Come, Sing a Song with…the Multigen Choir this Sunday!
Attention singers of all ages and experience levels (including those with no experience at all) – you’re invited to sing with the Multigen Choir this Sunday, June 7th. Here are the details:
- Who: Anyone and everyone who wants to sing – including you! All ages are welcome, and no experience is necessary.
- What: Singing two songs during our Flower Communion Service this Sunday, June 7th
- When: Meet at 9:45 to learn the songs, then we’ll sing during the service.
- Where: On the East Lawn, or in the sanctuary in case of rain.
- Why: Because singing together is a fun and beautiful thing!
Get in touch with UUCC Music Director Mike Carney if you have any questions. I hope to see you Sunday at 9:45!
Next Wednesday, June 10th – come and hear award-winning pianist Daria Rabotkina in concert, right in our sanctuary!
Mark your calendars for next Wednesday, June 10th – UUCC’s own Daria Rabotkina will present a piano concert at 7:00 pm in our sanctuary, featuring works of Chopin, Debussy, Janáček, and more. There will be a freewill offering to support UUCC’s Capital Campaign, but admission is free for all who wish to attend. Click here for more information about this fantastic event – I hope to see you there!
Music Notes – Sunday, June 7th:
This Sunday’s musicians are The Multigen Choir and UUCC Music Director Mike Carney
Centering Music: To a Wild Rose – 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. His most famous compositions were the piano works Sea Pieces, New England Idylls, and Woodland Sketches (Op. 51), which MacDowell wrote during the summer of 1896 while staying at a family farm in Peterborough, New Hampshire. Each of the individual works within Woodland Sketches is inspired by an aspect of the nature and landscape surrounding the farm. “To a Wild Rose” is the first and best-known movement from Woodland Sketches.
Song: Morning Has Broken – Traditional Scottish Folksong/Farjean
“Morning Has Broken” is a setting of the traditional Scottish Gaelic tune “Bunessan”, with lyrics by English author Eleanor Farjean (1881-1965). For decades, the song has appeared in dozens of hymnals (including as #38 in our own Singing the Living Tradition), but it reached a larger audience in 1972 when a recording by Cat Stevens became a top ten hit on the U.S. Billboard charts.
Offertory Music: The Garden Song – Mallett
“The Garden Song (Inch by Inch)” is the most famous composition by American folk singer-songwriter and guitarist David Mallett (b. 1951). Mallett wrote “The Garden Song” in 1975 and it has since been performed and recorded by many artists, including Arlo Guthrie, Paul Stookey, and even The Muppets. The song is often attributed to John Denver, whose recording of “The Garden Song” became a hit in the U.S. and Canada in 1979. This Sunday, “The Garden Song” will be sung by our Multigen Choir (see above).
Special Music: De Colores – Spanish folk song
“De Colores” is a traditional folk song that is well-known throughout the Spanish-speaking world. It is sung in many religious traditions and is also frequently heard at rallies for the United Farm Workers. There is some debate among musicologists regarding the history of “De Colores”, with some claiming the song is purely Mexican in origin, while the more widely accepted view is that the melody and some of the lyrics came from Spain and date back at least 400 years. “De Colores” is #305 in our Singing the Living Tradition hymnal, and the song has become a staple of flower communion services for many UU congregations.
Song: Color and Fragrance – Čapek
#78 in our Singing the Living Tradition hymnal, “Color and Fragrance” was written by Norbert Čapek (1870-1942), a Czech author, poet, activist and minister who brought the Unitarian movement to his native country. Most modern UUs associate “Color and Fragrance with flower communion, a much-loved UU tradition that was first celebrated by Čapek with his home congregation in 1923. The song is defined by its sweet and simple melody and by its lyrical message of hope and promise, both in the beauty of nature and in humankind’s capacity for love and compassion.
Postlude: Alleluia – Langer
Kenneth P. Langer (he/him, b. 1959) is a published writer, composer, and poet and is the author of several works of fiction as well as books on spiritual living. He has been a college professor of music and a director of music but has since retired and is Director of Ministry at the Barre, VT UU Church. He is a graduate of Starr King School for the Ministry. Langer’s “Alleluia” is a contemporary worship song written with UU values. It relates concepts of spirituality to aspects of nature. (from singoutlove.org)
-Mike Carney, UUCC Music Director