MusicUnited.ca

Music United, who held their Annual Meeting right before Worship Matters in June, held one of the most productive meetings in some time — mainly because last year there was no Annual Meeting, as the Worship Matter events were regional. This latest news is being written in June, just following the national Worship Matters event in Ottawa. It is important to share this news,with as many congregational music leaders as possible. By virtue of their music-leading activities in congregations, they are members of Music United – although many are not aware of it.

The first piece of news is the name – the United Church of Canada Association of Musicians, more commonly known as UCCAM, has officially renamed itself Music United. Information about the organization, its history, and activities is being updated on this website, so visit regularly and find out what the Executive Committee are up to. Please leave a message so that your visit can be noted and your membership can be acknowledged.

The fact of the matter is that there are several thousand church musicians providing music leadership in United Church congregations across Canada. Providing a network, resources and assistance to its entire membership continues to be a primary goal and challenge for Music United. This has never been easy, but given the ease of contemporary means of electronic communication, the potential for creating a viable network of far-flung members has never been greater.

Here is a list of Music United’s new Executive Committee and its Regional Convenors, those regions still based on Conference boundaries. Future plans are to appoint Presbytery Representatives, in an attempt to broaden the network and establish closer contact with all the musicians working in every congregation.

Executive:

Chair: David Melhorn-Boe

Immediate Past Chair: Fran Pollet

Vice-Chair: Lynn Boothroyd

Secretary/Treasurer: Nancy Handrigan

Communications: Lloyd MacLean

Program Coordinator: Carol Zacharias

Member-at-Large: Lois Cossar

Member-at-Large Emeritus: Fred Graham

Convenors:

British Columbia: Fran Pollet

Alberta-Northwest: Joanne Melvin

Saskatchewan: Clayton Braybrook

Manitoba-Northwestern Ontario: Carol Zacharias

Manitou: David Melhorn-Boe

London: Sandra Young-Tangjerd

Hamilton: Nancy Handrigan

Toronto: John Joseph Mastandrea

Bay of Quinte: Lois Cossar

Montreal-Ottawa: Joan Henry

Maritime: Chris Bowman

Newfoundland & Labrador: Sid Woolfrey

All Native Circle Conference: vacant

hj.hopkins@sympatico.ca

The choir of Zion-Memorial United Church, Carleton Place,

Ontario, has received a gift of new choir gowns. We would like to give

our existing gowns to a choir, or choirs, who need them. We have 40 red

gowns with white stoles, in good repair and in a number of sizes that we

can send if recipients can cover the cost of shipping.

Janice Hopkins reports that the choir gowns they had to give away

are now on their way to Africa, via the USA.

Great news, the network is working!

Rev. Dr. William Kervin in a sermon "The Breath of Life" at the RCCO College Service in First Presbyterian Church, Edmonton, last August (2008), started off with:

  " 'The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it.' (John 3:8) – not a bad definition of a cipher." He quoted the Episcopal preacher Barbara Brown Taylor who says: "All the air that ever was is all contained within the sealed atmosphere of this fragile blue planet. The same ancient air just keeps re-circulating."

Bill continued: "We are sharing in the primordial, the breath of God, which is also the breath of extinct dinosaurs, and was somewhere, a baby's first breath, and someone's dying breath. Right now, you are sharing the air of Miriam dancing and Mozart making music – which is the same air that speaks from the mouth of a pipe when you press down on the key…. It's all connected. It is 'inspiring'."

He suggested that "church musicians are the Lungs of the Church, the 'pneumatic organs' in the Body of Christ. And the people of God need skilled and sensitive musicians to help us breathe more deeply God's breath of life in our worship and our work…Doesn't it feel good to be….breathing together with peoples of other cultures and contexts in a diversity of musical styles and genres, metaphors and languages? This is how church musicians can help the Body of Christ increase its lung capacity, and help us breathe more deeply and broadly God's breath of life."

Baritone Christopher Bowman and pianist David Chafe are thrilled to announce that their

debut CD 'Over Hill and Valley' has just been awarded "Classical Recording of the Year"

at Nova Scotia Music Week 2008.  'Over Hill and Valley'is now a multiple award winning

disc – Christopher and David were awarded "2007 Classical Artists of the Year" by Music

Newfoundland and Labrador.  They were unable to attend the awards ceremony in Pictou County

this past weekend, as Chris was busy with the Halifax Camerata Singers recording a CBC "Choral

Concert" broadcast (to be aired on Radio 2 on November 16th), and David was in Gander, NL, where

his latest CD of Christmas music was nominated for a Music NL award (such is the life of busy

musicians!).

Christopher and David would like to thank Music Nova Scotia and its members for this honour! 

They are absolutely delighted by this recognition and look forward to their next concert collaboration

early in 2009. 

'Over Hill and Valley' features two song cycles – the beloved "Songs of Travel" by Ralph Vaughan

Williams and Gerald Finzi's beautiful work "Earth and Air and Rain". 

If you would like to purchase a copy of this award-winning CD, please contact Christopher Bowman

at cjbowman@eastlink.ca or David Chafe at dbchafe@gmail.com.  You can also visit www.davidchafe.ca

to listen to audio samples from the CD.  Tracks from 'Over Hill and Valley' are also proving to be

a popular digital download on iTunes.  Stay tuned for the latest information about additional 

availability and upcoming performances.  Christopher and David sincerely appreciate your continuing

support.

Media coverage of "Over Hill and Valley" and Music Nova Scotia:

Halifax Chronicle Herald, November 10, 2008:  http://thechronicleherald.ca/ArtsLife/1089540.html

Music Nova Scotia website:  http://musicnovascotia.ca/News%20Articles/Attachments/Brunch.pdf

Nomination announcement, Truro Daily News:  http://www.trurodaily.com/index.cfm?sid=180813&sc=68