A few weeks ago, I texted with one of my sisters. The topic was worshipful songs: she is the only sibling who goes to church and is interested in discussing spiritual matters, so I turned to her naturally.
I didn't say most of this in my segment of the video, but I find myself thinking about it now that I am preparing to leave this religious community. I feel like I have joined them under false pretenses. Still, when I joined the group, my first words were "Is music happening here?" And I never claimed that I was Lutheran, or even Christian. But most people think that someone joins a church choir because of a belief in the liturgy. That is not the case for me. I join because it's a comfortable way to join a community and make music. And, I'm curious. I continue to read about many forms of religion, worship, and spirituality. Right now I'm reading Karen' Armstrong's The Great Transformation. Some concepts resonate more than others. Some of my friends are Christians, some are Buddhists, some have evolved a practise that works for them, and some are permanently alienated from the whole idea of religion. I'm not alienated, but I still remember my Grandma Shapira telling me that I could meet a nice man if I went to church, and I responded that I didn't want to meet a nice man. I was in my 20s, but not much has changed in that regard. Suffice it to say, I have been involved with many churches (and men for that matter), but have formally joined none of them. As a source of spiritual meaning, the jury is still out on organized religion. I find the familiarity comforting and the sincerity of the religious people I've met is very attractive. However, if I'm looking for community, I usually go for musical organizations. And if I'm looking for the divine, I go towards nature or the Swedenborg concept of god in the here and now, an infinite being made finite by time and man's ability to experience it. Here in Claremont, the two sources dovetailed.
I found this group through the Claremont Chamber of Commerce calendar, the same way I found Sumi and the Farmer's Market. The Vocal Forum met for 8 weeks in the summer on Wednesday evenings. It took place at Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, so I checked out the description on the church web page and learned the following:
Good Shepherd is proud to host group vocal classes focused on technique, diction, anatomy, and worship. Come and be surrounded by fellow singers all engaged in a common goal, to sing to our God-given potential. The event is led by Music Director and organist, Adan Fernandez. Masterclasses will be given by soprano Dr. Candace Bogan. Materials are provided. All you need to bring is a willing spirit and joyful song!
It sounded worth checking out, even though they were already 3 weeks into it: I've sung all my life, but it's been awhile since I've taken any voice lessons. Various choral directors have taught methods and I've learned vocalizations and physical ways to influence the voice, like using the Alexander Technique. The Unitarian Choir had annual workshops, and the Choral Arts Ensemble met at Menucha every fall for a weekend of instruction, community-building, and learning music. But all this was long ago, in Portland, and it had been a year since I sang with the Taos Community Chorus, and several years since I sang with the Santa Fe Orchestra Choir and the Coro de Camera.
Practical matters aside, it seemed like a good way to connect with part of the Claremont Community. There really is nothing like a shared goal to bring people together. I hit the jackpot in another way, as well: since basically everyone in the Forum was part of the music making at the church, I had a built-in weekly activity as well.
I learned at the recital that Adan had an equally practical purpose in conducting the forum: he takes his role as music director very seriously, and he wanted to address the annual musical hiatus that takes place in most churches. The Forum gave the choir members a chance to learn musical techniques, build musical confidence, and prepare for the next year. The real goal, though, was to give people a chance to express themselves musically. And he reached that goal. I was impressed that he found a way to help each person improve. Some could not read music, some had no breath support (hey, that's me!), some had difficulties with finding and reproducing notes, etc. etc. And sometimes Adan addressed those issues, but mainly he found a simple thing that, once recognized, made a world of difference. By the time of the recital, the improvement was amazing, and the recital was great fun.
You would think that, since this was a church-sponsored group, the music would be sacred. You would be wrong. I had a chance to find my inner torch singer with Cry Me a River. One of the younger singers gave a powerful rendition of Jekyll and Hyde's Confrontation (and I thus learned of another Wildhorn musical and spent much of today relearning Pimpernel songs.) W sang a Disturbed version of Sounds of Silence, which was a revelation to me. There were several Disney songs, and songs from other musicals that I hadn't heard in years. I learned about the Lumineers, via a moving version of Nobody Knows. What it comes down to is that you don't need to be singing religious words or tunes to be making a joyful noise. Just as it is possible to pray by experiencing the beauty of nature, so it is possible to worship by the mere act of breathing in air and letting it back out in song. It's not as complicated as I make it out to be.
I feel blessed to have reconnected with old favorite songs, to have become acquainted with new ones, and to have allied myself with a welcoming community. At dinner after the recital (a dinner that was curtailed before it started by a blown transformer in the neighborhood), I learned a bit more about just how welcoming this community is. One audience member joined us, and thanked us for our gift of music: she is undergoing dialysis, and music is healing to her. I thanked the group for letting me in, and they responded with a prayer circle of held hands and a wish that God bless my travels, and that I keep in touch and return. It reminded me of being held in the thoughts of my fellow Chamber Choir members at the Portland UU First Church, during post-rehearsal sharing time. And on the drive home, I sang in the car, making a joyful noise.
- Btw, the music director is in charge of the service this Sun, and he's interviewing some of the vocal forum people regarding a favorite worshipful song and why it's a favorite. He asked me to be taped and I'm having a hard time thinking of a song. Any ideas?
- Some of mine: Lord of all hopefulness, what wondrous love is this, Praise to the Lord, Love Divine all love excelling
- I don't think I know any of those! 😄
- I do like immortal invisible
- That was Dad's favorite
- Maybe that's why
- Check out the others sometime. Great melodies, harmonies, and lyrics. Oh, and Joshua fought the battle of Jericho.
- Of course, there are oodles of Christmas favorites. Check Wikipedia: did you know Immortal Invisible was a Welsh tune?
- Most of my favorite hymns started out as secular tunes
- Love divine has several tunes, but I think the one you like is probably Hygrydol, a "stately Welsh tune". Unitarians sing it to different words: blue boat home
- And Praise to the Lord the Almighty the king of creation? I know that one too. Good choices
- Love Divine tune was written by Rowland H Prichard. It was one of the first songs I learned to sing harmony.
- Now I have to pick one and say why... it's all in the music of course
- Yeah. I can't just ignore the words. My favorite may be Lord of all hopefulness because it is
- a prayer that covers the whole day.
- Maybe I'll just read this discussion!
- Just listened to it on YouTube: I love that one too!
- 😊
I didn't say most of this in my segment of the video, but I find myself thinking about it now that I am preparing to leave this religious community. I feel like I have joined them under false pretenses. Still, when I joined the group, my first words were "Is music happening here?" And I never claimed that I was Lutheran, or even Christian. But most people think that someone joins a church choir because of a belief in the liturgy. That is not the case for me. I join because it's a comfortable way to join a community and make music. And, I'm curious. I continue to read about many forms of religion, worship, and spirituality. Right now I'm reading Karen' Armstrong's The Great Transformation. Some concepts resonate more than others. Some of my friends are Christians, some are Buddhists, some have evolved a practise that works for them, and some are permanently alienated from the whole idea of religion. I'm not alienated, but I still remember my Grandma Shapira telling me that I could meet a nice man if I went to church, and I responded that I didn't want to meet a nice man. I was in my 20s, but not much has changed in that regard. Suffice it to say, I have been involved with many churches (and men for that matter), but have formally joined none of them. As a source of spiritual meaning, the jury is still out on organized religion. I find the familiarity comforting and the sincerity of the religious people I've met is very attractive. However, if I'm looking for community, I usually go for musical organizations. And if I'm looking for the divine, I go towards nature or the Swedenborg concept of god in the here and now, an infinite being made finite by time and man's ability to experience it. Here in Claremont, the two sources dovetailed.
I found this group through the Claremont Chamber of Commerce calendar, the same way I found Sumi and the Farmer's Market. The Vocal Forum met for 8 weeks in the summer on Wednesday evenings. It took place at Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, so I checked out the description on the church web page and learned the following:
Good Shepherd is proud to host group vocal classes focused on technique, diction, anatomy, and worship. Come and be surrounded by fellow singers all engaged in a common goal, to sing to our God-given potential. The event is led by Music Director and organist, Adan Fernandez. Masterclasses will be given by soprano Dr. Candace Bogan. Materials are provided. All you need to bring is a willing spirit and joyful song!
It sounded worth checking out, even though they were already 3 weeks into it: I've sung all my life, but it's been awhile since I've taken any voice lessons. Various choral directors have taught methods and I've learned vocalizations and physical ways to influence the voice, like using the Alexander Technique. The Unitarian Choir had annual workshops, and the Choral Arts Ensemble met at Menucha every fall for a weekend of instruction, community-building, and learning music. But all this was long ago, in Portland, and it had been a year since I sang with the Taos Community Chorus, and several years since I sang with the Santa Fe Orchestra Choir and the Coro de Camera.
Practical matters aside, it seemed like a good way to connect with part of the Claremont Community. There really is nothing like a shared goal to bring people together. I hit the jackpot in another way, as well: since basically everyone in the Forum was part of the music making at the church, I had a built-in weekly activity as well.
I learned at the recital that Adan had an equally practical purpose in conducting the forum: he takes his role as music director very seriously, and he wanted to address the annual musical hiatus that takes place in most churches. The Forum gave the choir members a chance to learn musical techniques, build musical confidence, and prepare for the next year. The real goal, though, was to give people a chance to express themselves musically. And he reached that goal. I was impressed that he found a way to help each person improve. Some could not read music, some had no breath support (hey, that's me!), some had difficulties with finding and reproducing notes, etc. etc. And sometimes Adan addressed those issues, but mainly he found a simple thing that, once recognized, made a world of difference. By the time of the recital, the improvement was amazing, and the recital was great fun.
You would think that, since this was a church-sponsored group, the music would be sacred. You would be wrong. I had a chance to find my inner torch singer with Cry Me a River. One of the younger singers gave a powerful rendition of Jekyll and Hyde's Confrontation (and I thus learned of another Wildhorn musical and spent much of today relearning Pimpernel songs.) W sang a Disturbed version of Sounds of Silence, which was a revelation to me. There were several Disney songs, and songs from other musicals that I hadn't heard in years. I learned about the Lumineers, via a moving version of Nobody Knows. What it comes down to is that you don't need to be singing religious words or tunes to be making a joyful noise. Just as it is possible to pray by experiencing the beauty of nature, so it is possible to worship by the mere act of breathing in air and letting it back out in song. It's not as complicated as I make it out to be.
I feel blessed to have reconnected with old favorite songs, to have become acquainted with new ones, and to have allied myself with a welcoming community. At dinner after the recital (a dinner that was curtailed before it started by a blown transformer in the neighborhood), I learned a bit more about just how welcoming this community is. One audience member joined us, and thanked us for our gift of music: she is undergoing dialysis, and music is healing to her. I thanked the group for letting me in, and they responded with a prayer circle of held hands and a wish that God bless my travels, and that I keep in touch and return. It reminded me of being held in the thoughts of my fellow Chamber Choir members at the Portland UU First Church, during post-rehearsal sharing time. And on the drive home, I sang in the car, making a joyful noise.
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