Edgy Creativity

By Ken Canedo

I'm not sure if this Spot falls under "Pop Culture" or "Music Ministry" or "Music Industry" — certainly not "Catholic Mom." :-) But as I type this I am in the midst working intensely on two major projects: a book and a new CD.

The book is called Keep the Fire Burning and it's a 1960s history of the Folk Mass; in other words, the story of the formation of the contemporary Catholic music industry. Although I am loath to publicly admit my age, I was involved in the early days as a very young intern for the original publisher of Folk Mass music, F.E.L. Publications. The book has been five years in the making, and I have been privileged to connect with many of the pioneer composers, including Ray Repp, the Dameans, Carey Landry, and so many more. The writing of this book has consumed me lately and I'm almost finished, trying to meet a September deadline with my prospective publisher. I cannot share more than that at this time, except to say watch for the book in 2009.

Concurrently, I am in the studio this week, recording my new OCP liturgical album, Doxology. This is a collection of songs that honor the Blessed Trinity, which is a topic that is surprisingly lacking in contemporary Catholic hymnody. If you have followed my music over the years you might be expecting songs in the contemporary style of Mass of Glory or Love Never Fails, but I think people will be surprised by Doxology. While this album does have a handful of songs that would fit nicely in Spirit and Song, it also contains songs that are more traditional, with cathedral-style choral pieces and some chant. Again, please watch for the CD in 2009.

Doing one major project is intensive enough. To work on two at the same time is insane. When I get in the "creative zone" I tend to not sleep well. Two weeks ago I was working on brass arrangements for Doxology and was stuck on an important song section. I actually fell asleep on my piano at 1:00am! I somehow sleepwalked to my bed and woke up with a start at 5:00am, rushing back to my piano because the musical phrase I was seeking "sang" to me in my dream and I had to write it down. Since I was up I decided to keep on working on my arrangements.

This process has followed similarly in my book writing. The bottom line is that I have been averaging four hours of sleep every night for the past three weeks as I've entered into this somewhat manic mode of creativity.

While I appreciate the Holy Spirit's inspiration, the downside is that my lack of sleep has made me very emotional, which is driving my close friends crazy. For example, last Sunday, at Mass with my parish youth choir, we sang Matt Maher's Jesus My Everything, and I just about started crying in the middle of it because the song reminded me of my recently deceased friend, Father Lawrence Signey, whom I feel lived his life in the spirit of this song. There have also been times during this creative period when I felt that nobody loved me. That's what sleep deprivation will do to you.

Prayer is my only refuge. If I didn't pray I would really be lost. As a working pastoral musician, I also find that it helps to genuinely pray the music that I am playing at liturgy. What saved me from breaking down last Sunday at Mass was praying the words of Matt's song:
"Jesus, be my everything . . ."

Prayer helps focus my life and grounds my creativity.

May I humbly ask for your prayers?