This Sunday: All-ages pickup choir for treble voices – meet at 9:45, all are welcome!
Come, sing a song with me! Any UUCC members or friends who have voices in the treble range (sopranos or altos, or children’s voices) and who would like to sing, meet me in the sanctuary at 9:45 a.m. this Sunday, June 30th I’ll teach you an easy-to-learn arrangement of “Peace, Salaam, Shalom” by Emma’s Revolution, which we’ll then sing during that morning’s service. No special musical expertise or weekday commitment is required – just be there at 9:45 on Sunday. I’ll see you then!
Music Notes – Sunday, June 30th:
This Sunday’s musicians are the Multigen Choir and UUCC Music Director Mike Carney
Opening Song: #389 Gathered Here – Porter
#389 in our Singing the Living Tradition hymnal, “Gathered Here” was written in 1990 by Phil Porter (b. 1953), an artist, dancer and arts educator and United Church of Christ lay minister who is known for his work as an LGBTQ+ activist. The simple, overlapping melody and haunting harmonies have made “Gathered Here” a longtime favorite in both UU and UCC worship services.
Song: Find a Stillness – Seaburg
#352 in our Singing the Living Tradition hymnal, “Find a Stillness” is based on a traditional Transylvanian hymn tune, with words by Carl G. Seaburg (1922-1998), a UU Minister and historian who spent several years as president of the Unitarian Universalist Historical Society and is responsible for seven of the hymns in Singing the Living Tradition, including #124 “Be That Guide” and #338 “I Seek the Spirit of a Child”.
Centering Music: A Model of the Universe – Jóhannsson
Jóhann Jóhannsson (1969-2018) was an Icelandic composer whose music is difficult to categorize, as it incorporated and blended elements of classical, folk, jazz, electronic and contemporary popular music. Jóhannsson composed “A Model of the Universe” for the 2014 film The Theory of Everything, and his score for that film was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Score and won the Golden Globe in the same category. Of this piece of music, Jóhannsson wrote: “There are many circular and geometric visual motifs scattered throughout the film, and I was very aware of this geometry and tried to echo it with the music. I worked with patterns that slowly mutate and are deconstructed and then re-assembled in various renderings throughout the film – patterns within patterns, like fractals. There is a great scene in the film where Hawking describes his quest for ‘a simple, elegant equation which explains everything’. So, obviously in a much smaller and humbler way, I attempted to do something similar with music, to express complex emotions and an intricate and fascinating story with the simplest means available to me.”
Offertory music: Transit of Venus from Once Around the Sun – Talbot
Joby Talbot (b. 1971) is a British composer who has written works for chorus, instrumental solos and ensembles, dance, and opera. In 2005 the British classical music station Classic FM named Talbot as its first ever resident composer, with the understanding that Talbot would compose a new work for each month of the calendar year, each of which would premier on Classic FM. “Transit of Venus” was the original piece that Talbot wrote for the June portion of that project, which became a twelve-movement work titled Once Around the Sun.
Closing Hymn: Spirit of Life – McDade
“Spirit of Life” is #123 in our Singing the Living Tradition hymnal and is a favorite hymn of many UUs. The composer of “Spirit of Life”, Carolyn McDade (b. 1935), describes herself as “a songwriter, spiritual feminist, and social activist” (carolynmcdademusic.com). Originally, McDade was reluctant to see “Spirit of Life” included in our hymnal, as she thinks of her song as a personal and living prayer as opposed to a hymn. Despite her misgivings at the time, “Spirit of Life” has become the most frequently sung hymn within UU congregations around the world – many UUs know the words by heart, and some of our sister churches sing this song together every Sunday.
Postlude: Peace, Salaam, Shalom – Humphries & Opatow
“Peace, Salaam, Shalom” is a song by Emma’s Revolution, the American folk music/social activist duo comprised of Pat Humphries and Sandy Opatow (aka Sandy O), who were each successful folk musicians in their own right before joining forces. The group is named in honor of Emma Goldman, a Russian-American feminist, anarchist, and activist from the late 19th and early 20th centuries. “Peace, Salaam, Shalom” was written in 2001 for a peace march in New York City following the 9/11 attacks.
-Mike Carney, UUCC Music Director