dance. (Go figure.)

6. In the midst of this complexity of emotion and life story, the true musician is called to: first, improvise as “freely and as daringly as imagination will allow” and second, obey the strict discipline and rules of harmony and counterpoint. Freedom and obedience in music. Freedom and obedience in the life of this spirit and in pursuit of the holy.

7. There are going to be surprises. Speaking of Bach, “just when some kind of harmonic stability seems to arrive, Bach jolts the music into a whole new pitch realm.” Oh yes, we will be surprised.

8. Listen. Pay attention. Kodály begs us to, “listen to the chorus of the organ – to the king of instruments – listen to the choir which sings with the organ – painting each phrase – with a brilliant canvas and passionate variety of chromatic passages and words – listen to the whole of this music and the whole of your human life with humble attention.” A variety of colors are demanded: from the quietest and most subtle, to the kind of notes that shake the roof.

9. Will is not the only one who has to chase the music. What we love and strive for will always be just out of reach. What is true, what is real, what is sacred call to us and with all of our heart, mind and soul – we move, we leap, we travel in that direction.

And finally:

10. With whatever song runs through us, we are called to serve God. Our songs, our gratitude, our yearning, our discipline and our playfulness are all our chance to chase what is real. Today and every day, we journey in the direction of what is true and sustaining. May our song join in the chorus of souls. It is the song of God and we are all invited to sing.