Music Catalog

Look at it this way.

TAIZE

It was an epiphany, discovered late at night the summer after my senior year in High School. In my parents' house there was a big attic fan we used to cool us from the summer heat. The din of the fan motor washed out all other sound and music. Late at night I could play the piano without being bothered and without waking up my parents. It was my favorite time to play, and to compose. I was working on composing a new song. I would improvise as I prospected for ideas. I found a very simple chord progression that I liked. Over and over I repeated the progression while improvising melodies over it. The repetition would go on for 15 or 20 minutes becoming like a mantra. The experience awakened a whole new exciting phenomenon in my mind. My perception was of something very spiritual; it felt like what I always thought prayer should be. I discovered the music of Taize years later. Taize music captured the essence of my late night discovery.

Taize (pronounced teh - zay) is a tiny village hidden away in the hills of Burgundy, in eastern France. It is the home of an ecumenical community of brothers since 1940. A style of worship and music has evolved at Taize that today attracts thousands of Christians of all ages that make pilgramages to the community for prayer and reflection. Amanda Pratt from our own Church family was one of them, perhaps others too. It is contemplative for a noisy, complicated world. Brother Roger of Taize succinctly describes a Taize worship experience:

"From the depths of the human condition a secret aspiration rises up. Caught up in the anonymous rhythms of schedules and timetables, men and women of today are implicitly thirsting for the one essential reality: an inner life, signs of the invisible.

"Nothing is more conducive to a communion with the living God than a meditative common prayer with, as its high point, singing that never ends and that continues in the silence of one's heart when one is alone again. When the mystery of God becomes tangible through the simple beauty of symbols, when it is not smothered by too many words, then a common prayer, far from exuding monotony and boredom, awakens us to heaven's joy on earth."

Three elements make Taize unique: silence, repetition, and Latin. Although it takes practice and intention to achieve, silence is "so essential in discovering the heart of prayer". The music is made of up short phrases, easily memorized, which are repeated numerous times. They easily flow out of our breath. The trick, as I have pointed out before, is to get to the point where you do not worry about how many times to repeat. The repetition allows everyone to fully participate, and for each individual to ponder and make an existential reality of the words. The words are often, but not always, in Latin. The reason for this is that as the community of Taize evolved, more and more people of diverse nations and languages came to participate. Latin, being the univeral language of the Western Church, is a very easy and beautiful language to sing became the unified tongue of musical text. Often scripture readings are read in numerous languages.

What makes Taize changts usable is that they are easy to learn, leaves lots room for improvisation, are accessible to non-trained as well as trained musicians. Because of its openness to improvisation you can use whatever resources are available: flute, bells, choir, guitar, organ, synthesizer, soloist, etc.. I invite you to taste and see. The Lord is good.

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