Out of musical experience can come rules for practicing and guides for experiencing – both for the theological and musical life. As Jeremy Begbie and many other scholars are now showing us, what is at stake in allowing musical practices a theological placement is the specification of new modes of theo-musical life. These were my thoughts this morning as I read two (very New York) stories in the New York Times: one, an obituary for the percussionist and Latin band leader Manny Oquendo, and the other a story about the rebirth of a reggae tradition in the Bronx under the direction of producer and studio owner Lloyd Barnes.

Both speak from within music as guides for experiencing. Of his education in percussion, Oquendo said, “It’s important to develop the ear and get a deeper knowledge of the music, and once you become good at the instrument, you must always remember to try to be original, be yourself. You can borrow, you can take, you can even steal, but you do not imitate.” Of the reggae he learned in Jamaica, Barnes said, “I found a certain peace in the music. It’s not always good times, but the music gives you that.”

Here’s to the musico-spiritual innovation that gives peace.

Tom Beaudoin

Hastings-on-Hudson, New York

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