good morning. on behalf of the arch diocese of san francisco welcome to, mosaic. the topic is music, sound, progressions of sound from a single pure voice or instrument up to a complex orchestra or massive opera with tones and harmonies, vibrations and rhythms that pull you in, or fill you up, or take you places that suggest wonders. is there more powerful or more

captivated art than music? today we will talk about sacred music in the catholic tradition. we are not talking about the history of catholic music, or s toda ouhonored . composer writing a brand-new mass for the archdiocese of san francisco that will premiere in december. after this brief break rejoin us we will talk with, frank, about the path of beauty and music as a path to god.

welcome to, "mosaic". a brief bio you are from new jersey. you live your needs been here for 30 or 40 years. >> i moved here in 1974 when i came out to do graduate work. >> he went to yale and got an undergraduate degree in music and decomposition studies at berkeley. you were a teacher of music composition at cal state east bay. >> you are tired from that? >> i started there in 1981, hung up my cleats. >> you are a well-known opposer and a winner of many prizes and so on. we want to get on to the work you're doing for the archdiocese of san francisco. you are setting a mass. we will talk about that.

you write sacred music. why the interest in sacred music? >> the interest in sacred music came to retively late in the span of my career as a composer. i've been writing music broadly understood as a classical style since, 1971. until a significant moment in my life in the late, 90s. i had a religious conversion experience. i had no interest at all in sacred music. i became convinced that in order to live a life that was

well ordered where what i did for work, and what i believed in terms of religious commitments needed to not be in conflict with one another, or occupy worlds that were too far apart. the other thing is while i was raised catholic as a boy, i drifted away for quite a number of years. when i have this kind of conversion experience in the mid-90s it was a powerful disruption to my entire worldview. as it began to be reconstituted through learning what christianity was with the mind of an adult i began to realize

that this needs to be at the center of my life's work. it's what i spent most of my time doing. i was enormously grateful even though was painful and disruptive i was enormously grateful for this experience that i had. i was at the same time given a kind of understanding i guess you would say that i had to do penance for the sin i indulged in all those years i was away from any kind of religious practice. there is a great tradition in psalms and other sacred texts psalm 5051. create in me a clean heart, o

god and renewal right spirit deep within me. when i read words like that while studying scripture, or otherwise engaged in religious reading i would just be stirred to my very core. if an artist in my case feeds off of inspiration. that's where i was finding it. to make you mentioned penance. that's an interesting concept. your penance appears to be self- imposed, are called into vocation by god to write music. >> considering the right of music to be penance. i consider that my offering to god in the music that i write. it has to include a penitential component. not just in a punitive sense, but in the sense of making sure

i never forget where i used to be, and where i am now. the fact that god brought me here. as it says, and my sins -- i know they are forgiven. they are still there in front of me. i want to keep them right there. not in any morbid, or self- destructive way. just as a way of, you know turning either to the right nor to the left. to give thanks to god for having rescued me out of the pit of muck and mire. >> you have music now that you've been writing 10 years or so. it has a goal. a goal of reaching god and/or honoring god. >> giving glory to god, staying in communion.

particularly in music that's going to be heliturgical settings to serve as a portal of grace for people at mass. >> adore. >> sacramento. right? not a sacrament, but the candles, the vestments, everything of beauty. in the mass is a sacra mental. a portal through which god offers us grace if only we will cooperate with it. that is what music should serve as in a liturgical setting. one of those portals of grace. are gog to tamek anckan further in detail and listen to some of your music.

we will be back.

welcome back. it's enjoyable to talk about music. a basic human creation. he goes from the deepest most elemental parts of our being up to the highest sort of intricate complexities of mathematical relations. i'm glad i said it, i'm glad you agreed. we want to listen to a couple pieces of your music. let me say this. we are going to bring up pieces that are 5-7 minutes long. we can do the whole thing. we will do a brief excerpts from each listen and look. tell us something about what's happening musically and theologically. clip one. ♪ ♪

this song is a piece of psalm, grace is poured out. >> what's going on? >> this is the communion proper for the feast of mary's queen ship of the world august 22nd. this was commissioned by the diocese of oakland for the 50th anniversary of the diocese celebratory mass which took place august 22nd the queen

ship of mary. the text itself is rich with images of royalty as you would expect for the queen ship of, mary. rich robes, fragrant garments, houses of ivory. the approach that i took in writing this was to make it sound sumptuous. to give it and error of gravity, but also an error of light. >> as an opening of a portal to god i saw the portal opening. i'm sorry we couldn't finish i want to see where we wound up. >> watch it on youtube. >> advertising -- there is youtube links.

excellent. let's look at the second clip. >> ♪ ♪>>

we have to interrupt for what

comes next. about a minute and a half to talk. what's the meaning? what's going on? >> this is a christmas text obviously with all those images you can tell it's a text having to do with the nativity. more than just the nativity the richer theology of the incarnation. in the book of revelation it talks about the lamb slain before the foundation of the world. those images at the beginning -- i'm the one who made a little video accompaniment. look at the universe in formation. christ comes to earth and you see the image of earth. right as the musical phrase swells what do you see? you see, jesus in the manger. what i'm trying to convey is a kind of contradiction. the word that's being sung than

is large. all the images of our tiny baby. >> the great mystery is the tiny child. let's leave it there for this moment take a brief break and be back shortly. we will finish up talking.

welcome back to "mosaic". i like to call for slide for this last segment so we can see what's up. basic information. this is, frank, you see his website. go to it. listen to the music, learn about the man very interesting. the other logo is the 16th institute. it's an initiative of the archdiocese to bring beauty and splendor back to the liturgical sacred music and it's for this group frank, as the composer. he's been commissioned to write a mass. thank you, for the slide. >> tell us about the mass that will premiere here in the cathedral december 8th? >> this is an interesting project. it takes me into very new territory as a composer. the inspiration for it is our

lady of guadalupe bay and the annual celebration surrounding that this year coincides with the immaculate conception. we will have both things happening at the same time december 8th mass. what's interesting about it is the archbishop's vision and i've known him for a number of years. he's often talked about this. using music as a cultural bridge. that's what he asked me to try to do with this mass. trying to find a way to weave into the fabric of the music certain popular devotional tunes associated with mexican catholic culture like lost money and ethos and particularly guadalupe anna when we talk about a model for this he and i both familiar with colonial days where the

friars would use the popular songs of the day as a way to draw people to the church. the musicians would stand outside and play popular music. everybody would gather. they would try to see if they could get them to come into the church and attend mass as part of the evangelization process. something similar happened with the music of the california missions. once they were inside the church then it was primarily the music of the spanish baroque. whether they were from spain, or spaniard composers who had moved to the new world. the archbishop's vision takes that one step further. he wants to get the popular music across the threshold and actually into the church. as a result we have a mass that hopefully will reveal the unity

of the immaculate conception, patrons of america, our lady of guadalupe, patroness of the wider american continent by having high church music such as i typically write. woven out of pieces of these popular tunes. >> i'm coming to this thing it's going to be good. >> it's going to be interesting. the instrumentation to certain extent supports that. we have a choir, guitar, and one song. we have in the mass text spanish, english, latin. for the communion meditation we have the aztec language. i propose this to the archbishop because i knew that was the language that our lady

of guadalupe it addressed juan diego during her apparitions in 15, 21. it occurred to me another thing it accomplishes is a bit of a strong image. i think it's important. the aztec priest who perform human sacrifice on the stone altars also spoke this language. to bring this language into the sacrifice of the mass the true victim jesus christ who died for our sins and who can remit them on our behalf. it's an absolute beautiful image to redeem this false understanding the meaning of sacrifice with a true understanding of the meaning of sacrifice. >> that sounds daring. >> during meditation what we know as the abbcmaria.

it has soprano, violin, organ. it's a native central south american instrument. >> wonderful. the mass will be premiered in the cathedral december 8. the it'll be done in texas next year. >> yes, i'm given to understand that this past weekend the archbishop was visiting in dallas was a guest homilist at the cathedral and proposed to their bishop that this mass of the americas be sung there next year for their feast of our lady of guadalupe. it is the cathedral of guadalupe. many of them are throughout the greater southwest. >> that's wonderful. thank you for being with us. come to mass december 8. we

will be live streamed on computer and broadcast on ewtn. thank you, for being with us. thank you, for your work in music. thank you, for being with us on "mosaic" . if you smell gas, you're too close. leave the structure, call 911, keep people away, and call pg&e right after so we can both respond out and keep the public safe.

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and call pg&e right after so we can both respond out and keep the public safe. from the cbs studios, this is kpix 5 nws news. >> right now, abb in the east bay was killed in a gun battle on the freeway. we have the latest. plus a bay area t response to a an ad for a car and winds up dead. >> a large-scale vaccination clinic designed with young children in mind. the goal is to vaccinate children. good morning, thank you for joining us. let's start with quick check on the weather. >> the son is coming up earlier today. you can see more in the sky.

that is important. it