Posts with the category “music-notes”

For all of the glorious music making I've been privileged to experience—in concert halls, opera stages, jam sessions, and recording studios across the globe—it all began around 1996 in the McGinness Room. Of course, I was the beneficiary of my mom's Mozartian wisdom (and elementary piano lessons) from birth; but my very first collaborative musical experience was right here at MLUC about a year bef...  Read More

Well beyond my Sunday school years—hearing murmurs of a "partner church" in the mysterious land of Transylvania—but well before I would ever travel as an MLUC pilgrim, Kaitlyn and I were visiting artists with the Csik Chamber Orchestra in the Szeklerland region of Transylvania in 2013. A chaotic period of my life, I had just finished my master's degree (that same week, actually), was looking for a...  Read More

If you've ever knocked doors for a cause or candidate, you've given pause to the sign that says, "No Soliciting." Perhaps it's signage expressing an antithetical viewpoint, or even a private-looking gate or porch that you must cross to ring the doorbell. In this situation, I remind myself of my favorite adage—"I'd rather ask for forgiveness than permission"—and step up to the door. For me, this is...  Read More

How fitting that we conclude the 2024 Holiday Season with Hanukkah, the Festival of Lights. We have spent the month exploring illumination—both the literal return of sunlight following the Winter Solstice, and the metaphorical light we seek in the darkness of hatred, bigotry, and greed that defines our new political reality. The allegorical, daily, additive light of the menorah notwithstanding, Je...  Read More

Do you ever wonder why music sounds the way it does?On the surface, it's a funny thought experiment. But why, for example, do we have . . . say . . . orchestras? String quartets? Jazz or rock bands? Or the particular instruments that we know? The melodies and harmonies? Scales, keys, rhythms, and meters?Not unlike the theory of evolution that explains the emergence of our species—from single-cellu...  Read More

The trajectory from darkness to light is a philosophical throughline of music history. Out of murkiness, turbulence, and minor key emerges the iconic "Ode to Joy" in Beethoven's Symphony No. 9. From the harrowing, musical manifestations of grief upon the loss of both his wife and mentor, respectively, Joseph Suk composes a bright, serene, "heavenly" final movement to his Asrael Symphony. Camille S...  Read More

When is it appropriate to start celebrating Christmas?Are you one of the no-Christmas-till-after-Thanksgiving people? A casual, put-up-the-tree-the-week-before person? Or do you get excited to see Santas and garlands appearing in retailers before Halloween? If you knew nothing about me but my heritage, my theology, and my affinity for celebrating each respective holiday, you might have been surpri...  Read More

"That is one sparkly shirt... and some really tight, leather pants!" I thought as the bandleader joined us on stage of the Ocean City, NJ Music Pier on New Year's Eve, 2002. TV cameras were rolling, and I felt–apropos of the venue–utterly like a fish out of water. Only 13 years old at the time, I was a five-year pupil of classical violin study, standing on stage with my brand-new Yamaha Silent Ser...  Read More

"I'm thankful for video games."Were you a guest at the Brown Family Thanksgiving dinner table, you would be surprised and somewhat disenchanted to hear this inevitable, annual, and astoundingly trivial refrain. You might like to think better of us reflective UUs! For sure, I enjoy Mario, Zelda, and Minecraft as much as the next millennial . . . but of course, the whole thing is a joke. Growing up,...  Read More

A lot of us are feeling broken right now. Broken by the dominance of fear and hatred in our country. By despair in the face of malevolent promises reinforced by a selfish few beneficiaries in power. By profound empathy for vulnerable communities targeted by opportunistic cruelty. But when I'm feeling broken, I listen to Johannes Brahms.  Read More

Now that I have your attention with this confusing picture of me holding the wrong instrument:Please join us to sing in the Multigenerational Choir at our first rehearsal this Sunday after the service in the Main Meeting Room at 11:30 a.m. We will be preparing for our Thanksgiving Service on 11/24, including two more rehearsals on 11/17 at 11:30 a.m. and 11/24 itself at 9:00 a.m. Participants of a...  Read More