FFM 2009

FFM 2009

Audio from Calvin College's Festival of Faith & Music 2009.

Episodes

Toward a Theology of Independent Music - Kevin Erickson

April 13, 2009 • 39 mins
What is independent music? Where did it come from and why does it matter? Can creative choices about the production and distribution of art be spaces of cultural & social change as powerful as the works themselves? What would Gustavo Guiterrez think of Fugazi? Drawing on insights from Andy Crouch, Cornel West, and others, Erickson sketches out answers to these questions, and also explains why it’s probably a bad idea to turn your c...
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When the Last Days Come - Micah Lott

April 13, 2009 • 26 mins
Over the past two decades, John Darnielle of the The Mountain Goats has crafted a remarkable collection of songs, distinguished by lyrics of high literary quality. One notable feature of Darnielle’s song-writing is his frequent use of eschatological language and imagery. This paper examines the “logic of eschatology” in Darnielle’s song-writing, paying special attention to themes of suffering, justice and hope.
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"Don't Let Me Explode" - Matthew Carillo-Vincent

April 13, 2009 • 49 mins
In linking our struggles in faith with the rigid demands of gender, The Hold Steady’s 2005 album Separation Sunday offers a conversation about ethics and empathy as a new way of thinking through the politics of masculinity at the beginning of the 21st century.
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Hot Soft Lights - Erin Keane

April 13, 2009 • 18 mins
The Hold Steady’s songs explore the struggles of ripping highs and exquisite, sketchy lows of clever kids, townies and a host of apocryphal characters in their hungry—and often violent—search for grace, their fatal flaws and dubious virtues given equal spiritual weight. An ornate thread of mysticism shoots through lyricist Craig Finn’s narrative as God is revealed to punks and skaters through frightening visions and bold transfigur...
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Hell Yeah! - David Horace Perkins

April 13, 2009 • 33 mins
For creators and performers of American or Southern Gothic music, symbols of stereotyped Southern religion—emotionally charged revival, errant preachers, the amen corner, mourner’s bench, serpent handling, curses, damnation and divine retribution—find a place of prominence not only as fodder for songs, but as pillars of a vibrant live performance scene. This paper asks what kinds of cultural capital these symbols have both for the ...
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I Be's Troubled - Stephen J. Nichols

April 13, 2009 • 27 mins
Blues music, with one foot in the church and the world of the African American spirituals and another foot in the cotton fields of the Mississippi Delta, exhibits a profound theological interpretation of life. The music of Muddy Waters, Charley Patton and Robert Johnson all has something to teach theologians. Their experiences made them keenly aware of life under the curse. Their craft provided the means for expressing it.
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Music + Faith + Commerce? - Trey Many

April 10, 2009 • 99 mins
In this workshop, Trey Many discusses the odd impact of having one’s faith associated with their music career, mainly focusing on Christianity and its role in popular music. Topics include the demonization of secular music within the church, the possible motivations for musicians have for publicly declaring their faith, and why Christian Rock’s dream of mainstream acceptance being realized may eventually destroy its market share.
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The Language of Faith - Tim Regan-Porter

April 10, 2009 • 62 mins
How do we talk about faith to those outside the faith community, as well as within it, in ways that promote understanding? It’s not just the vocal firebrands of “the religious right” that alienate. Too often, the language we use in everyday conversation comes across as foreign or inauthentic. The co-founder of Paste magazine explores the thorny semantics of faith, starting with the often-overlooked language divide between evangelic...
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Music & Meaning - Robert Nordling & Benita Wolters-Fredlund

April 10, 2009 • 75 mins
We are saturated with music, and not only from what we intentionally listen to. Advertisements, sound tracks, commercials, car radio, our iPods set on shuffle as we work out…all these sources of music feed (force feed?) us an almost constant stream of music. But just what is music telling us? Lyrics and text aside, what is going into our ears, as we listen either actively or passively to music? Two Calvin music professors consider ...
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Gender Inequities, Community and Change in Electronic/Dance Music - Rebekah Farrugia

April 10, 2009 • 60 mins
This workshop will examine the everyday assumptions, language, actions and texts that situate women on the margins of electronic/dance music (E/DM) culture. Drawing on five years of interviews with female DJs and producers, Farrugia explores how their stories both structure and are structured by personal meanings and experiences in the E/DM scene. Ultimately, these meanings and experiences are bound up with larger gendered narrativ...
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How to Write a Great Song in Five (Not So) Easy Steps - Over the Rhine

April 10, 2009 • 66 mins
Every songwriter has to determine some criteria for doing his or her best work. How do you know if your own songs are approaching what you actually care about as a writer? Detweiler and Bergquist talk about what they're most drawn to as songwriters and explore what makes a song potentially great.
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Junkyard Orchestration - Nathan Johnson

April 10, 2009 • 62 mins
This workshop provides a behind-the-scenes look at composing music for independent film. Using audio clips and images from his recent original scores for the acclaimed neo-noir film Brick and the upcoming The Brothers Bloom, Johnson explores specific creative challenges regarding structure, technology and the constraints of small-scale music production.
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“Clenched Fists, Black Eyes” - Mary McCampbell

April 10, 2009 • 66 mins
In this session, Mary McCampbell examines the role of anger and lament in the music of The Sex Pistols, The Velvet Underground, Sonic Youth, Fugazi, The Psalters and Sufjan Stevens. McCampbell also explores whether a punk rock aesthetic/message can inform our theologies of worship as we ask the following questions: can musical dissonance be part of worship? Can verbal violence be prophetic?
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Worshiping Worship (Worshiping Ourselves) - Lenny Smith

April 10, 2009 • 77 mins
A young college student is walking across campus, holding hands with his sweetheart. “I am beginning to think you really don't know me. After all, I have needs. I study all week and by the weekend, I need a break! Let me just go hiking on Saturday, like I planned, and on Sunday we can do the bike trip that I told you about last month. Okay? By the way, I think I like your hair that way." "I haven't changed my hair in weeks!" So too...
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Kenneth Thomas Interview by Chris Mills

April 10, 2009 • 51 mins
In a conversation moderated by local DJ Chris Mills, Thomas talks about his story, spirituality, his work as a DJ and the communal nature of dance music.
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A Junkyard Journey - Julie Lee

April 10, 2009 • 57 mins
Julie Lee is a visual artist as well as a singer and songwriter. She studied painting from the age of eight, but has found her voice as a collage artist in the junkyard, taking from the old and discarded to make something new that redemptively speaks to the present from the past. In this workshop, Lee shares about her personal "Junkyard Journey"—the redemption of all things old and new, lost and found, music and art, and how they a...
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Radio Gaga - Jude Adam

April 10, 2009 • 59 mins
Is radio still the key to getting music to the masses, or a dinosaur killed off by the digital age? Tips on how to get your songs heard (and played) by taste-makers and radio programmers and how to keep your audience coming back for more.
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Loving Christ, Hating Christian Rock - Jessica Hopper and David Bazan

April 10, 2009 • 70 mins
Music journalist Jessica Hopper and David Bazan (Pedro The Lion) discuss his lyrics, coming up in and out of the Christian music scene, reframing his faith in music and what it's like to be an artist straddling secular and non-secular worlds.
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Taking It to the Streets - Jacque Rhodes

April 10, 2009 • 63 mins
Would you be surprised if you picked up the latest Snoop Dogg CD, flipped it over to read the titles and found a track called, "Jesus Is My Lord and Savior?” It is common practice, and even expected, for a bona fide pop musician or rap artist to include "the gospel song” on his or her album. In this workshop, Jacque Rhodes discusses how gospel music has become interwoven with popular music and considers what influence popular music...
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Can "Christian" Music be Saved? - Grant Elgersma

April 9, 2009 • 54 mins
One might argue that words are ill-equipped to capture what music is, which is the reason people are drawn to musical experience in the first place…so why try to stamp music with any kind of label or category? Well, it seems we just can’t help ourselves. This presentation explores how Christians talk about music that speaks for them. How might we broaden the conversation about what can be called “Christian?”
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