Posted on 09/08/2009 6:12:58 PM PDT by artichokegrower
SAN FRANCISCO -- A divided federal appeals court on Tuesday upheld a school district's refusal to let a band play a religious piece at a high school graduation, saying the superintendent had reasonably decided to avoid a constitutional controversy by ordering a secular program.
The district's veto of an instrumental version of "Ave Maria" by German composer Franz Biebl at the 2006 graduation ceremony in Everett, Wash., did not violate students' freedom of speech or religion, said the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco.
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
“SAN FRANCISCO — A divided federal appeals court...”
What do they prefer, a selection from the greatest hits of the Villiage People?
it’s government school... why expect anything different?
How in the world can playing an instrumental version of Ave Maria possibly violate the First Amendment? Is playing a song remotely akin to Congress making a law respecting the establishment of a religion? Just how these bastard judges are able to mangle the Constitution to make an interpretation like this totally baffles me.
The one in Fantasia is the Schubert setting of a poem from Sir Walter Scott's Lady of the Lake and not the prayer known as the "Ave Maria". However, the words of the prayer fit and now everybody thinks that's what it was originally composed for . . . .
The piece they're talking about here is a wonderfully lush six-part choral setting of the prayer by Franz Biebl (1906-2001). It begins with a short chant section of the prayer known as the Angelus: "Angelus Domini nuntiavit Maria et concepit de Spiritu sancto." - "The Angel of the Lord announced unto Mary, and she conceived of the Holy Spirit." It continues with the words of the Ave Maria (just as does the Angelus).
It is awesome fun to sing, although it's easy to just wallow in the harmonies and forget to count . . . . !
Actually, that wasn't the issue before the court, the issue was: Could a district be compelled to reverse a decision to not play religious based music when the decision was founded upon the worry that it might be a violation of constitutional rights. The court believed that the banning action was done with the intention to avoid controversy and protect the school from possible lawsuits.
One of those rare times I'll agree with the 9th - there was no reason for the federal court to step in and compel the school to take a different stance, and that the methodology for changing the decision was within the review process and political process within the district and school.
From Wikipedia
Night on Bald Mountain/Ave Maria
* Musical score:
o Modest Mussorgsky – Night on Bald Mountain and
o Franz Schubert – Ave Maria
* Directed by Wilfred Jackson
* Story development: Campbell Grant, Arthur Heinemann, and Phil Dike
* Art direction: Kay Nielsen, Terrell Stapp, Charles Payzant and Thor Putnam
* Background painting: Merle Cox, Ray Lockrem, Robert Storms, and W. Richard Anthony
* Special English lyrics for Ave Maria by Rachel Field
* Choral director: Charles Henderson
* Operatic solo: Julietta Novis
* Animation supervision: Vladimir Tytla
* Animation: John McManus, William N. Shull, Robert W. Carlson, Jr., Lester Novros, and Don Patterson
* Special animation effects: Joshua Meador, Miles E. Pike, John F. Reed, and Daniel MacManus
* Special camera effects: Gail Papineau and Leonard Pickley
The Night on Bald Mountain segment is a showcase for animator Bill Tytla, who gave the demon Chernabog a power and intensity rarely seen in Disney films. The nocturnal Chernabog summons from their graves empowered restless souls, until driven away by the sound of a church bell. Noted actor Béla Lugosi served as a live action model for Chernabog, and spent several days at the Disney studio, where he was filmed doing evil, demon-like poses for Tytla and his unit to use as a reference. Tytla later deemed this reference material unsuitable and had studio colleague Wilfred Jackson perform in front of the cameras for the reference footage.
Chernabog is first seen when he awakes on top of Bald Mountain. It is Walpurgis Night and, using the powers of darkness, he raises ghosts, skeletons, demons, witches, harpies, goblins, and zombies from a nearby town and cemetery. He then summons fire and lava and makes the damned and the other creatures in his control dance and fly around, much to his delight, before he destroys them. In one part he picks up a patch of fire and transforms it into naked women, then into demonic animals, a fleet of imps and finally into fiery, blue satyrs. Ultimately, he drops them into the lava which seals their fiery doom.
The horror of the demons, ghosts, skeletons, witches, harpies, and other evil creatures in Night on Bald Mountain comes to an abrupt end with the sound of the Angelus bell, which send Chernabog and his followers back into hiding, and the multiplane camera tracks away from Bald Mountain to reveal a line of faithful robed monks with lighted torches. The camera slowly follows them as they walk through the forest and ruins of a cathedral to the sounds of the Ave Maria. The animation of the worshipers is some of the smallest animation ever done: the camera had to be so close to some of the work that it had to be rendered at only an inch or so high. Even a slight deviation in the width of the final painted line would have been distracting to a movie audience on the big screen. In fact, as told by animator Frank Thomas in the book Disney Animation: The Illusion of Life the entire sequence had to be reshot twice, once because the wrong focal length lens was used, and once because of a small earth tremor that shook the animation planes out of alignment. The multiplane camera then finally tracks through the trees to reveal a sunrise as the film fades to its conclusion.
Originally the plan was for the procession to enter an actual church, and there are numerous concept drawings of gothic architecture, stained glass windows, and actual statues of the Virgin Mary as can be seen on the Fantasia Anthology bonus disc. Ultimately, this ending was deemed too overtly religious by Walt, and he opted for a more natural setting instead. However, the forest design in the segment still mimics that of a cathedral with an overtly gothic motif.
I put the Democrats in league with Chernabog
A question NOBODY ever asks: If we have separation of Church and State, where does the State get the competence or ability to determine WHICH music is “religious” and which isn’t? Where is there a law, duly enacted by any legislature, which sets out any definition of which music is “religious” and which music isn’t?
It is those memories that they're ruling on.
Sorry judges, the words don't go away. Neither does your mother's admonition to quit playing with yourselves under your blanket ~ and that undoubtedly created in your minds a love/hate relationship with judicial robes that proved to be too attractive for you to withstand.
None of that has anything to do with what happens when normal people hear a tune, particularly those for whom that tune has no separate meaning.
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