Music Notes – Sunday, September 6th:
This Sunday’s musicians are Carl Rust and UUCC Music Director Mike Carney
Come, Sing a Song with Me!
I’m very happy to say that the UUCC Chancel Choir has returned to our regular Wednesday evening schedule after a summer hiatus! Our Chancel Choir is open to all adults and high school youth who are interested, regardless of experience level. Rehearsals are at 7:00 p.m. on Wednesday evenings in the Worship Center (Room 208), and professional childcare is available for any who need it (please contact Mike Carney ahead of time if you need childcare to be arranged). Any questions? Just get in touch with UUCC Music Director Mike Carney. I hope to see you next Wednesday!
About Sunday’s guest musician:
Carl Rust is a retired public-school educator. He is also a singer, songwriter and one half of the band The Rust Show. He has sung and played music almost all his life. He has released 3 solo albums, a band album with Crystal Blue Armadillo, and three albums with The Rust Show. He has 4 children and 9 grandchildren. He has loved art since high school and has experimented with drawing, painting, photography, videography, filmmaking, collage and sculpture. Three of Carl’s original songs will be featured in this Sunday’s service: “Living Water” will be the Centering Music/Prelude, “Heal Me” will be a Congregational Song, and “I Choose Joy” will be the Postlude.
Other music in this week’s service:
Song: Rising Green – McDade
Written in 1983, “Rising Green” is #1068 in our Singing the Journey hymnbook. The song was written by Carolyn McDade (b. 1935), a self-described songwriter, spiritual feminist, and social activist, who is also the composer of three other UU favorites: “Spirit of Life”, “Come, Sing a Song with Me”, and “We’ll Build a Land”. About “Rising Green”, the composer shares these words: “Earth shakes out a mantle of green—each blade of grass true to the integrity within, yet together with others is the rise of spring from winter’s urging. Our coming is with the grass—the common which persists, unexalted, but with the essence of life. Our humanness, our rhythms and dreams, the faith which nurtures our ardent love and hope for life—all this we share with earth community, of which we are natural and connected beings.” (from uua.org)
Joys and Concerns Music: Mother Nature’s Son – McCartney & Lennon
“Mother Nature’s Son” was written primarily by Paul McCartney (b. 1942) but officially credited to McCartney and John Lennon (1940-1980). The song was released on the 1968 album The Beatles (commonly known as The White Album). McCartney has stated the song was inspired by a lecture given by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi he attended while in India.
Offertory Music: An Old Garden – MacDowell
Edward MacDowell (1860-1908) was an American pianist and composer of the Romantic period. He was best known for his piano music, though he also wrote for orchestra, solo voices and chorus. Although he wrote for a variety of performing forces, MacDowell’s most famous compositions were the piano works Sea Pieces, Woodland Sketches, and New England Idylls (Op. 62), a collection of ten short pieces written in 1902. “An Old Garden” is the first song from that collection.
-Mike Carney, UUCC Music Director