Warren Pettit has been the founding director of the Contemporary Music Center since 2001. Before coming to the CMC he served for fourteen years as associate professor of music at Greenville College in Illinois. He holds the M.M. from the University of Miami, the B.M. from the University of Manitoba, Canada, and the A.R.C.T. from the Royal Conservatory of Toronto.
What would your students be most surprised to learn about you?
From the feedback I get, they are most surprised that I don’t seem like a typical college professor. Whatever you have in your mind about what the typical college professor looks and sounds like, I’m probably not that. I had a student last spring with whom I had had some conversation with on the phone before she came. After she met me, she told me she had imagined I was a middle-aged, balding overweight guy who had my feet up on the table while talking to her. So apparently that’s what my voice and demeanor sound like, but that’s not at all who I am.
How did you come to decide to devote your professional life to teaching Christian college students about music?
I’ve always wanted to teach because I have a natural ability to make complicated ideas simple. Since I have deep love for music, those two naturally came together. That I have taught at a Christian college was not entirely intentional. None of my background is from Christian higher education. All my degrees are from state schools. But Christian higher education is where I believe the Lord led me to work. I’ve always been very comfortable and happy to be in that.
Did you ever aspire to be a musician on stage yourself?
No, but I originally wanted to be a producer, to oversee the creative process of making albums. However, I recognize now that teaching is a much better use of my particular talents.
What instruments do you play?
My principal instrument is the piano/ keyboards, and I also play guitar, bass and drums.
Who are your favorite bands?
King’s X, Scritti Politti, Enio Morricone
From your perspective, when does music glorify God, and when does it not?
Music is sound. Sound is amoral. The note D cannot be glorifying to God or not. Or the combination of the notes D, F# and A. They are amoral, like a plank of wood. I can’t varnish it a certain color and make it glorifying to God. So you have to turn to lyrics, the words. I teach students the truth requirement: holding lyrics up against scripture and asking if it is truthful.
Looking back over your years both at Greenville and at the CMC, are there a couple students-turned-musicians you’ve worked with that stand out in your mind as most memorable or fulfilling?
My parents were always careful to make sure that none of their kids were favorites. I never felt like any of us were favorites, since that can be very hurtful. So during the semester, clearly there are some students who are more talented, or with whom I might have a greater affinity, but I try very hard to keep the playing field level. That’s my responsibility as their teacher and mentor.
Music can devolve into who’s successful and who’s not, and I’ve had students who’ve felt that after they graduated they couldn’t call me for a few years until they achieved some sort of success, whatever that means. That’s not what I implied or told them at all, but they thought they’d have prove themselves first. That couldn’t be further from the truth. I want to hear from everybody regardless of what they are doing. The depth of my relationships with students is not predicated on their success.
How do you see contemporary music shaping our culture?
Music is so ubiquitous, so everywhere, it’s hard to imagine not having it. It might be better to ask what would happen if we were to pull the plug on all entertainment for a week- no movies, TV, YouTube, iPod, etc.- what if it just didn’t exist? Then you would have work left. You’d go to work. Interestingly, we as souls, although we hopefully take great satisfaction in our work, we also want to be immersed in beautiful things.
So if we were to take away all that is artistic and beautiful in the country, imagine how that would affect us. The arts are inextricably woven into every waking moment of our lives. And why shouldn’t it be? The arts are a reflection of God’s creativity. God is the master creator. We are just imitating and retreading the tools and talent he created. We didn’t create color. He created color, so however clever we think we are in how we use highlights and shadows, he created the tool sets.
What is the biggest obstacle that students typically have to overcome as they adjust to life in the CMC?
They have to accept responsibility for their education. It’s easy for students to move from one class to another, meet the minimum requirement for a decent grade and call it a day. They can go to chapel and Bible studies which make them feel confident about their spiritual muscle. But, at the CMC, we strip much of that away. It’s no longer easy to do the things that we do to look like a Christian. We give students large blocks of time each day to allow them to think, reflect, research and engage others in meaningful conversation about the current lecture topics. Students have to take responsibility for their own education and spiritual development; they have to own it. There’s no more powerful way to really get at the core of the topic than to have students own it.
Which moments during the semester do you always look forward to?
One of the highlights of the semester is called the Last Supper; it’s the last meal we have on the Thursday night before students return home. We play back the compilation CD of the best songs of the entire semester, as well as a short film which is a montage of moments from the semester. Then we give students an opportunity to share with each other and faculty what their experience has been like.
At the end of the semester, how do you measure its success?
There are two things to consider: musical and spiritual. Musically, how many songs were written, what were the quality of those songs and performances, and the overall measure of the amount of work and quality of work during the semester. That’s pretty easy to quantify. We hear all the songs, see all performances.
The other consideration is how a student has developed in his/her understanding of what it means to be a musician and a Christian. We talk about measurable outcomes, and that is hard to measure in part because we hope and believe that we have set a trajectory for students that won’t be fully developed for years to come. We turn the ship a few degrees, and it doesn’t look like much after four months, but after four years, that ship has traveled a much further distance from its original point trajectory. You have to be careful not rush those few degrees of change, especially in a student who is 20 or 21 years old. A lot of things are already set in motion at that age. If we can influence a student to change course, only a few degrees in a better direction, then I’m thankful to the Lord for the opportunity to influence another life.
The Council for
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