[Choir] today's service

[Lani Seifert]

Thanks Dick, your kind words go a long way!  I am also happy to see
everyone’s name!  It’s been about a year now and I still didn’t know some
last, or even first, names until now.
And...you are the best!
Lani

On Sun, Feb 10, 2019 at 2:48 PM Richard Riley via Choir <
choir at unitarianchurchofmontpelier.org> wrote:

> "I Believe" had a very significant impact on listeners this morning - or
> so I believe. My back, of course, is to the congregation, but at the end of
> every piece you sing I DO listen for a murmur, or the sound of arms being
> raised, or (of course) for the occasional applause in our more extroverted
> pieces. I could tell that you touched them this morning, and for that I am
> glad for you, and for them.
>
> I was so glad that Joan was able to amplify on the text - that they were words
> scratched on the walls of a cellar in Cologne, Germany by a Jew hiding from
> Nazi persecution - as that was not indicated anywhere in the edition that
> we were using.
>
> Now, here's a different, rather oblique reflection on a different moment
> in today's service, and a request:
>
> When I was a choirboy back in the mid-to-late 60s, I sang in an Episcopal
> cathedral in Baltimore. Over time, as I became a student of the
> organist/choirmaster, he began to tell me stories about what he had
> experienced while making music in the cathedral. One story that I've never
> forgotten was about what happened one time while he was playing the
> postlude. He was playing a piece by Bach, who as I'm sure many of you know,
> wrote some absolutely great music for the organ. But in this cathedral, it
> was not at all uncommon for the parishioners to start talking the minute
> the postlude began. And if it was a big, loud piece, everyone talked more
> loudly. As the organist played this great (loud) piece by Bach, the noise
> level of the congregants got so loud that he became frustrated that no one
> was listening. So in the middle of the Bach, without pause, he began
> playing "Nobody Knows the Trouble I've Seen", and, you guessed it, no one
> noticed! Not a great moment in church music.
>
> So I pass along this observation and request from a fellow who in the
> congregation  this morning. One of the ways that UCM is special is that we
> sit and listen to the postlude, and indeed Eliza has "taken" us to some
> wonderful musical places at this point in the service because we are
> listening. This morning this gentleman's focus on the music was distracted
> by the popping sound of 3-ring binders while Eliza was playing. You were
> doing this to be ready for my eager collection of your music at the end of
> the service, but lets make sure that both you and I go into "post-service"
> mode only when we are truly done with the service.
>
> Finally, also at the end of today's service, I had a request from Tom
> Schersten, one of our newest members of the choir, for the names of all who
> are currently singing. Tom is a bass. Some of you who live in the far-off
> lands of soprano and tenor are harder for him to know. And I can imagine
> that there are others of you who feel similarly about those exotic people
> who sing outside your section. Here's a list of those who have been singing
> in recent weeks:
>
> *Sopranos*
> Brenda Bean
> Beth Damon
> Kairn Kelley
> Fran Krushenick
> MaryJean McKelvy
> Charlotte Root
> Ginny Sassaman
> Lani Seifert
> Cecile Sherburn
> Joan Stepenske
>
> *Altos*
> Bettie Barnes
> Liz Benjamin
> Bronwyn Fryer
> Erin Kelley
> Catherine Lowther
> Mhairi Paget
> Nan Prince
> Susan Bull Riley
> Sue Stukey
>
> *Tenors*
> Sarah Hooker
> Ed Hutchinson
> Phil Morse
> Donia Prince
> Lindsay Wade
>
> *Basses*
> Bill Paine
> Christen Lynn
> Bob Riggen
> Tom Schersten
> Harris Webster
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Unitarian Church of Montpelier
> Choir email list
> unsubscribe at www.unitarianchurchofmontpelier.org
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://unitarianchurchofmontpelier.org/pipermail/choir_unitarianchurchofmontpelier.org/attachments/20190210/65a8c526/attachment.htm>