Be sure to arrive early this Sunday for special music from Windsong’s Lakeshore Sonora, beginning at 10:00 in our sanctuary!
Music Notes – Sunday, September 13th:
This week’s musicians are Windsong’s Lakeshore Sonora, The Chancel Choir, and UUCC Music Director Mike Carney
About this Sunday’s guest musicians:
Windsong: Cleveland’s Feminist Chorus boasts a long and full Herstory of making beautiful music while promoting feminism and social justice. First known as the Cleveland Women’s Chorus, the group changed names several times—The Moral Chorale, The Haggettes, and Windsong Womyn’s Ensemble—before settling on Windsong, Cleveland’s Feminist Chorus in 1996. Windsong rests solidly on the dedication of its founding mothers and early leaders: June Adams, Betsy Reeves, Lisa Rainsong, Gayle Pilat, Penny Guy, Nan Gerald, Gayle Crawford, Ellen Catlin, Diane Hobus, Michelle Colopy, Sharon Marrell, Julie “Maze” Henderson, Argerie Vasilakes, and Karen Weaver.
Windsong is a proud member of the Sister Singers Network, an organization founded in 1981 to nurture the spirit, energy, and diversity of the women’s choral movement. They have participated in SSN choral festivals in Grand Rapids, San Diego, Chicago, Champaign-Urbana in 2014, again in Grand Rapids in 2018, and in 2023 when Windsong served as the host chorus for the event in Cleveland.
Lakeshore Sonora is a select ensemble comprised of Windsong members, led by Windsong’s Assistant Director, Katherine Smith.
Centering Music
Oh, Be Swift to Love – Grundahl
Minnesota native Nancy Grundahl (b. 1946) is a performer, conductor, and composer who currently directs three ensembles in the Minneapolis area and has a number of published choral compositions written for treble and mixed voices. “Oh, Be Swift to Love” is a setting of words by Swiss philosopher and poet Henri-Frédéric Amiel (1821-1881). Grundahl composed her musical setting of Amiel’s words in response to the killing of Philando Castile, a 32-year-old African American man who was shot and killed in July 2016 by a police officer from St. Anthony (MN) during a traffic stop. The Chancel Choir will sing a version of Grundahl’s song that is published in The Justice Choir Songbook. In the composer’s words: “This simple, but profound text spoke to me when it appeared in a Facebook post in summer 2016, during the antagonistic political conventions and following the killing of Philando Castile in our community.”
Love Is Love Is Love Is Love – Betinis
The music of American composer Abbie Betinis has been called “inventive” (The New York Times), “joyful… shattering, incandescent” (Boston Globe), and music that “expands into ethereal realms” (Cambridge University Press). She has been honored to attend performances of her music from Carnegie Hall to Disney Hall, school assemblies to wedding ceremonies, state prisons to capitol buildings, summer camps to the finest international cathedrals. Her music has been performed on four continents and she has received commissions from many organizations, including the American Choral Directors Association, Cantus, Chorus Pro Musica, The Dale Warland Singers, and the St. Olaf Choir. Abbie wrote “Love Is Love Is Love Is Love” for the Justice Choir Songbook. In the composer’s own words, “(This song) is dedicated to the victims, and survivors, of hate crimes everywhere, and specifically for those at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando on June 12, 2016. Love is often the bravest thing we do. May love prevail.” (includes material from http://abbiebetinis.com/ )
Hope Lingers On (Schneckenburger, arr. Ramsey)
“Hope Lingers On” was written in 2017 by singer/songwriter/fiddler Lissa Schneckenburger (b. 1979) for the folk/Americana group Low Lily and released on that group’s 2018 album 10,000 Days Like These. The song’s uplifting message of finding light in our darkest hour inspired a choral arrangement by Andrea Ramsay, which you’ll hear this Sunday, as sung by Windsong’s Lakeshore Sonora.
Song: Blue Boat Home – Mayer
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). The piano accompaniment and choral harmonies were added by Rev. Jason Shelton (b. 1972), who also wrote several other beloved UU songs, including “Standing on the Side of Love”, The Fire of Commitment”, and “Life Calls Us On”.
Song: Weaving Our Lives (Rose)
Alexa Sunshine Rose is a singer-songwriter, mother, artist and mystic who has dedicated herself and her life’s work to being a clear channel for peace on earth. Her songs are prayers, which bridge worlds; the inner and outer, the mind and heart, chaos and calm. She has been touring and teaching across the West Coast and Hawaii since 2009. (from alexasunshinerose.com) “Weaving Our Lives” is almost as much a musical mediation as it is a song, and was the lead track from Alexa’s 2023 release Come Receive.
Special Music: The Blue Pool (Chapple)
Brian Chapple (b. 1945) is an award-winning British composer, primarily known for his piano and choral works. “The Blue Pool” is a contemplative piece from Chapple’s 2002 piano collection On the Cool Side.
Special Music: Deep River – Spiritual
One of the best-known of all Spirituals, “Deep River” is a simple yet powerful song expressing faith and an abiding hope in a brighter tomorrow. Like almost all songs from the Black American Spiritual tradition, its true origins are lost to history. “Deep River” was first published in 1876 and recorded in 1911, but most music historians believe it dates back at least 100 years before its publication and could be far older still.
Offertory: The Road Home – Paulus
Stephen Paulus (1949-2014) was a prolific American composer of classical music. He wrote over 600 works, receiving premieres and performances throughout the world as well as a Grammy nomination for Best Contemporary Classical Composition in 2015. His musical style has been described by The New York Times as “lush and extravagant,” and critics from the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Cleveland Plain Dealer, and many others have praised his work. He was a recipient of both NEA and Guggenheim Fellowships. (from stephenpaulus.com) “The Road Home” is Paulus’s choral setting of the Southern Appalachian hymn tune “Prospect”. Our Singing the Living Tradition hymnal uses this tune for hymns #15 (“The Lone, Wild Bird”) and #232 (“The Hills Are Bare at Bethlehem”).
Song: This Boat – Zucker
“This Boat” is a song by award-winning American folk musician Laura Zucker (b. 1958). The song is included in Sing Out Love, a digital UU hymnal published in 2025, which includes familiar UU favorites alongside exciting new songs of faith and justice.
Postlude: Bring Me Little Water, Sylvie – Ledbetter
Huddie William Ledbetter (1888-1949), better known as Lead Belly, was an American folk/blues performer and songwriter, famous for such songs as “Goodnight, Irene”, “Midnight Special”, and “In the Pines”. Lead Belly first began performing “Bring Me Little Water, Sylvie” in the 1930s and is generally credited as the song’s composer, although many historians believe he adapted a work song that was already commonly sung in Texas and Louisiana during that time and likely originated several decades earlier. Lead Belly would often tell his audiences that his version of the song was about his Uncle Bob, who would call for his wife, Sylvie, to bring him some water when he would get thirsty while working in his fields.
-Mike Carney, UUCC Music Director