Re: [Harp-L] Harp songs for a Funeral

["Dave R. Fertig" <drfertig@xxxxxxxxx>]

Okay, this IS about musicianship.  Bear with me.

I am a little struck by the phrase, "anti-Christian" and the notion that, 
at a funeral, someone of one religion would be offended by hearing  a song 
representative of another religion.    I am a devout, orthodox peace & 
justice-loving atheist-humanist (with people of jewish, christian, buddhist 
and other so-called religions/superstitions in my family, but I love'em all 
just the same.)  So, I'm arguably anti-religious, but very few people- and 
certainly neither muslim or jewish or buddhist doxologies - are 
"anti-christian."

What's wrong with playing, e.g.,  a "christian" song at a jewish funeral, 
or vice-versa?  I say let's do more of it, so long as the underlying gist 
of the music is to promote Good Stuff, like love, mercy, brotherhood, etc., 
and not to promote separation of people.

I mean, of course be thoughtful.  Don't go singing "Onward Christian 
Soldiers" (!) or songs extolling Jesus or Allah above all others, sure, 
that's divisive, but Amazing Grace, When the Saints,  etc., are beautiful 
songs regardless of the religious content.

As musicians, as cultural workers/social communicators, don't we bear a 
certain responsibility to promote ethical conduct and communication across 
divides which cause suffering?  If not, well... I suggest at least it's a 
good thing to break down the barriers between us, not enforce them.

After all, tolerance: one shouldn't mind others' beliefs or origin-myths, 
so long as they're not used to justify harming or excluding others.

And beautiful heartfelt music, with or without religious lyrics, is still 
beautiful music.

As John Sinclair said:  kick out the jams brothers and sisters!  (Well, 
that's one version...)

-Dave Fertig


At 05:10 PM 7/7/2006, you wrote:
> Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
> From: "Dave Murray" <dlmurray@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
>
> <<Don Alexander, "I have been ask to play my harmonica at a funeral.  Any 
> suggestions as to what songs would be appropriate and that can be played 
> on a harmonica (diatonic or chromatic)??  Any suggestions are 
> appreciate.  I was thinking Shenandoah, Red River Valley, etc...">>
>
> You didn't say anything about the religious/spiritual beliefs of the 
> deceased or their loved ones. That could be a big deal.
>
> "Amazing Grace" seems like an obvious choice unless it's for anti-Christians.
> "Angel Band" is probably a good choice.
> "Taps" at the end if it's for a veteran.
>
> Peace and music,
> Dave