Vol. XXI No. 1
September 2005

Ecumenical Music

I was very moved by William Harvey's Voice Box in the May issue, "Should Only Christians Play for Christians?," which included part of his letter to the church that ultimately cancelled his performance. I consider it excellent, not only for this sad occasion, but as a model for interfaith work.

I graduated from Juilliard in dance in 1960, and have been teaching courses in sacred dance at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley since 1989. I also direct a small dance company, Omega West Dance Company, and one of our projects has been "Beyond Words: An Interfaith Ritual for Peace." It incorporates movements and chant forms from the traditions of Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, and Hinduism, woven together in the languages of dance and music. We call the dance "Beyond Words" in order to "open those places not in people's minds but the intangible regions of their hearts and imaginations … That beauty can be perceived is a cause for wonder—experiencing it, people let go of divisiveness, opening unexpected dimensions of the heart."

I applaud William Harvey's deep caring and optimism.

Carla DeSola (DIP. '60, dance)
Berkeley, Calif.



What a wonderful letter Mr. Harvey wrote! Among my own experiences, some were positive, while others were similar to his. In 1944, my rabbi asked me to provide some music for an ecumenical Thanksgiving service. I enlisted several of my Juilliard classmates to perform in a choir, for which I arranged a Thanksgiving Protestant hymn along with other songs. I conducted the program, which was well received. After graduating from both Juilliard and Columbia (and completing my Jewish music studies at the Jewish Theological Seminary), I went out into the real world. One of my jobs was music director in a temple, conducting a professional choir. Never once was I questioned as to the religion of the respective choir members. As the years progressed and I served in other congregations, I was directed to have only Jews in the group—but in hiring members, I never once asked them about their religious persuasion. Though I was frequently challenged about the religious makeup of the choir, in every case the cantor and I managed to change the subject. Most of the service was sung in Hebrew, and I always translated the text during rehearsal. Many times I could see tears in the eyes of my choir members when the cantor happened to sing beautifully, or our performance was exceptional. They were moved regardless what religion they followed.

I retired from all of this more than 15 years ago, but over the years I've gone from being a believer to a doubter. I've come to the realization that more wars have been fought and countless innocent lives lost in the name of religion. Religious fanatics are determined to maim and slaughter, just to force you to think that their way is right and is the only way. Our president only makes the situation worse with his actions. It is our responsibility as artists and as citizens of the world to continue our efforts to restore civility to the present situation caused by these zealots.

Mr. Harvey, I congratulate and thank you for your good work. Please do not become discouraged. I hope that, in your lifetime, you might see some sanity and progress in this cruel world.

Milton Fink (B.S. '48, double bass)
Lenox, Mass.
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