by Kurt Knecht | Mar 21, 2012 | creativity, imagine, jonah lehrer, kurt knecht, Uncategorized
Tonight, I listened to Jonah Lehrer speak about his book Imagine. It is another in an increasingly popular genre of literature that seeks to explain “creativity” to some degree or other. If you don’t already know the story, here is the Wikipedia entry on Eureka.“This...
by Kurt Knecht | Mar 17, 2012 | kurt knecht, the thing, Uncategorized, urologists
On the morning of the first day, I awoke to a slight discomfort. It was just the slightest sensation that the family jewels may have been bumped around a little. On the morning of the second day, the pain had managed a crescendo to a relatively stable mezzo piano. I...
by Kurt Knecht | Mar 12, 2012 | BWV 172, J.S. Bach, kurt knecht, Uncategorized
Once again, I have been confronted with the wild and bold choices of JSB. This time, it’s from BWV 172. I was accompanying this yesterday and was shocked to see that fourth measure. (You can expand the picture by clicking on it.)That’s right. Over a pedal...
by Kurt Knecht | Mar 8, 2012 | gigging stories, kurt knecht, ravel concerto, the florida orchestra, Uncategorized
Part of my prize in the Florida Orchestra’s Young Artist Competition was the opportunity to perform the third movement of the Ravel G major Piano Concerto three times with the Orchestra. We were to play two “Coffee Concerts” and one evening concert. Each concert was...
by Kurt Knecht | Mar 8, 2012 | bach chorales, kurt knecht, Uncategorized
Chorale #183 in RiemenschneiderWould you let your students write this bit that happens over the 2nd barline? The key signature is G major, by the way.
by Kurt Knecht | Mar 5, 2012 | christian music, kurt knecht, St. Augustine, Uncategorized
When we talk about the history of Christian music, we are immediately confronted with difficult terminology. What exactly do we mean when we say “Christian music”? Do we mean – in the rather unorthodox parlance of the modern evangelical movement – that there was an F...
by Kurt Knecht | Mar 1, 2012 | kurt knecht, the christian artist, Uncategorized, Wolterstorff
In my last post on the divided existence of the religious artist (which you can read here), I began discussing the struggle that many artists face between their religious and artistic lives. I found a lovely passage in Wolterstorff’s Art in Action today that...
by Kurt Knecht | Feb 28, 2012 | kurt knecht, the christian artist, Uncategorized
“The maid who sweeps her kitchen is doing the will of God just as much as the monk who prays — not because she may sing a Christian hymn as she sweeps but because God loves clean floors. The Christian shoemaker does his Christian duty not by putting little...
by Kurt Knecht | Feb 27, 2012 | christian art, kurt knecht, the christian artist, Uncategorized
One of the big questions is whether or not there is such a thing as “Christian” art. I think the answer to that question is that there is not such a thing in any objective sense, but I want to be careful in explaining what I mean.In an interesting passage in Exodus...
by Kurt Knecht | Feb 26, 2012 | kurt knecht, parables, the christian artist, Uncategorized
The parables of Jesus are the closest thing we have to something that would fall under the category of artistic output. The parables show the marks of someone who was deeply involved in the creative process. Anything that conveys so much in so few words has to be...
by Kurt Knecht | Feb 25, 2012 | kurt knecht, psalms, the christian artist, Uncategorized
A comment that is often made about the Psalms is that they give voice to the full array of human emotions. In them, we read of joy and depression, hope and despair, friendship and hatred, love of God and doubts about God’s goodness. Many of the sentiments expressed in...
by Kurt Knecht | Feb 23, 2012 | kurt knecht, the christian artist, Uncategorized
A few events have occurred over the past few weeks that have shown me that there is a need to address some of the issues surrounding what it means to be a Christian artist in contemporary society. As I turned my mind toward the issue, I thought a good place to begin...
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