FFM 2009

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 church’s youth room into an all-ages venue.

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.

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.

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 transfigurations.

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 artists who employ them and for their audiences.

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.

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.

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 evangelical and mainline Christianity.

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 several points of view around the issue of music and meaning, including whether music is language; how music communicates meaning and mediates communication; and how we might take responsibility for how we listen. The presentation includes examples of music, both recorded and played live.

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 narratives and organizational practices. Of great significance is the finding that community building is an essential element to women’s ability to call themselves DJs and is a necessary next step in increasing the number and visibility of women who produce electronic music.

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.

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.

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?

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, many of our worship services are set up to be more about US than about the Other. As a result, we go home slightly depressed and "bored with ourselves." O, for an hour when I can totally forget about me and get enraptured with my Maker! "I'm a cosmic patriot, but it’s been so long since I've been blown away" (Dan Zimmerman).

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.

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 are all so connected. A short lecture and presentation of her visual art and music is followed by a time for questions and discussion.

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.

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.

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 may be having on gospel artists.

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?”

Long time recording artist, and former music industry executive Charlie Peacock reflects on the seismic changes in the music industry and their effect on the creation of music. Peacock contrasts old music business models with new models of musical faithfulness and forecasts a way forward to good human enterprise and even better music. Guaranteed to inspire.

This workshop critically examines the relevance of sacred music within popular culture, and in particular, pop music. Pensak and Wardell briefly survey the history of hymnody and sacred music with a focus on the deep roots of the sacred in popular music today. Part one focuses on the rich lyrical tradition within hymnody. Part two will addresses the place of the sacred within the creative consciousness of our culture.

An interactive, musical conversation with Baby Dee moderated by Adam Wolpa, professor of art at Calvin College.

The primary objective of this workshop is to offer leading questions that encourage musicians to explore how they might further integrate practical aspects of their faith with their artistic interests. Discussion includes intersections between Biblical calling and musicianship that have been historically understated or ignored. Key topics include: elitism in both classical and popular music media, the Biblical narrative that requires our connection to the oppressed, and the concept of community as it relates to music and our faith.

Want to start a war? Try to work out an authoritative definition for this all too common term, "Christian music." Nearly two decades after Amy Grant recorded "Baby, Baby," Christians can still work up a lather in the culture wars, and worship wars, linked to popular music. Nationally syndicated columnist Terry Mattingly has been covering these battles since his days as a rock columnist in the late 1970s and remains convinced that these debates offer the most revealing window into the heart of Christian niche culture. Prepare to argue with him.

Makoto Fujimura shares from the process of his art, his writing, his experience with church planting projects and the founding of International Arts Movement to discuss the role of creativity in cultivating a movement mindset. He also draws from Japanese culture and art history to connect how God embeds Kingdom principles in “pagan cultures,” keys to unlock cultural history for the Great Commission.

David Dark leads a discussion on our understanding of prophetic traditions, broadly defined, and how the reworking (or remixing) of words and images is part of the crucial task of actually receiving a witness (avowedly religious or otherwise). If a song is an ethical summons, how do we know when we're hearing it? Dark suggests that being a living audience to the cosmic plainspeak of a Bob Dylan, a Lupe Fiasco, a David Bazan or an Emily Dickinson involves more than mere consumption. What do faithfulness, intelligence gathering and re-visioning have to do with one another?

Cathleen Falsani had her first epiphany at age twelve while listening to U2's song "Gloria" for the first time in a friend's living room. And, not unlike Rob Gordon in High Fidelity, she can trace her spiritual evolution in the songs she was listening to at the time, and, perhaps, that were shaping what was happening in her soul. From U2's October to U2's No Line on the Horizon, with stops as varied as the Indigo Girls, Jeff Buckley, Luciano Pavarotti, the Beatles and the Dixie Chicks in between, throughout her life music has been the fastest vehicle to get her to grace. She tells that story, with vignettes from her books The God Factor, Sin Boldly and the forthcoming The Dude Abides: the Gospel According to the Coen Brothers and The Thread: Finding A Sacred Place in Cyberspace, along with music clips.

Andy Crouch lectures from the piano at the Festival of Faith & Music 2009.

Music journalist Marty Garner interviews The Hold Steady's Craig Finn.

Dr. Cornel West speaks at the Festival of Faith & Music 2009.

In an historic first meeting, Cornel West interviews Lupe Fiasco at the Festival of Faith & Music 2009 at Calvin College.