Sarum College February 2025
Thursday, 13 February 2025, 3 pm
Sarum College, Salisbury, UK
This unique interactive event uses live musical performances as a springboard for discussion about Creation and our varying responses to what composer June Boyce-Tilman calls “the beautiful world of holiness.” Featuring solo psalm settings by June Boyce-Tilman MBE, Alexandra T. Bryant, and Delvyn Case. Performed by Robert Rice, baritone, and Delvyn Case, piano.
This event is the culmination of LISTENING TO THE PSALMS, a short course offered by Sarum College, taught by Deus Ex Musica founder Delvyn Case, Click here for more information.
Whether it’s a hymn, a choral anthem, or a gospel song, every piece of church music is essentially a musical “sermon”: an interpretation of a sacred text that attempts to reveal its meaning and its spiritual power. Yet, though we enjoy sacred music as worshippers or listeners, we rarely get the opportunity to think carefully about the ways it affects how we understand the Bible. As a result, most of us miss out on the rich perspectives on Scripture that great sacred music can provide.
Through a series of interactive discussion sessions, participants will learn listening skills that will help them unlock the unique power of sacred music as a resource for their own learning, preaching, or teaching. Focusing on the Book of Psalms, the day will end with a live, interactive performance of brand-new compositions in which participants can practice their newly-acquired skills. Participants will also explore the St. John’s Bible as a means of gaining perspectives on how contemporary visual artists have responded to the Psalms.
This course is for anyone who wants to discover new and rich ways of encountering the Bible, or wants to learn how to experience church music in deeper ways. No musical experience of any kind is necessary.
THE ARTISTS
Left to Right: June Boyce-Tilman, Alexandra T. Bryan, Delvyn Case, Robert Rice