Year Three

This coming Sunday will mark the end of my third year as Director of Music at Northwest Unitarian Universalist Congregation. It has been a wonderful three years.

When I first started the job, I was frankly happy to have a steady source of income, even if it was only a quarter time position. While I enjoyed being with the people at Northwest, I have to admit that I looked on it as a steady gig. I felt that my job was to come in twice a week, do my "music thing," and then make myself scarce. I felt that the music program was a separate entity – a self contained little bubble within Northwest.

That sense of separation began to dissolve in my second year, when Terry Davis became our minister. She brought a sense of inclusiveness, openness, and energy that had been lacking. Music became more integrated into the Northwest experience as Terry consulted with the staff to plan services. I began to become more than "the music guy." I was playing my part in a supportive team. Terry also helped me realize the impact that my role has on the church, and in particular on the choir members. Being a secular humanist, I had never thought that my music program was a ministry, but I learned otherwise. (And for those of you who are wondering how a godless heathen such as myself could be a music director at a church, I invite you to visit www.uua.org and read up on Unitarian Universalism.)

It wasn't until this past year that I began to feel like I was, indeed, the actual Director of Music at Northwest UUC. It began to feel real. For the first two years, I felt like my job was to keep a steady hand on the wheel and keep the music going through some staff changes (new music director the first year, new minister the second year). In this third year, I began to put my own stamp on the music program, most notably with the launching of a contemporary band. This band, which has yet to be named, was a popular addition right from the start, and then it kept getting better and better. Also, after struggling with sound issues for years, we finally managed to update our sound system, thanks in large part to the expertise of Bob Bakert, who is not a member of Northwest, but hosts the Hungry Ear Coffee House show that Northwest puts on every month.

Even where I have met challenges, I feel like I'm growing into my role. I had some difficulty starting a children's choir this year. (More on children's choir in a future article.) Even where I have faltered, I have continued to enjoy the support of the staff and the congregation. Rather than giving up on a children's music program because of a rocky first year, they have offered advice and support, and we have a new plan for children's music in the coming church year.

As each year passes, I am more and more grateful for this job. It started off as a gig, but it has become so much more.

Gearing Up

A few days ago, I was pleased to see an increase in my NWUUC paycheck, reflecting my increased hours. It's not a huge amount of money, but when you're a freelance musician, every little bit helps. To me, this pay increase represents a new charge to the music ministry at NWUUC.

NWUUC has had a very basic music program for the past couple years. It's been a quarter time position (10 hours a week), which leaves just about enough time to run a choir, plan music for services, and practice music for the services in which I'm the lead musician. In the newest budget, the congregation voted to add 5 weekly hours to the job, with the understanding that much of that will be devoted to developing a children's music program.

Seeing that extra money in my account was a reminder that things are about to get real, and I'm highly motivated to raise NWUUC's music program to a new level. I'll spend most of the extra hours on children's music, but I also plan on forming a church band to rehearse once a month. I've occasionally asked musicians in the congregation to play with me when it's my Sunday to be the lead musician. With limited hours, we only had time to meet the morning of the service, and I would go into each service crossing my fingers that it would all turn out okay! My new hours will only allow for one rehearsal a month, but right now, that one rehearsal will seem like a luxury! We will rehearse music for upcoming services, but I also plan on rehearsing songs in general, gradually developing a band book. Just like the children's choir, it's not going to be something we can build overnight, but an accumulation of regular rehearsals will go a long way toward developing a deeper sense of ensemble and a solid repertoire.

After the recent UUMN conference, I purposefully did not think about my church's music program. I just wanted to let all the new information settle in my brain. Tomorrow, though, it all begins! I'll take out my notes and conference materials, meet with NWUUC staff, schedule children's choir and band rehearsals, schedule some piano tunings, order music, and get this new church year going!

UUMN Conference, Snapshots

I had planned on singing with the mass choir this morning to cap off my first UUMN conference experience, but I woke up with a sore throat. I was starting to feel some vocal fatigue yesterday during the reading session, and I was feeling tired in general. I tried vocalizing a little bit this morning, but from my mid to upper register, it just came out as a squeak. I was careful to pace myself singing this week, but still, I sang a lot more this week than I ever have. I think my scratchy voice is a result of vocal fatigue and general conference fatigue. I decided to bug out this morning and head back home. It's a long drive, and I didn't want to overuse my voice, go through another emotional experience, and then arrive home at 3 a.m. after a 12.5 hour drive. If I had done that, this would certainly have become a full blown cold. I arrived home at about 10:30, which is a much more reasonable time than 3 a.m.! I'll get a good night's sleep and hope that some good old fashioned rest will nip this cold in the bud.

As I was driving home, memories from the conference kept swirling through my brain. Here are some random snapshots.

• The powerful experience of being in a room full of wonderful singers all belting out a hymn for the first time.
• Being around a couple hundred other people who do what I do and knowing that I'm not alone in this profession. It was fun to swap stories and realize that everyone else shares similar experiences and faces similar challenges. Others were able to offer advice in how to solve some of the issues I face, and even though I've only been a music director for two years, I have my own unique set of experiences, and so I was able to offer help to others.
• Being asked to play guitar with the band that played in a workshop on contemporary worship music.
• Being pleasantly surprised to see Don Southworth, who used to be the minister at my own church.
• Getting daily texts from a friend back home who was checking on my progress. It was great to be at this big conference for the first time, learning as much as possible, but it also was nice to share my experiences with someone back home. It helped me feel grounded, and I began looking forward to those check ins.
• Realizing, after the valet handed me the car keys, how nice it was not to not drive for almost a week.
• Hearing everyone in the sanctuary spontaneously sing Sarah Dan's own hymn to her (Meditation on Breathing) after her last speech as outgoing president of the UUMN.
• Missing the children's choir repertoire and techniques workshop after being recruited to play for the contemporary worship music workshop, and then having someone walk up to me and hand me the music and handouts from the children's workshop without me even asking.
• Hearing the children's choir sing their first note when they joined the adult choir.
• Being so tired the last evening that, when I got back to my room, I took one shoe off and then had to take a break before I had the energy to take off the other shoe.
• Having a profound experience attending the musical meditation service, and looking forward to taking that concept back home to my own church.
• Looking at my watch on the ride home after five hours in the car, realizing that I would have just then been leaving Dallas if I had stayed to croak my way through the choir pieces, and realizing I made the correct decision for my health.
• The most profound thing that came out of the conference, at least for me, was a clinician who told us that the secret to good singing is that there is no secret. It is a gradual accumulation of small skills over time.

There's more. It'll all start to sink in after a week or two. I'm looking forward to sharing much of this with Terry Davis, the minister at NWUUC.

Like most introverts, when I experience something new like this conference, I spend most of my time observing rather than jumping in. Next year, I would like to participate more. I would like to be one of the guinea pigs in a conducting masterclass, and I would like to play guitar and sing as much as possible in services and workshops. For the masterclasses, I need to pay attention to the announcements and sign up as soon as possible when there is a call for conductors. To participate as a musician, I need to stay in touch with the people I've met and make myself available.

That's it! That's my first UUMN conference experience. Now it's time to sleep in my own bed and not set the alarm.

UUMN Conference, Day 4

Boy, am I tired, but this has been another good day at this year's UUMN conference. The mass choir rehearsed first thing today. Once we arrived, we had about 30 minutes before rehearsal started. I used that time to review a Spanish piece that we've been rehearsing. The notes and rhythms aren't that difficult, and the pronunciation isn't tricky, but when you put all those elements together, it becomes a challenge. I wandered around outside, speaking and then singing my part, and I wasn't the only one. Everywhere I looked, I saw other singers with their heads buried in the music. It paid off, because the choir sounded noticeably better this morning.

Yesterday, a friend of mine texted me and asked what my favorite moment of the conference was. I told her it was the first day, when a room full of terrific singers all sang a hymn together. This morning I texted her a correction. My favorite moment of the conference was this morning, when a children's choir joined the adult choir. Talk about angel voices! That was a spectacular moment, and I can't wait to sing that piece of music with them tomorrow morning.

There was another time slot for workshops after the choir rehearsal, but I wasn't interested in any of them, so I practiced guitar instead. The first few days of the conference, I tried to go to everything, but you can't keep that up all week. It was relaxing to spend a little time alone under the trees and play guitar. Your typical guitarist would sit under a tree and strum folk songs, but I was practicing scales and licks. It works for me.

After lunch, we enjoyed an intergenerational service that included the children's choir. One thing I noticed about all of the services was that the order of service often included instructions for the hymns. For example, we might all sing verse 1 together, then low voices sing verse 2, high voices sing verse 3, and everyone sing again in verse 4. I liked this. It was nice to stand silently through a verse and enjoy listening to other people sing. I could see it in other faces, too. I think it helped us appreciate each other more.

Lunch followed the service. I took my lunch and my instrument to a jam session. Dana, a bass player who had played in a lot of the services and special events, caught up with me. "Are you the jazz guitar player?" "Yes." He invited me to a jam session, and I told him that I was already planning on going. I met him upstairs. It was just the two of us for a while. Before we jammed on anything, he put a piece of music in front of me and asked if I could play it. I kind of showed off by not just playing it, but creating a guitar arrangement on the spot. Okay, I more than "kind of" showed off. Then we played it together. Then he put another piece of music in front of me, and we read through that. Then Dana said, "I might have a gig for you." He was leading a workshop on contemporary music in church services and asked if I wanted to play with the band. "Sure!"

The funny thing is that I had been watching the musicians that most frequently played for the special events. I had been planning on asking someone how I can be one of those musicians next year. Next thing you know, I'm playing a couple numbers with them. Be careful what you wish for! I had a great time playing with the group, I got to take a couple solos, and it was a terrific workshop. I will definitely be in touch with Dana and these other folks to make sure I can do some more playing next year.

The good news is that I got to play in that workshop. The bad news was that it shared the same time slot with a workshop on children's choir technique and repertoire, but here's the great thing about this bunch of people: One woman knew I was interested in the children's choir workshop and expected to see me there. When she saw me setting up for the contemporary music workshop, she realized that I was going to miss the children's choir workshop, so she took extra copies of the music and handouts and gave them to me. That was incredibly thoughtful of her.

Later in the afternoon, we had our final choral repertoire reading session. This session focused on Unitarian Universalist composers, most of whom were at the conference. There were some terrific pieces in that pile of music. When I get back to Atlanta, I'm going to have to make some difficult decisions. I've been exposed to a lot of new choral music, and I've found several pieces that would work well with my choir. Unfortunately, my music budget has limits, and so I'll need to sit down and decide which pieces to order. I guess I'll just have to earmark the rest for later.

The final event of the day was a children's choir concert. I was (and am) exhausted. I was afraid that I would fall asleep during the concert, but those kids sang so well that I couldn't have slept if I had tried. (Well, maybe if I had tried.)

I'm back at the hotel now. As soon as I finish this blog, I'll pack my things so that I can check out quickly tomorrow morning. Our final event is a service tomorrow morning, and then we'll all say our goodbyes. Following that will be a long drive back to Atlanta.

UUMN Conference, Day 3

Another day at the UUMN conference in Dallas. I continue to learn a lot – much more than I could possibly process. I'm glad I'm taking notes! I also learned that handouts from the sessions will eventually be available on the UUMN website, so that'll be helpful.

We started with another service, and then we had an excellent plenary session. By the way, I had to look up "plenary" to learn that a plenary session is a session that everyone can attend. There typically four or five things happening during any given time slot, but nothing else is scheduled during the plenary session. If I learned nothing else today, I know what a plenary session is. Anyway, the plenary session was a good one. The focus was how to use technology to enhance a service rather than just using technology for the sake of using it.

After the plenary session, we had another good choir rehearsal. I am a conductor who stops and starts frequently, which I'm sure exasperates my choir. This conductor does the same thing. Now I know what it feels like to be on the receiving end. That doesn't mean I'll change! It just means that now I know how it feels. (I'm sure my choir members will be amused to read this.)

One of the choir pieces is in German. I can fake my way through Spanish, Latin, and Italian fairly well, but not German! The conductor talked us through it. I made notes as quickly as I could, but I wasn't able to keep up. Fortunately, my roommate is an opera singer who is used to singing in German, and he's agreed to help me with my pronunciation.

I brought my guitar and managed to fit in an hour of practice during lunch. I noticed yesterday that a few others brought instruments and managed to find rooms to hide away to practice a little. (It's a big church.) I followed suit and did the same today. I'm enjoying the conference, but it was nice to have a quiet moment with my guitar. I don't think I'll be practicing on my own tomorrow, though. A piano player spotted me today and remembered from the newcomer introductions that I was a jazz guitarist. He invited me to a jam session tomorrow during lunch. How can I say no to a jam session?

Following lunch, I attended a piano literature workshop. From this workshop, I received information about collections of piano music that work well for services. I'll take that list home and give it to NWUUC's accompanist and to the piano players in the congregation.

After the piano literature workshop, I attended a session by Paul Tucker, our choir director. His talk was about unifying a choir with vowels and relative volume. Frankly, I was out of my depth in this session, but maybe what he told us will make sense after I've had more experience as a choir director. I did pick up a few good tips, but I honestly found myself wishing that I had attended the workshop in creating a musical meditation service, which was going on at the same time. This is why I'm glad that each workshop's handouts will be made available on the UUMN website.

We ended the day with another choir repertoire reading session. We read through a lot of music for advanced choir. There was some challenging music in that batch! It was beyond what our choir can currently handle, but we did read through one piece that I think would be within our reach. Also, I had engraved three of the pieces that we read today. Again, I had to resist the urge to elbow the person next to me and let him know whenever we sang a piece that I engraved.

There is a banquet tonight, but I am just too tired to go. I am absolutely wiped out. I'm going to grab a bite and then turn in early. Tomorrow is a longer day, and I need to rest up.

UUMN Conference, Day 0

I never thought I would actually be excited about going to a conference. I guess there's a first for everything. Tomorrow, I'll be heading to Dallas for the annual UUMN conference. UUMN is the Unitarian Universalist Musicians Network. I've been music director at Northwest Unitarian Universalist Congregation for two years. So far, the job has only been 10 hours a week, which leaves just about enough time to lead a choir and plan music for services. After this summer, the job will increase to 15 hours a week. Most of those five new hours will be devoted to starting up a children's music program, and the rest of the time will be spent on rehearsing a church band.

I'm excited about the new music developments at Northwest, and I'm also feeling the need to expand my own horizons so that I can grow along with my music program. That's why I've been looking forward to this conference. I'm also going to get to see my good friend, Sarah Dan Jones, current president of UUMN and former music director at Northwest UUC. I've engraved some UUMN publications and worked with a couple people over the phone. I'm looking forward to finally meeting them in person.

I'll be updating my blog as I attend the conference. I'm packed, the car is gassed up, and I'm ready to go! Tomorrow is a long travel day. It's 11.5 hours, according to the directions. As long as the traffic is flowing (knock wood), I'll add an extra hour for breaks. Wednesday is when the real fun begins.

Unitarian Real Book

When I was first getting into jazz guitar, I practiced sight-reading by playing through all the Real Book volumes. At first it was slow going, but my sight-reading gradually improved. At this point, I can sight-read just about anything at tempo unless it's a really fast bebop tune.

My piano playing skills are gradually improving, and I'm finding that I'm able to learn new music more quickly. I still can't play anything up to performance tempo, but I'm getting close. Just as it is with guitar, I feel it's crucial for me to sight-read well on piano. One of my main goals is to be able to play hymns for church services, and I also want to be able to cover the piano accompaniment for choir if there is an emergency with our paid accompanist. In both cases, I need to be a good sight-reader.

To develop my sight-reading as a pianist, I'm slowly making my way through the Unitarian Universalist hymnal, Singing the Living Tradition, just as I used the Real Book for jazz guitar. I'm killing two birds with one stone by simultaneously developing my sight-reading skills while learning the hymnal in depth.

At this point, it takes a while to slog my way through a few hymns. This can be frustrating, but I keep reminding myself that this is the way it was when I started reading through the Real Book on guitar. I'll get there. My guess is that I'll feel comfortable making my piano debut in early 2013.

Making It Up (Music Service)

This morning, I led a music service at Northwest Unitarian Universalist Congregation. The service was based around musical improvisation as a form of communication, and I also drew parallels between musical improvisation and Unitarian Universalism. The service was well received, and I owe a debt of thanks to the musicians who helped me out: Thomas Vinton, Yahya Rahmaan, and Steve Weikle.

This was my script for the service. You lose some of the "oomph" without the music, but I hope you still find the words meaningful.

MAKING IT UP (MUSIC SERVICE)
July 22, 2012

Tom Godfrey (worship leader, guitar)
Thomas Vinton (piano)
Steve Weikle (woodwinds)
Yahya Rahman (drums)
Susan Burnore (worship associate)

WELCOME AND ANNOUNCEMENTS (Susan Burnore)

PRELUDE (The Musicians)
Flippin’ Giddy (by Tom Godfrey) [an original composition]

CHALICE LIGHTING (Susan Burnore and Tom Godfrey)
The words for this morning’s chalice lighting come from Ella Fitzgerald. “Forgive me if I don’t have the words. Maybe I can sing it and you’ll understand.”

OPENING WORDS (Tom Godfrey)
I don’t know what’s going to happen this morning. I mean, I have some words printed out, but the heart of this service is musical improvisation. I really don’t know what these other guys are going to play. I don’t know what I’M going to play. We’re just making this up!

OPENING HYMN (The Congregation)
#1003 Where to We Come From?

• Start as regular hymn.
• Group will then start to improvise as we phase out the hymn and have congregation sit.
• We’ll bring in the congregation at the end, singing whichever part they want.

CANDLES OF COMMUNITY (Susan Burnore)

OFFERTORY (The Musicians)
Cutesy Blues (by Tom Godfrey)

REFLECTION (Tom Godfrey)
I love improvising. I used to be afraid to improvise. Actually, sometimes I’m still afraid to improvise, because you just don’t know what’s going to happen next. If you’ve ever been to a jam session, you know that sometimes improvisation is magical, and sometimes…it isn’t. To me, improvisation is a little like stepping off a cliff and trusting that a bridge will appear. I started out as a classical trombone player, where I was trained to play everything “exactly right.” The few times I was forced to improvise, I tended to shut down. I was so used to playing whatever I saw on the page that I didn’t know what to do if I actually had to come up with something on my own.

Back in the ‘90s, I was a trombone player in an Air Force band. It was a good job, but I developed a muscle tear in my upper lip and lost the ability to play trombone. Musically and socially, I shut down for nearly 10 years. I worked as a music copyist, but I couldn’t play the trombone, and I didn’t sing in public. A few years ago, my ex, Katherine, got tired of hearing me talking about wanting to learn to play the guitar all the time, so she bought me one. It was the best gift I’ve ever received. Playing a new instrument reignited my passion for music. Despite my classical background, I gravitated toward jazz guitar, and I eventually started learning to improvise. And I loved it! That’s not to say that I was good at it right away. I was terrible. But I didn’t care. I wasn’t afraid to be terrible. I wasn’t afraid to make mistakes. I just wanted to explore.

Now, I don’t believe in fate. I only believe in coincidence. Still, it’s an interesting coincidence that I started becoming more of a musical explorer around the same time I discovered Unitarian Universalism, which encourages spiritual exploration.

This morning, we’ll be exploring musical improvisation as a way of communicating, and I’ll even draw some similarities between improvisation and Unitarian Universalism. Lucky for you, I’m a musician and not much of a talker. I’ll just make a few points and then, like Ella said, “Maybe I can sing it and you’ll understand.”

MUSIC FOR ALL AGES (Tom Godfrey and Thomas Vinton) [This took the place of the usual children's story.]
The Blues
Does anybody know what it means to have the blues? If I say that I have the blues, it means I’m feeling a little sad. The blues is also a kind of music. It started back when we had slavery in this country. Many of the slaves had to work very hard in the fields, and they sang work songs that helped make the day go a little faster. Over time, these work songs changed into what we call the blues. Lots of times, blues songs tell a sad story. Sometimes they’ll tell a happy story, too, but usually it’s sad stories. The funny thing about singing the blues is that it can make you happy. It might seem strange that singing a sad song can make you happy. If something makes you sad or angry and you hold it inside, your bad feelings can grow and grow, but if you let them out and let someone know how you’re feeling, you can suddenly feel better. I think that singing a blues song can make you happy because singing is a way of letting the sadness out.

This morning, we’re going to sing your sad stories. Think of something that makes you sad…or happy. I’ll give you an example. You may not believe it, but I used to have a full head of hair. “I woke up this morning, all my hair went away. Woke up this morning, all my hair went away. I’m so sad and lonely, had to put my comb away.”

Now it’s your turn. What makes you sad? Mad? Happy? What’s fun? What’s boring? [We will take whatever the children give us, and Thomas Vinton will use it to improvise a blues song.] [This was one of the highlights of the service.]

MAKING IT UP (Tom Godfrey)
I think of musical improvisation as a conversation. Just as with any other worthwhile conversation, you need a common language, a willingness to listen, and some rules of engagement. A common language, a willingness to listen, and rules of engagement. Once these three things are in place, the conversation can go anywhere. In a musical conversation, there are certain rules, or at least conventions. Depending on what instruments we play, we each have a sense of what role we’ll be playing within the group. This particular bunch of musicians doesn’t play together on a regular basis. I play with Thomas and Yahya, and I’ve played with Steve, but Thomas and Yayha don’t play with Steve, and the four of us have all played together exactly one time. Despite that, there are certain assumptions or expectations that we have of each other. Let’s take the blues, for example, something we just did with the kids. The blues is such a fundamental part of American popular music that almost every musician can play a basic blues. So let’s say a rock player, a country picker, and a jazzer walk into a bar. (No, this is not a joke.) If you have them all sit down and just say, let’s play a blues in G, chances are they’re going to be able to come up with something.
[MUSICIANS PLAY ALL BLUES]

Aside from the blues, there are other musical conventions in the jazz world that we call standards. A jazz standard is simply a song that most jazz musicians know. The beauty of a jazz standard is that even though everyone has the same basic information in the form of chords and melody, we are all free to interpret the information in our own way. For example.
[MUSICIANS PLAY FLY ME TO THE MOON, swing. FLY ME TO THE MOON as a Waltz.]

Again, we are all free to interpret the information in our own way. There’s a religious parallel. People can interpret the same religious texts in radically different ways depending on what they already bring to the table or how they were raised. One Christian may use the Bible to justify a war. Another Christian may be inspired by the same book to love his neighbor, and may even extend his definition of a “neighbor” to include people from all over the world. One Muslim may use the Koran as a guide for living a peaceful, harmonious life, and another may use the same book to justify a suicide bombing. That’s about as heavy as I’m going to get today. I’m just a musician. You can reflect on religious parallels while we interpret “Fly Me to the Moon” a third way.
[MUSICIANS PLAY FLY ME TO THE MOON as a Bossa Nova]

Wynton Marsalis might be a closet UU. He said, “As long as there is democracy, there will be people wanting to play jazz because nothing else will perfectly capture the democratic process in sound. Jazz means working things out musically with people. You have to listen to other musicians and play with them even if you don’t agree with what they’re playing.” Does that theme sound familiar? “You have to listen to other musicians and play with them even if you don’t agree with what they’re playing.”

This church has offered a class called Building Your Own Theology. Well, we’re going to build our own song. I have no idea what’s going to happen here, but whatever we play, it’ll be the result of listening to each other’s ideas, trusting each other, and building on what we hear. I’ll start off with a riff. Yahya will have to put a beat to it, while Thomas and Steve will have to figure out what key it’s in, and we’ll take it from there. We’ll step off the cliff and trust that a bridge will appear.
[MUSICIANS PLAY FREE IMPROVISATION]

We have our most meaningful musical conversations when we can establish common ground, when we listen to each other, when we work to understand each other’s ideas, and when we trust. As UUs, we have our most meaningful conversations when we can establish common ground, when we listen to each other, when we work to understand each other’s ideas, and when we trust.

Please rise in body and spirit as we sing…

CLOSING HYMN
#346 Come, Sing a Song with Me

POSTLUDE
Come, Sing a Song with Me (continues as an instrumental jam) [The postlude usually functions as exit music. We continued jamming over this hymn, letting the congregation know they were free to go to the lobby or stay and enjoy the jam. About half left and half stayed. One couple even started dancing!]