Community Chorus Festival – this Friday at UUCC!
There will be fun and FREE event this Friday, September 25th for music-lovers of all ages! Participants will learn new vocal techniques, meet some amazing people, and sing great music together. Join us at 6:00 pm to participate as a singer, or at 8:00 pm to enjoy a mini-concert in the UUCC Sanctuary. Featured groups will include UUCC’s Chancel Choir, along with:
Good Company: A Vocal Ensemble (Mike Carney, director)
The Singers’ Club of Cleveland (Christopher Clark, director)
Windsong: Cleveland’s Feminist Chorus (Jessica Gallagher-Steuver, director)
Music Notes – Sunday, September 27th:
This week’s musicians are The Chancel Choir and UUCC Pianist Karin Tooley
Centering Music: A Change Is Gonna Come – Cooke
Written and originally performed by Sam Cooke (1931-1964), “A Change Is Gonna Come” is one of the most significant songs in the history of American music. The song first appeared on Cooke’s 1964 album Ain’t That Good News, and was inspired by Cooke’s experiences as a person of color, especially a 1963 incident when he and his entourage were refused entry to a motel in Shreveport, Louisiana because of their race. The song’s original release only met with modest success, but “A Change Is Gonna Come” is now thought of as Cooke’s signature song, becoming an anthem for the Civil Rights Movement and meeting with near-universal acclaim by music critics and historians. In 2005, “A Change Is Gonna Come” was voted number 12 by representatives of the music industry and press in Rolling Stone magazine’s “500 Greatest Songs of All Time”, it made NPR’s list of “The 300 Most Important Songs Ever Recorded”, and the song was selected for preservation in the Library of Congress in 2007. The words “A change is gonna come” are inscribed on a wall of the Contemplative Court, a space for reflection in the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture, and Cooke’s lyrics were famously quoted by Barack Obama in his acceptance speech after winning the U.S. Presidential Election in 2008. “A Change Is Gonna Come” has also been covered and sampled by many other artists, including Beyoncé, Lil Wayne, Céline Dion, and Seal.
Song: Where You Go – Jedwab
Lyrically based on a passage from The Book of Ruth, “Where You Go” is a song about compassion and inclusion. It was written and first recorded by Shoshana Jedwab, a songwriter, drummer, and educator based in New York City.
Offertory: The Times They Are a-Changin’ – Dylan, arr. Podd
One of the signature folk anthems of the 1960s, “The Times They Are a-Changin’” was written in 1963 by iconic singer/songwriter/poet Bob Dylan (b. 1941) and released in 1964 as the lead track from Dylan’s album of the same name. Even though it was never released as a single in the U.S., “The Times They Are a-Changin’” has become one of Dylan’s best-known and most beloved songs and has earned numerous accolades, including the no. 59 spot on Rolling Stone’s list of “The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time”. The song has inspired cover versions by Nina Simone, The Byrds, Bruce Springsteen, and dozens of other artists. The choral arrangement you’ll hear on Sunday is by Adam Podd, and features soloist Bill McNally and Lucy Carney on piano.
Joys and Concerns Music: Changes – Bowie
Born David Robert Jones, David Bowie (1947-2016) was a British musician, actor, and songwriter who was undoubtedly one of the most interesting and significant figures of popular culture in the 20th century. Bowie helped to pioneer progressive rock, glam rock, and electronica, and his iconic style and stagecraft were as influential as his music. He was one of the most successful musical artists of all time, selling well over 100 million records to date, including 11 #1 albums. Bowie was a six-time Grammy Award-winner, and received numerous other accolades, including a Saturn Award, multiple BRIT and MTV Music Awards, and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1996. “Changes” was originally released on the 1971 album Hunky Dory, and is widely regarded as one of Bowie’s greatest songs, appearing on Ultimate Classic Rock’s list of the “Top 200 Songs of the 1970s”, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll, and on Rolling Stone’s “500 Greatest Songs of All Time”.
Song: As We Carry This Flame Forward – American folk song/King
The American hymn tune most commonly known as “Holy Manna” was first published in Columbian Harmony, an 1829 shape-note tune book compiled by William Moore, and the melody is usually attributed to Moore. Today, the tune appears in nearly every Christian hymnal (its most frequently used lyric setting is “God, Who Stretched the Spangled Heavens”) and is found in our Singing the Living Tradition hymnal as the melody of #66 “When the Summer Sun Is Shining”. On Sunday, we’ll sing a new setting of this tune by Wesley King (b. 1988), a musician and composer currently living and working in Nashville. He is a three-time finalist in the Alabama Music Educators’ Association’s Young Composer Competition, and has composed in numerous styles, including several hymn settings. “As We Carry This Flame Forward” is part of our new Sing Out Love virtual hymnal.
Postlude: Be the Change – Britt and Kaplan
“Be the Change” was written in 2010 by Marc Kaplan and Colin Britt, based on the “Be the change you wish to see in the world” quotation that is frequently attributed to Mahatma Gandhi. This song is part of the online Justice Choir Songbook and will be sung by UUCC’s Chancel Choir to close this Sunday’s service.
-Mike Carney, UUCC Music Director