Come, Sing a Song with Me!
I’m very happy to say that the UUCC Chancel Choir has returned to regular 7:00 Wednesday evening practices this week! Our choir will be singing with Moises Borges during our September 8th Ingathering Service and on several other upcoming Sundays. The UUCC Chancel Choir is open to all adults and high school youth who are interested, regardless of experience level. Rehearsals are at 7:00 p.m. on Wednesday evenings in the Worship Center (Room 208), and professional childcare is available for any who need it. If you have any questions, please get in touch with UUCC Music Director Mike Carney. I hope to see you next Wednesday!
Music Notes – Sunday, September 1st:
This Sunday’s musician is UUCC Music Director Emerita Fern Jennings
Prelude: Oh, Let Your Soul Now Be Filled with Gladness – arr. Ferguson
“Oh, Let Your Soul Now Be Filled with Gladness”, also known as “Ransomed Soul”, is a traditional hymn tune of Swedish origin. The arrangement you’ll be hearing on Sunday is by Cleveland native John Ferguson (b. 1941), a composer, arranger, organist, and music educator. Ferguson is widely known for his choral and organ music, and he served for more than 30 years as the Elliot & Klara Stockdahl Johnson professor of organ and church music at St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota.
Song: When I Am Frightened – Denham
“When I Am Frightened” (#1012 in Singing the Journey), also titled “Then I May Learn”, was commissioned in 1999 by the First Unitarian Church of Dallas. Because of her lifelong commitment to working with and empowering youth, UU composer Shelley Jackson Denham (1950-2013) took the opportunity to write a piece based on children’s yearning for truth, respect, and engagement with adults. In keeping with a philosophy that “children are watching, what are they learning?”, the song is meant as a reminder that all children deserve and need compassion, acceptance, commitment…and that they often learn to both give and receive these essential elements of relationship through the simple act of observation. (includes material from uua.org)
Centering Music: Lotus – Strayhorn
“Lotus” is the signature piece for organ by legendary American jazz composer, pianist, lyricist, and arranger Billy Strayhorn (1915-1967). Strayhorn started as a pianist in Duke Ellington’s band and would become a longtime arranger and collaborator with Ellington. Ellington’s sister recalled in a published letter, “During his Rainbow Grill engagements, my brother, Duke Ellington, would play ‘Lotus’ as a little private prelude to each show. He would go silently to the piano, while the stage was dark, and softly play it. It was like a little whispered tribute to Billy-perhaps even a little prayer for his soul-knowing that God was listening.” She added: “As you know, Duke titled one of his sacred songs, ‘Every Man Prays in His Own Language’ (and there is no language that God does not understand).”
Offertory Music: Poème – Fibich
Zdeněk Fibich (1850-1900) was a Czech composer of the Romantic Period. Although not as well-known as his contemporary countrymen Dvořák and Smetana, Fibich was an esteemed composer in his day, and was especially known for his operas and piano music. The piece he is best remembered for today is Poème (op. 139), which first appeared in Moods, Impressions and Reminiscences, a collection of solo piano works. Fibich later adapted his melody for orchestra and incorporated it into his symphonic idyll At Twilight, which was premiered and published in 1893.
Closing Song: Come, Sing a Song with Me – McDade
#346 in our Singing the Living Tradition hymnal, “Come, Sing a Song with Me” is a well-known and beloved hymn to many Unitarian Universalists. The words and music were written by Carolyn McDade (b. 1935), a self-described songwriter, spiritual feminist, and social activist. McDade is also the composer of two other UU favorites: “Spirit of Life” and “We’ll Build a Land”.
Postlude: Let Us Talents and Tongues Employ – arr. Behnke
“Let Us Talents and Tongues Employ” is a Christian hymn, usually set to the Jamaican folk tune “Linstead”. The organ arrangement you’ll hear this Sunday is by American organist, composer and music educator John A. Behnke (b. 1953). To date, Behnke has nearly 500 compositions in print with nineteen different publishers in the United States, Germany, and Taiwan. He is Emeritus Professor of Music at Concordia University, in Mequon, Wisconsin where for 29 years (1986-2015) he taught organ, church music courses, and directed The Alleluia Ringers, Concordia’s touring handbell choir. He was the organist and choir director at Historic Trinity Ev. Lutheran Church in downtown Milwaukee, from 1990 until 2019, and the director of the Milwaukee Handbell Ensemble and Music Editor of AGEHR Publishing – Handbell Musicians of America from 2003 until 2019. (includes material from morningstarmusic.com).
-Mike Carney, UUCC Music Director