#077: "Words that Matter": The Voice of a Pastoral Composer (with David Kauffman) - a podcast by National Association of Pastoral Musicians (NPM)
from 2019-11-18T14:00
When we think of pastoral music composers, we think of David Haas. Marty Haugen. Dan Schutte. Tony Alonso. Jesse Manibusan. Ed Bolduc. Steve Angrisano. The list of well-known composers goes on and on. They are names that we see on our choral octavos, or on the composer’s credits of our hymns each week. In a way, we create this cultural divide between those who compose and those who take their songs into the churches for ministry. I’ve heard people say, “I can’t do what these ‘big name’ composers do.” And yet they arrange choral works for their choir, or write their own psalm setting to match the musical needs of their parish.
Some of us might feel a tugging on our hearts to compose, writing down a scripture verse or little segment of a melody that we keep thinking about. But how do we act upon that call? Even more, what if we don’t see ourselves as composers, and stop ourselves before we even put pen to paper?
As a pastoral musician, composing sacred music may seem daunting. Today David Kauffman and I discuss how to honor that call from the Spirit, and how any pastoral musician can grow such gifts.
To provide some context before we begin, David Kauffman is a composer and creator of Good For the Soul Music, a sacred music company based out of Texas. David, along with Bill Gokelman, composed the “Mass of Renewal”, which won NPM’s national contest to vote for the best new or revised Mass setting in light of the Roman Missal changes implemented in 2010. The membership voted, and their “Mass of Renewal” was chosen.
David joins us today from San Antonio, Texas.
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