Reading God in the notes

Personal Profile

Colm Fitzpatrick speaks with liturgist Ian Callanan

With a vast array of musical skills and talent, an Irish composer is spreading the message of the Gospel through the melody of instruments.

Born in Cork but now living in Tipperary, Ian Callanan is a contemporary Christian song writer best known for composing the hymns ‘Comfort My People’ and ‘Take and Eat, This is My Body’. His involvement with liturgical music actually began when he was 13, when he joined a local folk group playing guitar. He soon became the lead musician.

“I started getting curious about what a lot of these songs were based on…was it based on a Psalm or a piece of Scripture,” he says, adding that this curiosity compelled him to search for the original sources of the songs he was playing. Ian explains that during Mass he often wondered about the relationship between music and the structure of the service which also led him to ask more questions about liturgy.

Interests

Combined with his liturgical and biblical interests, he started composing songs using passages of scripture as the lyrics, which was a huge help given his “struggle” as a lyricist. He says that after 30 years he is still doing it, and although it wasn’t a conscious chosen career path, it something that he “grew” into.

“I always say to people that I’ve been gifted with this, for me it’s about sharing that gift”, he says.

Ian’s initial zeal for his strong Faith is rooted in his early family life as both his parents were quite religious and would have attended Mass weekly. He notes that he was exposed to a lot of what was happening in parish life, and that he never found going to services “boring”, but usually interesting given his creative nature.

His Faith continued to develop during his late teens and from the ages of 20-26, he was a Dominican student and was completely enveloped in their spirituality and way of life.

“I went to study with the Dominicans – I had a wonderful experience there. It certainly formed a huge part of me…it’s very much part of who I am even though in the end I decided it wasn’t where my calling was,” he explains, adding that it wasn’t an “easy” decision to leave but that he has continued to write and preach about the Faith.

For Ian, playing music is a “natural” outlet to share the message of the Gospel, and given his proficient skill in piano and guitar, as well as his honours degree in music for Maynooth, he is certainly equipped for the job.

He runs various musical workshops which explain the liturgy and formulaic of the Mass, and so teaches attendees the meaning behind rituals, bringing it “to another level for them”.

“If you understand the context, then you can understand why we do it. Unfortunately, we do an awful lot of ritual for the sake of doing it, as opposed to it actually making sense…

“What’s the point in all of us doing these meaningless gestures – they’re not meaningless – they have meaning it’s just that no one knows what the meaning is,” Ian says.

Related to this role, Ian also oversees workshops for choirs, teaching them about liturgy and new music. His job, he says, is to overcome the politics happening in individual choirs and to teach choir members and leaders how to become better music ministers.

When it comes to singing at services, one of Ian’s pet peeves is the distinct lack of congregational singing. He explains that at two recent events, he spent five minutes teaching everybody the main choruses of the songs, meaning that the whole congregation were singing on both occasions.

“It is possible if we go about it the right way. I’m very strong on that. When we go into the Church of Ireland they’re all singing, and when you go into a Catholic church nobody is singing.

“A lot of the times it’s because we’re not encouraging them in the right way, we’re not inviting them in the right way…it’s about changing that mindset,” Ian says.

Passion

Alongside the many events Ian is playing at, he is now prepping for the ‘Music Ministry Together’ course, which is a five-day summer school held at Cistercian College, Roscrea, for youth and adult leaders who have a passion for liturgical music. Made possible by the support and funding of religious orders, the course will be taking place from July 3-8, and will have various sessions about teaching and learning church music, preparing and participating in various styles of liturgy, as well as fun and entertainment throughout the week. This the perfect place to practice singing and playing skills in a group of passionate and like-minded people.

For Ian, who is the director of the summer school, these types of opportunities are not only a way join together in music, but also a time to develop and deepen one’s Faith and love for God.

“I think if I didn’t have the music I probably wouldn’t have a Faith at this stage. My music keeps my Faith going – it keeps it strong.”

For more information about ‘Music Ministry Together’, see: http://musicministry.ie/