Cantabile and School Culture

Henry Van Til describes culture as “religion externalized”. What this simply means is that one’s beliefs are the foundation to one’s practices. Rightly ordered beliefs lead to rightly ordered practices, but the antithesis is true as well. If our beliefs, theology, and view of God and man are maligned, these too will be externalized and will infect our culture. Although very simplistic, this in large part describes our current climate in the world today.

GCCA exists to serve families and churches in an effort to strengthen the kingdom of God and to train up students to properly order their beliefs and affections. One way we seek to accomplish this goal is through cantabile. Cantabile is a time of gathering as a school community to “sing songs, and hymns, and spiritual songs” (Col. 3:16). It is how we begin and end our weeks.

Truth, beauty, and goodness...These terms have become something of a cliche in classical and Christian circles. Oftentimes, these words are glazed over and their meanings assumed, and are relegated to classical and Christian buzzwords. What do these words mean? How are they foundational to one's understanding of Christian culture? What role does cantabile have in developing this culture? This is what I would like to explore.

Truth:

“Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.” - John 17:17

Notice in this verse, that truth is objective. God has established what is true. There is a standard for truth, and this truth sanctifies, makes holy, and is cleansing. Training the students and ourselves in this is a necessary precursor to rightly ordered belief, i.e. acknowledging God as the Author of truth. Cantabile serves to direct our attention to the Word of the Lord. Singing His words back to Him as we are commanded (Psalm 9:11).

Beauty (aesthetics):

“The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.” - Psalm 19:1

God has made Himself known in creation (Romans 1). This is known as general revelation. Aesthetics (a set of principles concerned with the nature of beauty) is a fascinating topic when one considers this from a christian perspective and in light of God’s general revelation. To develop this idea fully is beyond our scope, but the concept of beauty and aesthetics, like truth, is also objective. In response to this, this phrase is often cited, ‘beauty is in the eye of the beholder,’ as a way to say that beauty is relative. Certainly, there are aspects of beauty that can be relative, however, what I am primarily concerned with is the objective side of beauty. To put this succinctly, there is a process of training and sanctification that must occur as we learn to desire the things of the Lord. God must conform our affections to clearly perceive and appreciate His beauty and the beautiful things of this world. One brief example of this is how God is a God of order, not chaos. The songs we have chosen were crafted for their words, certainly, but also for their singability and their beauty. 

“Cantabile” from the Italian or “cantable” from the French describes the nature or characteristic of a composition, whether composed for voices or instruments, when all of its voices or parts can be easily [or beautifully] sung, or when one of the melodies of such a composition have been set [or composed] in such a [vocally, easily singable] manner.”
- from Cantabile, cf Walther’s Music Dictionary
(Bach sold copies of this book from his house in Leipzig and very likely contributed to it).

There is much to say in regards to this topic, but this introduction to the concept of beauty in music is one we must continue discussing. 

Goodness:

“Oh, how abundant is your goodness, which you have stored up for those who fear you and worked for those who take refuge in you, in the sight of the children of mankind!” - Psalm 31:19

The notion of goodness carries with it many ideas and concepts. The kindness of the Lord, the gifts of the Lord, the process of putting off the old self and how we walk by the Spirit - these good gifts are given to be shared. Not least of these gifts is our praise and gladness. This is exemplified in our singing. God has gifted us with a voice to be trained and directed to sing God’s praise for the good of ourselves and of others. As we learn to sing parts (tenor, alto, etc.), the harmony becomes a picture of unity and diversity. In a real sense, it is a picture of a Christian culture rightly ordered. Goodness also denotes the sentiment of the best things. Considering this in regards to music, there are a plethora of musical choices that we could choose to sing, but our goal is to select songs that best reflect the nature and goodness of the Lord: songs that have permeated the culture through generations, that magnify God’s word and His truth, beauty, and goodness. 

Cantabile serves to display truth, beauty, and goodness. A time of fellowship where teachers, students, and families come in unity before the Lord to sing His praise, we sing songs that have been masterfully crafted to serve this purpose. Songs that have been created and optimized for singability, memorization, order, and that are rich in theology. Songs crafted for harmony that mirror the harmony of truth, beauty, and goodness.

For this reason, singing is a monumental piece of our religion being externalized and is one of the greatest ways to shape and mold our school culture here at GCCA and our community. This is why we so highly value parent/grandparent participation at cantabile on Mondays (8:15-8:20am) and Fridays (11:45am-12:00pm). 

As always, I hope to see you Monday morning!

Mr. Joshua Taylor
GCCA Headmaster