John Guinn, Special to The Michigan Catholic
Published on March 30, 2007

Lions' gig From 1998-2003 Norah Duncan IV sang the Detroit Lions "Fight Song" whenever the team made a field goal at home games. It was a bizarre gig, given the team's penchant for losing. "At times, I felt like the Maytag repairman in those 1970s commercials," Duncan said, "always ready to work but rarely called on. I did enjoy the games, especially when they were in the Silverdome. I could bring guests and family. "When they moved to Ford Field there were no provisions for a singer, so I left. I found out it was easier watching them lose on television than in the stadium. I could always turn off the television."

Here are some things you might not know about Norah Duncan IV, who resigned his position as music director of Cathedral of the Most Blessed Sacrament last month following an almost 27-year tenure:

• During high school (St. Martin De Porres, graduated 1970) and college (University of Detroit, graduated 1974) Duncan played the Cordovox, an electronic organ, in a rhythm-and-blues band called The Afro Armada.
  
• From 1998-2003 he was "The Voice of the Lions," singing the Lions "Fight Song" at the Silverdome home games whenever the team scored a field goal.
  
• During his stint at the cathedral he was in charge of the music for five episcopal ordinations, 30 priesthood ordinations, 32 diaconate ordinations, 53 adult confirmations, the sesquicentennial of the archdiocese, the centennial of Blessed Sacrament Cathedral and the visit of Pope John Paul II to the cathedral and the Pontiac Silverdome.
  
• For the past nine years he has served concurrently as a full-time faculty member in Wayne State University's music department, rising through the ranks from lecturer (1998) to associate professor (2004) to associate departmental chair (2005).

Not your typical music minister employment history. But then Duncan is not your typical music minister. Born in Detroit 55 years ago, he came to music by a circuitous route.

"I always loved music," Duncan said. "It was part of our family. My mother studied with (distinguished local voice teacher) Celeste Cole. But coming from a family of nine, music lessons were out of the question for me."

When he was 13, Duncan's parents enrolled him in a federally funded program that provided music lessons for inner-city youths from low-income families. He began by taking accordion lessons. During his undergrad days at U of D (he graduated with a bachelor's in English literature), he took piano lessons privately from Irene Miller, a member of Visitation Parish.

After U of D graduation he began organ studies with John Callaghan at Marygrove College. "Mr. Callaghan was such an inspiration for me," Duncan said. "He's the reason why I went into church music. I started playing at Visitation Church, my home parish, and I continued studying with Mr. Callaghan until I felt I had enough skills to apply as a post-bachelor student at Wayne State."

Today John Callaghan has fond memories of Duncan's student days. "He was one of the most talented students I ever had at Marygrove," Callaghan said. "He was so bright, and so intent on becoming a church musician, and he has fulfilled that vocation beautifully."

In 1986 Duncan earned a master of music in organ performance from Wayne State, followed in 1994 by a Doctor of Musical Arts from the University of Michigan.

Duncan's first organ position was at Visitation, from 1971-75. Other positions followed at Sacred Heart Seminary and at St. Clement Church in Center Line. Then, in the spring of 1980, Fr. Tyrone Robinson, a childhood friend who was associate pastor of the cathedral, called with a job offer Duncan found difficult to resist.

"There had not been many applications for the cathedral job," Duncan said, "and Fr. Tyrone thought that my parish experience, musical abilities and love for Detroit could be put to good use there." Duncan expressed interest, and was interviewed by then-Fr. Patrick Cooney, currently Bishop of Gaylord. Ultimately it was the late Cardinal John Dearden who officially appointed Duncan to the position.

"Cardinal Dearden believed that I could bring together people from the city, suburbs and rural areas of the archdiocese, and I think I have," Duncan said. He started his new position on Labor Day 1980.

Reflecting on the high points of his 27-year tenure, Duncan points to the various liturgical ceremonies, along with the series of concerts he has sponsored at the cathedral over the years featuring performances by musicians as diverse as the Vienna Choir Boys, Chanticleer, British organist Simon Preston and composers Adolphus Hailstork and Samuel Adler.

Duncan is also proud of the collaborative concerts he has brought to the cathedral using local groups such as the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, the DSO's Civic Orchestra and various Wayne State University instrumental and vocal ensembles. And he points with special pride to the cathedral-based Archdiocesan Chorus, which he has taken on several European tours.

Duncan laid out some solid reasons for leaving his position.

"For 23 years I have been 'at the cathedral and somewhere else.' First it was the worship office and the cathedral, then the worship office and the seminary and the cathedral, then the University of Michigan (as a student), the seminary and the cathedral, then the worship office again and the cathedral, and then, for the last nine years, Wayne State and the cathedral.

"I've been in church music for 36 years, and that's enough. I've loved the work, but the additional administrative responsibilities at the university and the developing needs of what is now a cluster parish community at the cathedral have become too much for me."

It's clear that his work has not gone unnoticed by his ultimate boss. "One of the greatest treasures of the Archdiocese of Detroit has been the superb talent and generous service of Dr. Norah Duncan IV," Cardinal Adam Maida said. "I recall vividly Cardinal Dearden's funeral in 1988 and how impressed I was by the music that day. When I arrived two years later, in the providence of God, I thanked Him for the special blessing Dr. Duncan represented for our cathedral liturgies, and for raising the standard for the whole archdiocese. We will certainly miss him!"

There are things Duncan will miss, especially the opportunity to direct music at the major archdiocesan liturgies with first-rate vocal and instrumental musicians. And there are also some things he won't miss.

"Like working for three communities in one," he says. "There's the cathedral as the mother church of the archdiocese, the cathedral as parish church for the people of the immediate community and the cathedral as magnet church for the clustered parishes of St. Gregory, St. Benedict, Madonna and Blessed Sacrament.

"As the mother church, the musician must be concerned about the cultural diversity of the archdiocese and the diversity of musical taste. As an urban parish church that's predominantly African-American there's the expectation to be both authentically black and truly Catholic. And as the magnet church for the clustered parishes the cathedral must be hospitable at a time when the reality of parish mergers is becoming a reality."

Duncan says he's looking forward to having control over his weekend schedule, and spending more time with his family (wife Susan and children Norah V, a pre-med student at Wayne; Jessica Lynne, an art major at Wayne; Christina Elizabeth, a middle-school student at Warner School in Farmington Hills; and Matthew James, an elementary- school student at Woodcreek School in Farmington Hills).

He also came up with some specifics when asked how he'd like to be remembered by the archdiocese.

"I want to be remembered as an African-American man who is proud of his culture and proud of his faith, a black Catholic who gave his time and talent for the good of the Church. I want to be remembered as a product of affirmative action who at the time of his hiring may have been a little less than what was desired, but who surpassed expectations to become a leader in church music in this country."

Then there's a final thought:

"Perhaps I shouldn't want to be remembered at all. For the hundreds of thousands of people who have come to the cathedral to pray or to be inspired by a concert performance, it isn't important that they know who was behind the music. Rather, it's more satisfying for me to know that the musical experience moved them closer to God, that their faith has been strengthened through song. That's the only reason to be in church music.

"I have no regrets. It was both a gift and an honor to work for the Church. I have been part of the cathedral package for almost 27 years, and that's just fine with me."

John Guinn is adjunct assistant professor of music at Wayne State University and minister of music at St. Ambrose Parish in Grosse Pointe Park. He can be reached via e-mail at scarpia@comcast.net.