Tonight’s inspiring music is “Still I Rise,” a Gospel / jazz anthem by Rosphanye Powell. Some words are hard to catch, and I apologize that I can’t get the closed captions working. Please note how the choir in this church setting sings with gusto (without sheet music!) and claps on beats two and four đ
Hello UUSS musical friends! I hope you were able to attend yesterday’s service and see me conducting our ‘other UUSS choir.’ I think you can find that on Facebook (at 18:00). They, like you, were so excited, fun, attentive — always watching the conductor :) — and had such lovely tone and diction! I really
Hello musical friends: Thanks once again to folks who send me such good ‘stuff’ to share! Thanks to our dear Joann Anglin, who sent me an inspiring, thoughtful article from the Washington Post about our need for music at this time in our world. Pat Skeels shares a short, fun, Sinatra-esque version of “New York,
Thank you Kaitlin for sending me this inspiring & uplifting live performance of the Resistance Revival chorus 3 days ago in front of a Trump Hotel. Note the long white dresses (also worn by Kamala Harris, Hillary Clinton, and Geraldine Ferraro) — an homage to the suffragettes. Resistance Revival Irina also recently sent me a
I was so inspired by Irina’s terrific piano rendition of Copland’s “Fanfare for the Common Man” that I share the orchestral version (part of a music unit in my online humanities class) with you, conducted by the composer, and featuring briefly one of my teaching / conducting inspirations, “Lennie” Bernstein asking “what is American music?”
Music Moment (choral) : I got a bit tearful hearing this yesterday, because our choir sopranos and altos (and Tom Derthick) sang it twice! It’s “Wanting Memories” by Ysaye Barnwell (songs by this Sweet Honey in The Rock alum are in our teal songbook). I first found it via the great Hawaiian musician Keali’i Reichel.
Spiritual Moment: One of my summer reads was Sacramento native Dr. Cornel West’s memoir “Living & Loving Out Loud.” “Brother West” debunks the idea of a post-racial America, but notes that we can and are forming (slowly, painfully) a “less racist” America. I like how he emphasizes that as a teacher, Christian, scholar, and African-American
Greetings UUSS musicians & friends! Some of you remember the talent show opening the campfire at Norge Family Camp last year (gosh, we do miss our annual camp! :( ), where I rolled out a 5 minute (poorly memorized I admit) Walt Whitman poetry presentation. I do hope to keep refining this in the year(s) to come, having gotten
