The Fredösphere

It all happened so fast.  The Michigan District of the Lutheran Church, Missouri Synod owns a ministry at the campus of the University of Michigan, known as the University Lutheran Chapel.  (I know it as U-Lu, but that name has never caught on.)  In a matter of just a few months, discussions have turned into a decision to hand over operation of the Chapel to my congregation at St. Luke.  To acknowledge that event, raise awareness, and stir up enthusiasm, St. Luke held its annual Ascension Eve service at the Chapel.

(Thanks, by the way, to my buddy Victor, who attended the service and took the picture you see to the left.)

This is a case study of the power of an architectural environment to influence the activities within it.  After years of growth and remodeling, the St. Luke sanctuary has become a space where all sonic events are assumed to be electronically amplified.  This means the traditional worship that takes place there is disadvantaged in ways I didn't fully appreciate until last night.  U-Lu is a traditional church plaster walls, stained glass, a high ceiling with ornate exposed rafters, a pipe organ in the balcony, and a moderately "wet" acoustic.

Everyone who came to the service last night seemed psyched.  There are lots of emotions swirling around, such as a hunger to engage the U-M campus on a spiritual level, and nostalgia among chapel alumni (a married couple I know well first met on the chapel steps).  However, I suspect many of the traditionalists feel what I feel:  U-Lu is home.

Some additional thoughts ... There's a harpsichord up in the balcony, currently being used as a music shelf -- a harpsichord!  ... When I say traditional, I'm not thinking Bach cantatas every week.  What I love about this place is how friendly it is to unamplified vocal music.  On the other hand, it may be the place wherein I debut my banjo playing.  Be afraid, Lutherans!  Be very afraid! ... The Chapel is not huge; it can seat 130, or 160 if you use a shoehorn.  We could invite U-M student composers in for new music concerts, and even a modest audience would make the thing seem like a sellout.  This is something you must consider if you are going to promote new music.

We'll see if it becomes possible to move St. Luke's traditionalists to this new site.  In the meantime, I'm thinking about the way a traditional concert hall creates an expectation that high-brow music, with all its 19th-century trappings, will occur therein, and how that may limit the growth vectors for new music.  (Impressive -- I just used the word "vectors" in a sentence!  I wonder if that word means something.)  This is a topic that Ian Moss has wrestled with, among many others.

And then, there's the Jimmy Hoffa cupcakes.