In memory of George Berkeley, Bishop of Cloyne, a distinguished philosopher and theologian. He set up in this college monuments of his liberal spirit.

Battell Chapel,
Yale University

WELCOME

Intro to ISM

Mission

History of ISM

The ISM Today

The Friends of the Institute

Introduction to ISM — Mission

The Yale Institute of Sacred Music engages with all aspects of education and scholarship related to the history and practice of sacred music, and of worship and the arts.

The Institute trains students for service as musicians, as leaders of communities of faith, and as scholars and teachers. In addition to working in partnership with the Schools of Music and Divinity and with other academic departments at Yale, the Institute sponsors a vital interdisciplinary program that brings musicians, presiders, and scholars together for common conversation and formation.

The Institute supports numerous joint faculty positions, thereby carrying out its mission through the curriculum as well as in performances, worship services, public events, films, and publications. Through the work of its faculty, the Institute supports both practical and scholarly study of four primary areas:

1. sacred music throughout the world;
2. worship in all Christian communities;
3. the dialogue between Christianity and other faith traditions, especially as it is carried out in sacred music, ritual, and the religious arts; and
4. the liturgical arts, particularly art and architecture, preaching, hymnody and psalmody, and religious drama.

Forming a Unique Link

Through its mission to church musicians, the training for ministry, and the lives of the churches, the Institute has a unique position, not only at Yale, but in this country and in the world at large. At Yale, we link the resources of two extraordinary professional schools, the Yale School of Music and the Yale Divinity School. Institute students receive degrees in one or the other of these schools, and, if they elect to do so, joint degrees from both. The certificate additionally received from the Institute signifies that students have gained more than the training either school alone can offer.

Students acquire a sense of the partnership between churches, and a working knowledge of the changing synthesis of music, text, ceremony, and liturgical space, which takes and has taken place in the assemblies of all faiths and denominations since their beginnings. Although the Institute is but thirty years old, its present position is possible because many persons understood the importance of a shared process of formation for ministers and musicians.

The directors of the institute

1973 - 1976 Robert Baker

1976 - 1982 Jon Bailey

1982 - 1983 Aidan Kavanagh (Interim Director)

1983 - 1984 Harry B. Adams (Interim Director)

1984 - 1992 John W. Cook

1992 - 1994 Harry B. Adams (Interim Director)

1994 - 2004 Margot E. Fassler

2005 - Martin D. Jean

Acting Directors: Aidan Kavanagh, Paul V. Marshall, Harry B. Adams, Bryan D. Spinks.

(Updated June 2007)