At St. Gregory’s music is given its due as a profound means to form character and delight the soul. Music is perhaps the strongest vehicle for expressing man’s sensitivity and desire for the deepest reality, his wordless jubilation or inexpressible sorrow. Music falls squarely into the formal subject matter of philosophy precisely because it has the power to make us wonder. By its very nature, it lies so close to the fundamentals of human existence and conveys to the listener a most intimate meaning which is quite distinct from any meaning communicable by words.
But music does more than express what any individual artist might feel within himself. Music has the power to call us out of ourselves to participate in something greater. For Plato and indeed for the Western tradition in general, music was integral in the art of education because it mysteriously mirrors the impulses of the soul and imitates moral states. Music not only presents the good to our intellects, it adorns it, like becoming raiment on a beautiful woman, and thus has the power to move us wholly—intellect, will, and even body—to that good. “A hymn, O God, becomes thee in Sion.”
At St. Gregory’s Academy the students learn and sing both traditional secular music and sacred music, but music is not an important part of their daily routine—it informs all they do. Apart from folk music class and Gregorian schola practice, the boys sing for Mass and Compline, at leisure or banquets, in the vans and during athletic events. They sing about love, war, brotherhood, heroism, villainy, humor, sadness, joy and God Almighty. In fact, it is hard to think of any aspect of their experience that is untouched by music, and this is precisely why their education at the Academy is so precious. According to Plato, the end of education is to teach men to feel pleasure and pain at the appropriate things. How could this be better accomplished than through music? For music orders our passions, placing them in the proper relation to our intellect and will. And how much better when that music is sung in unison with others? For by moving us to the good, it orders our whole being, placing us in our proper relation to the good and those around us.
St. Gregory’s is much greater than the mere sum of its component parts and it calls each boy to step outside of himself to participate in that greatness. As in any symphony or orchestra, harmony is achieved by a group of individuals, each with a unique role, playing the same song. At St. Gregory’s, all are striving for the same goal of unquenchable and eternal bliss, singing one song, and each member has his own part. As our Western tradition asserts, man is a social animal and each individual’s good can only be found in the common good. It is of first importance then that each find his proper place in relation to those around him. In one of his last works, the Laws, Plato claimed that music does not merely serve as a model for external order and man’s proper relationship to society. It affects that order. For in a song, though each performer has his unique part, the good is not only being conceived but also affirmed by all the participants. Thus, not only are their bodies and senses moving in harmony, so are their intellects, emotions and wills. By participating in the greatness of the whole, each young man at St. Gregory’s reaches a level of individual greatness he would never attain on his own. Boys who would never sing a note in their lives must learn their part in their music class, in Compline, in the Mass and thus are given the means to discover their place before God in an atmosphere of music and silence, and fall in love with those things they are in harmony with because they are beautiful, true, and good.
Therefore, since music is such a powerful art that penetrates the human soul and body, often without conscious realization, and bears strong influence on the formation of character, the types of music the students are exposed to, learn, and sing at St. Gregory’s Academy are chosen with care. It is mainly divisible into three categories: sacred, classical, and the music of a people, or true folk. Sacred music is the highest of these three, as its immediate aim is the elevation of the soul to the praise and glory of God. Consequently, it is the most sublime and beautiful form of music, having been perfected throughout the ages by the Church. As sacred music leads the soul to God, ordered classical music instructs the soul, and encourages the discipline of the mind over the body. True folk music aims to affect the human heart in its testimony to a tradition reaching back thousands of years. Its melodies contain the wisdom of the ages. The emotions it provokes are true and edifying; it teaches men to feel accurately.
The music of the Academy, befitting a Catholic gentleman, promotes prayer, love, right thinking, joy or appropriate sadness, and righteous indignation. St. Augustine tells us that God is a symphonic conductor coordinating the beauty of the cosmos as one grand ineffable song. When we realize this we see that music and poetry, the music of words, are not decorations on the edges of life’s serious matters, but a participation in the very love that moves the stars. The Academy gives a large place to music and poetry in its program of formation. These arts of the muses, which in our day too often lead the young away from God, should awaken and inform the soul of the student so the he can take his place in the universal chorus of divine praise.
