|
 |
 |
|||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
[ Back to index of October articles ] Songs tell stories
of God and deliverance Horace Boyer, editor of the African American hymnal Lift Every Voice and Sing II, will be calling on area residents to do just that when he visits St. John’s, Lafayette Square later this month. Boyer will be at the church Nov. 15-16 as part of a monthly series of choral Eucharists organized by Bill Roberts, director of music ministry at St. John’s.
“When you’re around Horace Boyer, you just have to say, ‘How can I keep from singing?’” Roberts said. “You’re just caught up in his enthusiasm – it’s contagious.” As well as presenting a program that includes spirituals, work songs and traditional and contemporary black gospel, Boyer will tell the story behind the music at two separate workshops, where participants will also be able to practice some songs. “The African American culture has always found a relief and therapy in making music,” Boyer said. “They make a joyful noise unto the Lord. They lift up their voices like a trumpet, not in a muted kind of way.” But the negro spirituals are more than just beautiful music, he said: They enabled the story of America’s slaves to survive in a way it otherwise might not have. History is written by the winners, and the slaves were not even taught to write. So their music memorializes their suffering, and ensures their place in history. “These were the songs, these were the testimonies, these were the testament to the fact that the slaves were here,” Boyer said. “It was just as valid as Shakespeare, and they’ll be here as long as Shakespeare.” Boyer was born into a Pentecostal family in Winter Park, Fla., but was drawn to the Anglican Church as a young man because of its music. “I heard Bach and Mozart, Handel,” he said. “I fell in love with it, and the organ. They had very sophisticated music, and I heard that music as I was passing by. “For 20 years, I didn’t have anything to do with black music, because I was an Episcopalian. For a long time when I went to church, I would sort of leave my culture at the door.” But one day, all that changed.
Accompanying the Sunday service, Boyer momentarily forgot where he was and launched into a gospel song. “These were black people and they started singing like you’ve never heard them sing before,” he said. “They were in familiar territory. They were home.” This made Boyer sit up and think, and in 1982 he worked with Black Ministries to publish a collection of 124 African American songs. This was the first edition of Lift Every Voice and Sing. “Once it got out, it became a favorite in the Episcopal Church,” he said. “In the last six years or so, the music has sort of come out of the black churches and into the entire communion. “Forty years ago, this couldn’t have happened in the Episcopal Church. It was just not possible. But it’s a completely different church now. We all know that. “The idea is that we want to celebrate the diversity in the communion, and we can’t celebrate the diversity in the communion by being all white.” Most people find African American music deeply satisfying, Boyer said. “It just reaches a certain empty spot in people of every race, color and creed,” he said. “This music has a nature to it that says, ‘Come on in, the water’s fine.’” Classical music drew Boyer to the Episcopal Church, and he has given back richly of his own musical tradition. “I think that the wall has been cracked,” he said. “Sometimes I go to a church and the colors and races are so diverse, I feel like I’m in a rehearsal for heaven.” Contact Lucy Chumbley at lchumbley@edow.org Make a joyful noise with Boyer Saturday workshop: Nov. 15, 1-3 p.m. at St. John’s, Lafayette Square. Horace Boyer will discuss and play music from the African-American hymnal Life Every Voice and Sing II. Sunday, Nov. 16, 10 a.m. adult forum lecture followed by an 11 a.m. Eucharist, featuring songs from Lift Every Voice and Sing II. [ Back to index of October articles ]
|
|
||||||||||||||||||
