Music Notes – Sunday, September 29th:
This Sunday’s musicians are The Chancel Choir, Aaron Burkle, UUCC Pianist Karin Tooley, and UUCC Music Director Mike Carney
Prelude: The Fire of Commitment – Shelton
Jason Shelton is an award-winning composer, arranger, conductor, song and worship leader, workshop presenter, and coach. He served as the Associate Minister for Music at the First Unitarian Universalist Church of Nashville, Tennessee from 1998-2017, and is now engaged in a music ministry at-large, focused on serving the musical resource needs of UU (and other liberal) congregations around the country (from jasonsheltonmusic.com). The Fire of Commitment (#1028) is one of many contributions Rev. Shelton has made to our Singing the Journey hymnbook. The unrest of its irregular meter and the insistent rhythmic pulse drive home the call to action that is at the core of the song’s message.
Opening Song: Enter, Rejoice, and Come In – Ruspini
“Enter, Rejoice, and Come In” (#361 in Singing the Living Tradition) is a simple, upbeat song of welcome that is well-known to many Unitarian Universalists. The song was written by folk singer-songwriter Louise Ruspini and originally published in her collection of songs Journey to Freedom. On Sunday, we’ll sing Ruspini’s first verse in both English and Spanish, and then try our hands at some new verses written by our own Randy Partain and Mike Carney.
Hymn: Blue Boat Home – Mayer/Prichard
A native of Minnesota, folk musician Peter Mayer (b. 1963) is a guitarist and songwriter who specializes in earth-centered music. UU congregations know and love Peter as the lyricist behind “Blue Boat Home”, which first appeared on Mayer’s album The Great Story and is #1064 in our Singing the Journey hymnbook. The melody Mayer set his inspiring words to is called “Hyfrodol”, a popular Welsh hymn tune credited to Rowland Prichard (1811-1887).
Centering Music: In a Landscape – Cage
John Cage (1912-1992) was an American composer, music theorist, and music educator. Considered by historians to be one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Cage was at the forefront of the musical avant-garde, being among the first composers to experiment with electronic sounds and with non-traditional uses for instruments, such as prepared piano. Cage also composed numerous works of aleatoric music (where an element of chance determines some or all of the notes and/or rhythms that will be performed), and his 4 Minutes, 33 Seconds challenged the central notion of what constitutes music in the first place. During the middle and late 1940s, Cage embraced the notion that the purpose of music was to “to sober and quiet the mind, thus rendering it susceptible to divine influences”. This spirit is at the heart of “In a Landscape”, a 1948 composition for solo piano or harp that was written to accompany a choreographed dance. “In a Landscape” was influenced both by the work of French pianist and composer Erik Satie (1866-1925), as well as the music from various cultures within eastern and southern Asia, which Cage immersed himself into during the 1930s and 40s. In the score for “In a Landscape”, Cage instructs the pianist or harpist to “Play without sounding, release pedals (thus obtaining harmonics”), thus blurring the harmonic and melodic lines of the piece.
Offertory: We Are Earth – Long
“We Are Earth” is the title song of the most recent album from award-winning songwriter, producer, worship leader and environmental activist Joshua Long. With almost 20 years in the industry, Long has honed his skills in various genres, ranging from Hip-hop, Soul, Pop, and Contemporary Gospel Music. (includes material from joshualongmusic.com)
Anthem: Part of It – Morris and Podd
For this special denomination-wide Climate Justice Revival, the planning team commissioned an anthem to celebrate not just today, but to carry forward in years to come, identifying our work for climate justice. The talented musicians, Lea Morris and Adam Podd, have gifted us with the song entitled “Part of It.” The song calls us to choose survival and make an art of it—poetic ways of stating that we are committed to working for a flourishing world. Because our care of the planet and all its creatures is an existential task, the lyrics reflect a sense of urgency, as well as passion, dedication and joy in the work.
Song: We Will Rise Together – Hardin
Clif Hardin has lived in the Washington, DC area most of his life, and has served as music director for many opera and music theatre productions through the years. More importantly, he started working as Music Director at River Road Unitarian Universalist Congregation in 1983, thinking it would be steady employment until his “real job” came along. Gradually, River Road became his main focus. There, he works with the adult choir and three youth choirs. He regularly arranges and composes for those groups as well as composing piano music for services. “We Will Rise Together” was co-created in 2011 by Clif along with lyricist Jan Elicker for the choir of the Oak Ridge Unitarian Universalist Church in Tennessee.
Postlude: Home – Ebert and Castrinos
“Home” is a 2010 song first recorded by the Los Angeles-based folk rock band Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros. The song was co-written by two members of the band, Alex Ebert (b. 1978) and Jade Castrinos (b. 1980), who also shared the lead vocals on the original recording. “Home” achieved only modest chart success when originally released, but has since been used in numerous other pop culture settings, including episodes of Community, Glee, and Raising Hope.
-Mike Carney, UUCC Music Director