The Question: To Bach or Not to Bach
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MARYSVILLE, Calif. — While the world celebrates the 300th year since Johann Sebastian Bach’s birth, Yuba College officials are debating whether a Bach piece is too religious for graduation exercises.
Music instructor Joaquina Johnson chose “All Breathing Life, Sing and Praise Ye the Lord,” from the motet “Sing Ye to the Lord” for commencement exercises June 7.
But philosophy instructor Carl Hall contended that a musical religious message is not appropriate for a public school.
Other instructors said they are still smarting over the religious nature of last year’s commencement music, Handel’s “Awake the Trumpet’s Lofty Sound” and Beethoven’s “Hallelujah” from “Mount of Olives.”
A 10-member commencement committee is to meet today to discuss whether the Bach piece will be included in the ceremony. The committee’s recommendation will go to college President Patricia Wirth, who has the final decision.
“I just can’t imagine why at a graduation ceremony, which is a student event, sacred or secular makes a difference,” Johnson said Friday.
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