We are living in unprecedented times. I'm sure you've seen and read news stories about people singing together from their balconies, or neighbors enjoying front yard concerts, or famous artists (and not-so-famous ones too) broadcasting live from their living rooms. Take a moment to reflect on how music is helping everyone manage their emotions and bringing a glimmer of hope and joy to humanity. I'm one of the lucky musicians since my church job and teaching jobs did not go away with this crisis. But all my gigging and touring musician friends are suddenly completely out of work. Some of them are doing fundraising concerts or creating Patreon.com pages to help support themselves while they are unable to play in public. Show a freelance musician some love next time you have the opportunity.
I hope you have been participating in our new online worship services. It's been quite an adventure getting those services up and running, but we're all working together, each person bringing their expertise and special gifts to the situation. I really miss being with the choir and creating music collaboratively. But in the coming weeks you will hear from many of our musicians, one way or another, in the worship services. The choir continues to "rehearse" on Thursday nights, but we are unable to hear each other singing together. Each person has to sing with their computer microphone muted because of the time delay inherent in Internet connections. So, we only hear ourselves singing. But we are using our choir rehearsal time to support each other in community, plus work on our music theory skills, drill difficult musical sections, and do some deep listening of choral music recordings.
This month's Volunteer Spotlight is on Steve Morihiro (again). His computer expertise and calm presence has helped us all create meaningful and as-seamless-as-humanly possible worship services. Steve has spent many hours training people, researching solutions, setting up technology, and creating detailed written instructions for staff and volunteers. Steve works behind the scenes during the worship services, managing the audio and troubleshooting computer issues of the presenters. Thanks, Steve, for helping us launch our online services with such grace and care.
May music continue to provide you solace, entertainment, and joy as it is the soundtrack to this unusual life of ours. In the words of Dan Berrgren, "Be safe, be well, you mean the world to me."
Musically Yours,
Beth Syverson
Director of Music Ministries
MusicDirector@ocuuc.org
Beth Syverson was Orange Coast Unitarian Universalist Church's Director of Music Ministries for 22 years.