The Classical Introduction Podcast: Ep. 2
- Katelyn Martinez
- Dec 2, 2023
- 7 min read
We are excited to talk more about the music ministry and how it correlates with classical music! Join host Katelyn Martinez as she discusses this interesting subject with fellow classmate and musician Ashton Harat.
Head over to the Podcast page or click here to access the podcast on Spotify. If you would rather read or read along with the podcast, the transcript is down below.
Rejoice in the LORD, O ye righteous: for praise is comely for the upright. Praise the LORD with harp: sing unto him with the psaltery and an instrument of ten strings. Sing unto him a new song; play skillfully with a loud noise. For the word of the LORD is right; and all his works are done in truth.
Psalms 33:1-4
TRANSCRIPT:
INTRO:
Hello, and welcome to the Classical Introduction podcast! I'm your host, Katelyn Martinez, and today I have the absolute privilege of interviewing Mr. Ashton Harat.
KATELYN: Welcome to the podcast!
ASHTON: Thanks! Great to be here!
KATELYN: Well, we’ll just start out with the basics, what is your major or minor?
ASHTON: Well, I’m a music major, and music majors don’t really have minors usually, I have two concentrations- my concentrations are arranging and church music.
KATELYN: This is obviously a classical music podcast, so what would you say your favorite piece of classical music is?
ASHTON: My favorite piece of classical music is very obscure, it’s a choral symphony by Holst, so for the sake of familiarity the two that I would probably say would be The Planets by Holst, and the Nineth Symphony by Dvořák. (linked below)
KATELYN: Oh, those are good ones!
ASHTON: There just so, coherent in all four movements, they just have so much coherence with each other- very well written.
KATELYN: Yeah. What would you say your favorite period – we’ve talked, at least on the blog, about different eras of classical music- what would you say your favorite one is?
ASHTON: Yeah, I would probably say the Romantic Period- I love the emotion and the expression of that time period- and also the Impressionistic Period, which is not as much the full-blown, bombastic, powerful, huge, and dense, but more quiet and reflective- but still very thoughtful and evocative.
KATELYN: Yeah, those are my two favorite eras too! So, would you say your favorite composer is Holst?
ASHTON: Yeah, definitely. Holst has that Romantic/Post-Romantic hugeness to him like Mahler. If I had to choose another composer, the list of favorite composers would probably be like: Satie- Impressionistic, Clementi- Classical, Telemann- Baroque, Dvořák….
KATELYN: How did you start in music? Were you kind of forced into it or did you kinda want to go into that by yourself as a kid?
ASHTON: Well, I always liked to sing and stuff like that, but my parents- I first started messing around with the piano at some point when I was like fourteen-ish- and my parents decided they were going to sign me up for piano lessons. Now my older brother and sister had done piano lessons with the same teacher, and so they decided they were going to send me too, and I was not looking forward to it. So, I was forced into doing it, but I loved it the first time I went, and it was awesome, and I could not wait to come back, so I’ve been doing it ever since. So that was back in January of 2019 so…
KATELYN: Oh wow, so you haven’t been doing it too, too long then?
ASHTON: Not too long- no.
KATELYN: So, you’ve had lessons, would you say it’s mainly classical music on that side of things or more like hymn-playing?
ASHTON: Umm, I didn’t start hymn-playing for a while- originally it was mostly classical-type stuff- eventually started doing like hymn arrangements, but hymn-playing falls very naturally because I tend to gravitate more towards improvisation than I do towards actual structured playing, so I did - the hymn-playing was very easy to do. It’s the classical side of things that’s a little more, has a little more discipline to it.
KATELYN: How would you say – since your foundation was mainly classical – how would you say that kind of helped you into like, hymn-playing and church music and all of that?
ASHTON: Oh yeah, sure. The style of music which we use in most churches, you know traditional church type of music is very much based on the common practice and the various music – mostly of like the Classical/Romantic Periods – and some of the piano techniques we use are somewhat related to later styles such as like, combinations of rag-time and jazz and some other American styles. So, putting that all together, when we learn those principles of common practice and the style periods themselves, that gives us a basis from which to work in those pieces of music that we use in our churches. Additionally, having that rigorous classical background gives you the ability to make music with excellence, and that’s very Scriptural. That’s very important, we do have to be skillful – there’s many verses in the Psalms that say, “play skillfully” or “sing skillfully” (Ps. 33:3) and so another thing I think that that’s helpful with is the fact that there’s a lot of… there’s a lot of institutions which teach ministry music, just like that, they teach ministry music. And so if you teach ministry music that way without using that rigorous classical background, I think you have a much better potential for bleeding off into something slightly more contemporary. And I think that over the years, that decline of using the classical foundation and then go using that to go into church music has kind of caused the music over time to deteriorate into styles which are less appropriate – depending on, you know, your opinion on that – but I do think the background of classical-bound practice is very important to how we use music in the ministry.
KATELYN: So, would you say you use a lot of classical techniques in your arranging – in your hymn arrangements and things…?
ASHTON: Oh yeah absolutely! One of the last piano arrangements I did actually… it’s fascinating because it actually wound up being very – the teacher that does arranging here at Maranatha, he was talking about how it sounded very open and just very stark and austere and parallel – and it was because of the fact I think that I’ve been studying a little bit earlier this semester in Medieval and Renaissance music. And so really, I love that sound, that really open sound that the last two pieces I’ve actually arranged have actually used that type of style to an extent, so you definitely can draw so much from those periods, and there are people who you have done many piano hymn arrangements based specifically on classical pieces. There was, one of my favorites was one of Shelly Hamilton’s, which is the C Major Prelude by Bach and it’s Lead Me to Calvary. (linked below)
KATELYN: Oh wow...
ASHTON: I remember doing that one years ago – it was beautiful.
KATELYN: Well, you mentioned Medieval music and that’s kind of, I think where a lot of church music actually originated – and it wasn’t as nice sounding as people would think - that’s kind of where it originated. So, if we go back in history, I mean, classical music and church music are tied together which I think is really interesting.
ASHTON: Oh absolutely. There’s so much classical music that’s sacred, like you can’t look at a Classical, Romantic composer, Baroque, without them writing a mass or a setting of just one part of the mass or requiem or something like that.
KATELYN: What would you say would be the most valuable thing you’ve learned – either in the music ministry itself and serving in that area or from your background in classical music?
ASHTON: I would say, in the background of classical music, classical using that… you know, being exposed to that classical training, it helps you be disciplined and if you don’t have that self-discipline, it can be really hard to be excellent in how you play and how you perform in any sense, and for basically anything you have to be disciplined if you are going to anything well and that’s true in the ministry. We have to be excellent in what we’re doing and that helps us with that. I would say, in the music ministry itself, one of the things that I always think about whenever I sit down to like play an offertory or get up to sing a special or something like that, there are a lot of times where I will have rehearsed it like the night before and it sounded pretty bad. And it’s like, “Ah this is not gonna sound that good” – but I go and do it, and it usually sounds fine, sometimes it sounds a lot better than I expected it would. And I’ve learned that, over the years as I’ve done that, that when we take our mind off of the mindset of “I’m performing this to, for these people, so they can hear this and enjoy this,” and to a point that is true, you are trying to be a blessing to people and be an encouragement to them, but before we focus our music and our ministry towards people, the ultimate purpose of this is to glorify God. And so, if we put our mindset on that first, the Lord will bless our efforts.
KATELYN: Yes, I’ve noticed that too with my playing. I’ll sit down and be like, “Oh, I’m going to play this, I really hope I do well,” and then I mess up and I’ll be like “Op!” The Lord, I think, kind of humbles you in that.
ASHTON: Absolutely.
KATELYN: It’s just a really great way serve the Lord in the music ministry.
ASHTON: Absolutely.
KATELYN: Well, thank you for making time in your schedule to come on the podcast today!
ASHTON: Absolutely! Thanks for having me!
KATELYN: Yeah, it was a pleasure!
OUTRO:
Thank you for listening to The Classical Introduction podcast! If you would like to learn more about classical music stay tuned for our next episode, or head over to our blog that is linked in the description. Be sure to follow and stay notified for new episodes coming soon! I’m Katelyn Martinez, and I’ll see you next time.
Ashton's Favorite Pieces:
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