From the boys’ choir in the lower school to the men’s chorus in the upper school, informal performances at faculty dinners to songs at the annual Maryland Day Gala, singing echoes throughout the whole of The Heights experience. This week, we sit down with Mr. Patrick Love, music teacher at The Heights since 2004, to discuss not only when and where we sing at The Heights but why we love to sing so much.

As you’ll hear, singing—broadly understood—is at the heart of our school's mission. Cantare amantis est, St. Augustine tells us: singing belongs to the one who loves. And as Arthur Clutton-Brock wrote, “education ought to teach us how to be in love always and what to be in love with.” In educating our boys to become men fully alive, then, we are ultimately helping them to love, to find their voice, and to fall in love with One who sings them into existence.

Chapters

• 3:40 Where does singing happen at The Heights?
  • 4:30 A musical history of The Heights
• 8:00 Where does singing happen amongst the faculty?
• 12:27 What motivates us to sing? Why do we sing?
  • 13:45 Only the lover sings
  • 15:30 From The Magician’s Nephew
  • 18:40 Singing: the real deal
• 21:00 Love, education, and singing at the crossroads
• 22:23 Fr. Luigi Giussani and the CL Songbook
  • 23:30 Singing in the home
  • 25:28 John Senior
  • 29:45 Cal Newport on technology fasts
• 31:10 On iTunes
• 32:46 Singing in the homeroom: teaching as singing
• 39:00 Singing and silence

Also on The Forum

• Leisure and Acedia: R.J. Snell on Contemplative Homes in a Frenetic Age with R.J. Snell
• Digital Minimalism: Creating a Philosophy of Personal Technology Use with Cal Newport
• What Is the Difference between Free Time and Leisure? by Joe Bissex
• Fall Poems We Love to Memorize by Tom Cox

Additional Resources

• Only the Lover Sings: Art and Contemplation by Josef Pieper
• In Tune with the World: A Theory of Festivity by Josef Pieper
• The Risk of Education: Discovering Our Ultimate Destiny by Fr. Luigi Giussani
• The Restoration of Christian Culture by John Senior
• Education at the Crossroads by Jacques Maritain
• The Magician’s Nephew by C.S. Lewis