The great variety of winter seasonal music is impressive, from classical to folk to pop to everything in between. Despite the hokey barrage of tunes in many retail stores, most of the time we can pick and choose what fits our mood. The greatest joy is making music to share with one another.
What a glorious season, crisp and colorful! Our fall music program reflects this enthusiasm. Read on…
The featured music event in November is a vocal workshop led by Jeannie Gagné, our former music director and wonderful jazz singer. The workshop will be held on Saturday afternoon, November 9, at 2:00. Please register with me.
We have a small group of Beta-Testers for the new Virtual Hymnal scheduled for release at General Assembly in July. All our comments and suggestions are due at the end of November. This is an ambitious project designed for today’s world of computers and will augment (by subscription) our current hymnals.
Such a treat starting up the new church year, with bells of enthusiasm ringing from every direction! The Chalice Choir is off and singing with 24 registrants. The Music Committee has compiled a large list of concerts and music related gatherings, most of them noted on the church calendar. The decision to have a monthly “family-friendly” service opens the doors to more music for children’s programming. And the beat goes on for our monthly Song Circle on the second Friday evening of each month.
What a wondrous feeling to be gearing up for a new church year, full of promise and possibility! In addition to worship, there will be workshops, concerts, fundraisers, caroling, Music Sunday, and Song Circles (second Friday of each month.) We have many fine performers in our music program, singers and instrumentalists. Our first goal is to build a musical community that gives us connection not only to one another, but to the spirit of love, awe, and generosity. Alleluia!
Music Sunday on May 19 was a highlight of the church year involving a cast of 25 singers, speakers, and instrumentalists: piano, organ, flutes, hammered dulcimer, guitar, keyboard and xylophone. So many talented people making such splendid music in our lovely Sanctuary! My heartfelt thanks to all who participated, including the congregation who came out in full force.
Music Sunday at UU Middleboro is an annual springtime tradition, a chance to develop some musings into a worship service for the congregation. When I shuffle through the 15 annual Music Sunday files in my cabinet, I’m struck by the variety of music and topics we’ve explored. One of the earliest involved a congregational survey of favorite songs. Last year we presented a masterwork with John Rutter’s multi-movement “Requiem.” We’ve focused on Maya Angelou, Paul McCartney, and Paul Basler. We’ve created programs around themes, such as color palettes, inner instruments, and transformation.
In 2011 our church music community started something called “Caring Choir,” designed to bring the uplifting gift of music to members and friends who are homebound. A Caring Choir is made up of singers from any of our choirs – Chalice, Ensemble, Alumni, Family, and Song Circle. A Caring Choir may range in size from a few singers to a larger group, depending on the individual request and how large a space is available. We bring familiar and comforting music from our two hymnals: Singing the Living Tradition and Singing the Journey. Sometimes we can accommodate additional requests. Christmas Carols can be worked into a lovely program, as well as songs from the folk-music resource Rise Up Singing.
On April 6, we have a unique opportunity to hear a world-class jazz concert right in our church! Our former music director, Jeannie Gagné, will be joined by Stan Strickland, Bruce Gertz, and Alberto Netto, all globe-trotting Berklee jazz artists. Anticipating our jazz concert, I’ve been thinking about Leonard Bernstein’s lectures to young people about music. He debunks the idea of “Classical Music” as static, long-haired, boring, or (worst yet) DEAD. He defines Classical Music as composed European music from about 1750 to 1820. Before that, historically, were Medieval, Renaissance, and Baroque music. After Classical were the Romantic, 20th and 21st century periods.
February with its winter chill is certainly a time for “musings.” Sometimes I think about the many ways a short musical statement (or song) can be tweaked. In a compositional artform called “Theme and Variations,” the basic theme is laid out followed by a set of variations. Each variation has a change of some kind, such as timing, phrasing, dynamics, tonality, harmonies, inversions…you name it! What began as a short ditty can become a delightful set of variations, all connected to the theme in some way. Sometimes I look at our music program at UU Middleboro as a composition of theme and variations. The basic theme is excellence (NOT perfection!), camaraderie, flexibility, and communication. This is the given. The variations come with the variety of people who participate and in our repertoire.
At last! We are entering a slower time of the year, a time of moving inside, inside our homes, inside ourselves. Winter in New England has some real advantages. With more time available, I have a chance to look at some new “stuff”—not for performance, just for the quiet growth that comes from a fresh focus. Who knows, it may become something to share later! On January 6, we can enjoy a “Winter Festival of Song and Soup” with a show featuring music and drama in the spirit of the Renaissance, performed by the Falmouth-based Solstice Singers and members of Ensemble Passacaglia. This family-friendly show is followed by hearty soups and desserts. Check out the church website (www.uumiddleboro.org) for tickets. Don’t miss this!
