Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
Jennifer Rundlett interview
HAZARD: Hello, I'm David Hazard, founder of Ascent, an international coaching program
for authors. I'm here today to talk with Jennifer Rundlett, author of this beautiful book, My
Dancing Day: Reflections on the Incarnation in Art and Music. Jennifer, hello. Good to
have you here today.
RUNDLETT: Thank you for having me.
HAZARD: Jennifer, this is an absolutely beautiful book.
RUNDLETT: Yeah, I'm really proud of this.
HAZARD: Yeah, My Dancing Day: Reflections on the Incarnation in Art and Music. This
book is full of beautiful artwork, recommendations for great listening, and I love your reflections.
I love the writing that you did about the aspects of the nativity. I can see this being
an absolutely, really well-treasured gift book as well as a book that somebody might
use for their own times of reflection.
RUNDLETT: Well, it was really a joy to work on.
HAZARD: So tell me, what inspired you to write this book?
RUNDLETT: Yeah, it's interesting. I, for years, have been doing an arts class in the community
college system in Frederick that synthesizes art and music together for the student. And
so I've really been looking for those kinds of connections and stories. And then one year
somebody asked me to do a pre-concert lecture for the Mozart Requiem. And at first I was
very intimidated by that piece, but I was really drawn to looking at Mozart's personal
letters and finding out how he felt about God. And so I sort of crafted a story for
that audience for that night that, you know, gave them a window into the heart of Mozart
as he was writing about the requiem. It just opened up a whole new world for me in that
piece that was sort of addictive.
HAZARD: Interesting. Tell us briefly what this book is about.
RUNDLETT: Well, this is a book that tells the story of how I discovered the importance
of meditating on the events that surrounded Christ's birth, and each chapter has a painting
and a piece of music that I've sort of paired together to create a meditation for my reader
to slow down and spend time looking at each individual episode.
HAZARD: Was there a, do you have a favorite painting or two? You know, I'm putting you
on the spot to choose just one because they're all beautiful, but are there any that stand
out for you as a piece of artwork that really spoke to you deeply?
RUNDLETT: Oh, very difficult to choose. They're all like little children to me. Perhaps Giotto's
nativity scene and just thinking about the first nativity scenes and how Christians of
the late Middle Ages became drawn to having living nativities through St. Francis and
so forth. That became very important for me to live out in my life and my home.
HAZARD: Beautiful, interesting. Who do you think will benefit most from reading this
book?
RUNDLETT: My reader is going to be someone that's looking for a deeper experience of
the Christmas season, I'm hoping one that will refresh and strengthen them throughout
the rest of the year and not leave them feeling sort of depleted in every way, like many of
our Christmas traditions can do to us.
HAZARD: Interesting. Did you make any unusual discoveries while you were working on this
book?
RUNDLETT: Wow, again difficult to limit me to just one, but I think just being opened
up to the idea that there's this whole, rich Christian heritage that's available to us
and learning how experiencing these great works of art, I can reach back through time
and sort of have a communion and a brotherhood with these great Christian artists. It was
very wonderful.
HAZARD: Do you find that people today have difficulty relating to classical art and classical
music?
RUNDLETT: Yes, initially, our society tends to—and I think that's the fault of the arts
teacher or the artist because I think we get so wrapped up in being impressed with the
technique of the artist and the composer that we forget to just talk about them as people
that had a message.
HAZARD: And so that's what I get from reading your book and looking at the artwork and reading
the way that you treat the pieces of art as, they're certainly beautiful and the technique
is flawless in so many cases. But you have a knack for looking into the heart of the
work and talking about the spiritual aspect of what the artist was about, what the composer
was about. Why has that become sort of a special mission for you. I know that you have a, you
know, your work is called God through the Arts. Why has that become a special mission
for you?
RUNDLETT: I was sort of brought up in a tradition that did not encourage the celebrating of
the church calendar, certain holidays, and we didn't have icons or paintings and instrumental
music and so forth. And so it was sort of dividing my personality. I would go to church
every Sunday and be very spiritual, but then I was feeling like I wasn't allowed to see
the spiritual nature of these work, and Bach loved God and most of his music was mostly
about God, so I'm not really going to understand him until I allow myself to see him in that
light.
HAZARD: So it's interesting to me that you came from a place where you didn't necessarily
have ready access to these, to the great, some of the great aspects of our culture—painting,
music—and yet there was something in you that gravitated toward that. How do you account
for that? What is it that inspires or draws you toward this, these great works of beauty?
RUNDLETT: Well, I've really come to realize that God came to me where I was. I was spending
a great portion of time trying to connect with my students, telling them about how amazing
these composers were, and what I really needed to do was to discover them for myself. And
I felt God's hand, loving hand, coming to me where I was, sort of like the compassionate
father and the prodigal son, coming out to meet me and find me and bring me in.
HAZARD: So it's my experience, Jennifer, in the many years I've been working with authors
that the process of working on a book can change the writer in some ways. Did you experience
anything like that while you were working on this book?
RUNDLETT: Yeah. Interesting, this word, to me, change. I think it's difficult for a lot
of people to admit change. But, yeah, just this whole experience of finding communion
with the artists and making them accessible has changed how accessible I feel towards
God.
HAZARD: Interesting, good. If there's one thing that you would like your readers to
take away from this experience and, again, I know that this book is very rich, but if
there's one overall thing that you would like for your readers to take away, what would
that be?
RUNDLETT: Yeah, I really hope that the person that finds my book will learn that the arts
are accessible, that they're not something, the artist does not want to be put on a pedestal,
that they are actually trying to reach out to you and touch your heart, and the message
of all of the artists in this book is something and simple and pure as Jesus loves me, this
I know. And once you free yourself up and allow yourself to feel sort of empty, and
to say I don't know, this is when God can really speak to you and when you can learn
to enjoy the dance.
HAZARD: Well, I am sure that people who, I'll say, encounter your book, not just read it
but encounter the beautiful gallery of images and lyrics that you've included, your reflections,
it really is like a walk through a gallery, I'm sure that people are gonna have this very
deep, reflective experience. You've done a wonderful job of creating that. Thank you
for your work on this book, Jennifer.
RUNDLETT: Thank you. Thank you for having me.
HAZARD: And thank you for being here with me today.
RUNDLETT: Thank you.
HAZARD: I'm David Hazard, founder of Ascent. I've been talking today with Jennifer Rundlett,
author of My Dancing Day: Reflections on the Incarnation in Art and Music. If you have
need of editorial coaching services, book development and design, please find us on
the web at www.itsyourlifebethere.com.