This Sunday: Pickup choir for tenors and basses – meet at 9:30, all are welcome!
Come, sing a song with me! Any UUCC members or friends who are tenors or basses (the traditional men’s voice parts) who would like to sing, meet me in the sanctuary at 9:45 a.m. this Sunday, December 1st I’ll teach you a couple of easy-to-learn songs which we’ll sing during that morning’s service. No special musical expertise or weekday commitments are required – just be there at 9:30 on Sunday. I’ll see you then!
Music Notes – Sunday, December 1st:
This Sunday’s musicians are The Tenor-Bass Singers and UUCC Music Director Mike Carney
Prelude: Hush, Somebody’s Callin’ My Name – African American Spiritual
“Hush, Somebody’s Callin’ My Name” is a Spiritual/Gospel song, and like so many songs of the American Spiritual tradition, its authorship and age are impossible to determine. Some scholars believe it originated as an ‘escape’ song during the time of slavery, with the lyrics holding the double meaning of listening for the voice of God, but also reminding children to remain quiet to avoid being caught during an escape attempt. The song was first recorded 1923 by the Bethel Jubilee Quartet, and has come into greater popularity and use during the last 50 years, partly due to the fact that it was featured in the soundtrack of the television miniseries Roots and the movie Crossroads. Our Singing the Journey hymnbook includes this song (titled simply as “Hush”) as #1040.
Song: When Our Heart Is in a Holy Place – Poley
#1008 in our Singing the Journey hymnbook, “When Our Heart Is in a Holy Place” was written in 1996 by UU musician and composer Joyce Poley (b. 1941). This song “invites us to see ourselves in others. As we come to understand that all people have wisdom to share and stories to tell—regardless of culture, race, social status, or faith—we begin to realize how important our commonalities are, and how interwoven our lives. When we open ourselves to this sacred idea, then ‘our heart is in a holy place’.” (from uua.org)
Centering Music: Now Light Is Less – Smith/Roethke
Our centering music on Sunday will be a piano arrangement by UUCC Music Director Mike Carney based on one of the hidden gems in our Singing the Living Tradition hymnal, #54 “Now Light Is Less”. The tune, known as “Sursum corda” (Lift Up Your Hearts), was composed by Alfred Morton Smith (1879-1971), a native son of Pennsylvania and served as a musician and later as an ordained priest for the Episcopal Church. Although you won’t hear them this Sunday, the words for “Now Light Is Less” celebrate the quiet beauty of late autumn, and are excerpted from “Slow Season”, written by Pulitzer Prize-winning American author and poet Theodore Roethke (1908-1963).
Offertory Music: Dark of Winter – Denham
A native of Cincinnati, Shelley Jackson Denham (1950-2013) was a lifelong Unitarian Universalist, composer and performer. No fewer than six of Shelley’s hymns can be found in our two hymnbooks, including the gently introspective “Dark of Winter” (#55 in Singing the Living Tradition), which she composed in 1988.
Song: Wake Now, My Senses – Irish folk tune/Mikelson
#298 in Singing the Living Tradition, “Wake Now, My Senses” is a setting of “Slane”, an Irish folk song that is most commonly associated with “Be Thou My Vision” (which also appears in our hymnal as #20). “Slane” is named for a hill in County Meath, Ireland, where St. Patrick’s lighting of an Easter fire – an act of defiance against the 5th Century pagan king Loegaire – led to his unlimited freedom to preach the gospel in Ireland. The words you’ll be hearing – and hopefully singing along with – this Sunday were written by the Rev. Thomas Mikelson (1936-2020), a UU Minister and native of Iowa who was also an educator and activist for racial justice and LGBTQ rights.
Postlude: I Wanna Be Ready – African American Spiritual
“I Wanna Be Ready” (also known as “Walk in Jerusalem Just Like John”) is a Spiritual whose origins are unclear: some scholars believe it originated as a church hymn while others hold that it began as a work song. Like so many Spirituals, “I Wanna Be Ready” expresses optimism for a better day to come and the promise of heaven. It is one of the most beloved songs in the Spiritual tradition, and was notably one of the first songs recorded by the Tuskegee Institute Singers in 1916.
-Mike Carney, UUCC Music Director