1 00:00:29,760 --> 00:00:32,840 This monthly program offers an opportunity to hear 2 00:00:32,880 --> 00:00:36,159 from experienced expert guest speakers on topics 3 00:00:36,159 --> 00:00:39,920 of interest to congregational leaders, that's you, and to 4 00:00:39,960 --> 00:00:43,320 be in conversation both with them and with one another about 5 00:00:43,320 --> 00:00:46,600 what we're noticing in our own congregations, and 6 00:00:46,600 --> 00:00:50,560 you can definitely expect a lively discussion each month. 7 00:00:50,640 --> 00:00:53,799 We do record these meetings and post them 8 00:00:53,799 --> 00:00:56,560 on our website for those who want to access them later. 9 00:00:56,640 --> 00:00:59,640 The video doesn't include the time we spend in 10 00:00:59,640 --> 00:01:03,240 breakout rooms that just focuses on our speakers. 11 00:01:03,280 --> 00:01:07,000 So let yourself settle in and get comfortable. 12 00:01:07,079 --> 00:01:09,079 Welcome, welcome. 13 00:01:10,239 --> 00:01:12,239 My name is Lauren Wyeth. 14 00:01:12,359 --> 00:01:15,599 My pronouns are she or they, and I'm 15 00:01:15,599 --> 00:01:19,120 a white person in my mid 50s with wavy blondish 16 00:01:19,120 --> 00:01:23,719 brown hair about to my shoulders, and I'm wearing tortoise shell glasses. 17 00:01:23,799 --> 00:01:27,439 I have white skin, that's a 18 00:01:27,480 --> 00:01:30,599 little bit pink from the sun this afternoon, and 19 00:01:30,599 --> 00:01:34,840 I am sitting in front of, uh, pinkish 20 00:01:34,840 --> 00:01:38,680 colored wall with a bookcase with a chalice atop 21 00:01:38,680 --> 00:01:41,840 it over one shoulder, and a bulletin board, 22 00:01:41,879 --> 00:01:45,760 with a watercolor heart on it over the other shoulder. 23 00:01:45,840 --> 00:01:49,359 I'm coming to you from Minneapolis, 24 00:01:49,359 --> 00:01:55,359 Minnesota, my home, um, office in the attic of my South Minneapolis house. 25 00:01:55,439 --> 00:01:58,480 And I serve on the congregational life 26 00:01:58,480 --> 00:02:03,040 staff of the Mid-America region as a consultant to our large congregation. 27 00:02:03,120 --> 00:02:06,239 Large congregations and our, 28 00:02:06,840 --> 00:02:09,000 as the faith development specialist for our region. 29 00:02:09,039 --> 00:02:12,520 Tonight's gathering 30 00:02:12,520 --> 00:02:15,800 is an opportunity for us all to practice some of the 31 00:02:15,840 --> 00:02:21,000 key leadership skills that are essential for these times just in the way that we are with one another. 32 00:02:21,039 --> 00:02:26,120 So we ask that you lean into those skills and your interactions with others this evening. 33 00:02:26,199 --> 00:02:29,199 And we suggest the following group norms, 34 00:02:29,199 --> 00:02:33,560 which you'll find pasted in the chat thanks to our tech host, Ritoo. 35 00:02:33,639 --> 00:02:36,759 We suggest that, 36 00:02:36,759 --> 00:02:40,360 um, we have a norm of taking care of 37 00:02:40,360 --> 00:02:43,960 ourselves in whatever way that means having your 38 00:02:43,960 --> 00:02:47,240 video on or off, stepping away when you need to, getting 39 00:02:47,879 --> 00:02:51,120 a little dinner while you're here, um, whatever 40 00:02:51,120 --> 00:02:54,840 it takes for you to be comfortable and well in the space, 41 00:02:54,840 --> 00:02:59,319 know that that is, um, encouraged and supported by all of us. 42 00:02:59,400 --> 00:03:02,439 We invite you to share by choice and 43 00:03:02,439 --> 00:03:05,479 remind you that it's always okay to pass or pause. 44 00:03:05,560 --> 00:03:08,560 Um, particularly when we're in the 45 00:03:08,560 --> 00:03:12,039 breakout rooms, we invite you to be thoughtful about 46 00:03:12,039 --> 00:03:15,680 sharing the time with the others who are there with you 47 00:03:15,719 --> 00:03:18,280 and speaking from your own experience. 48 00:03:18,520 --> 00:03:21,159 There will be multiple perspectives. 49 00:03:21,240 --> 00:03:23,240 That is part of the richness of this space. 50 00:03:23,280 --> 00:03:26,280 We make the 51 00:03:26,280 --> 00:03:29,439 intention of pausing for repair as needed. 52 00:03:29,520 --> 00:03:32,919 And also making room for joy and for laughter, 53 00:03:32,919 --> 00:03:36,639 for music if it should well up for curiosity, growth, 54 00:03:36,639 --> 00:03:38,680 sadness, silence. 55 00:03:38,759 --> 00:03:40,759 All of these are welcome here this evening. 56 00:03:40,759 --> 00:03:43,960 And we honor confidentiality, 57 00:03:43,960 --> 00:03:47,319 particularly with what is shared in the breakout groups. 58 00:03:47,439 --> 00:03:50,960 Our tech hosts this evening, 59 00:03:51,000 --> 00:03:54,159 and most evenings is Ritoo Chaturvedi, and 60 00:03:54,159 --> 00:03:59,360 my colleague QuianaDanae Perkins and I are your co-hosts for this monthly program. 61 00:03:59,439 --> 00:04:02,479 This month's guest facilitator is 62 00:04:02,520 --> 00:04:04,520 our colleague, Hilary Allen. 63 00:04:04,759 --> 00:04:08,800 Hilary is a congregational life consultant serving the New England region. 64 00:04:08,879 --> 00:04:11,879 And our guest speakers this evening are 65 00:04:11,879 --> 00:04:15,599 Paolo Debuque, and Jen Hayman. 66 00:04:15,639 --> 00:04:18,759 Both incredible leaders within and beyond UU 67 00:04:18,759 --> 00:04:21,560 congregations, whose medium is music and song. 68 00:04:21,639 --> 00:04:23,639 And so much fun. 69 00:04:23,639 --> 00:04:29,000 This promises to be a really rich conversation and we're so glad that you've joined us. 70 00:04:29,079 --> 00:04:32,000 And with that, I'll pass it to you, QuianaDanae. 71 00:04:32,160 --> 00:04:33,720 Hmm. 72 00:04:33,720 --> 00:04:36,360 Hi friends, my name is QuianaDenae. 73 00:04:36,399 --> 00:04:39,800 It's always both parts like Linda and our, um, Linda 74 00:04:39,839 --> 00:04:42,240 Anna, like Marianne or LindaSusan. 75 00:04:42,279 --> 00:04:44,600 I am physically in Ann Arbor, Michigan. 76 00:04:44,680 --> 00:04:46,680 I am an African-American woman. 77 00:04:46,680 --> 00:04:50,000 These glasses are about an hour old, so I'm still figuring them out. 78 00:04:50,079 --> 00:04:52,079 I think the red reddish turtle shell. 79 00:04:52,079 --> 00:04:54,160 My pronouns are she and her. 80 00:04:54,240 --> 00:04:56,240 I have on a headband. 81 00:04:56,240 --> 00:04:58,199 Uh black jacket and a black shirt. 82 00:04:58,240 --> 00:05:01,360 My jacket says Made in the Midwest, and I have long black 83 00:05:01,360 --> 00:05:03,759 locks flowing off to the side. 84 00:05:03,839 --> 00:05:08,040 Um, so tonight's agenda is going to be in the chat. 85 00:05:08,079 --> 00:05:11,199 So we're gonna have, um, the welcome, a 86 00:05:11,199 --> 00:05:14,120 little bit of grounding, check in in your breakout groups. 87 00:05:14,199 --> 00:05:17,360 We're going to have some time with our speakers, some 88 00:05:17,399 --> 00:05:20,639 discussion and breakout groups, Q and A, and then we'll close out the evening. 89 00:05:20,680 --> 00:05:23,920 Before we dive into our programming. 90 00:05:24,000 --> 00:05:27,519 We want to give you a sense of this evening's agenda. 91 00:05:27,600 --> 00:05:31,920 Coming up next, we'll take a few minutes to light our chalice and ground ourselves. 92 00:05:31,959 --> 00:05:35,240 Then we'll take time to reflect on what's going on in 93 00:05:35,279 --> 00:05:39,040 our own congregations before introducing ourselves in small breakout groups. 94 00:05:39,120 --> 00:05:42,959 When we come back together, we will hear from our guests for about half an hour. 95 00:05:43,000 --> 00:05:48,879 Following the conversation, we will have a chance to process what's been heard in the breakout groups. 96 00:05:48,959 --> 00:05:53,199 Um, and then after, and then again before having some time. 97 00:05:53,279 --> 00:05:56,439 I'm sorry, we'll have a chance to process in the breakout 98 00:05:56,439 --> 00:05:59,920 groups, um, again, before having um, Q and 99 00:05:59,920 --> 00:06:03,319 A time with our guest speakers, and we'll close our time together at 9 100 00:06:03,360 --> 00:06:06,279 ET or 6 PT, depending on your time zone. 101 00:06:06,720 --> 00:06:11,199 And I'm going to turn it back to our friend Lauren to light our chalice. 102 00:06:11,279 --> 00:06:14,680 Thanks, QuianaDenae tonight. 103 00:06:14,720 --> 00:06:18,240 We have some words 104 00:06:18,279 --> 00:06:22,839 in a minute that I'll read from, uh, the Reverend Ashley Horan. 105 00:06:22,920 --> 00:06:26,040 Our colleague, 106 00:06:26,040 --> 00:06:29,439 um, At the UUA, 107 00:06:29,439 --> 00:06:32,480 but also our neighbor here in Minneapolis. 108 00:06:32,560 --> 00:06:35,600 Um, and she 109 00:06:35,639 --> 00:06:39,040 wrote these community beatitudes that you'll 110 00:06:39,040 --> 00:06:41,560 also find in the chat. 111 00:06:41,639 --> 00:06:46,920 Blessed are the immigrants, for they shall call home into being. 112 00:06:47,040 --> 00:06:51,639 Blessed are the observers, for they shall bear witness to truth. 113 00:06:51,720 --> 00:06:54,759 Blessed are the song leaders, 114 00:06:54,759 --> 00:06:57,199 for they shall raise voices in hope. 115 00:06:57,279 --> 00:07:00,279 Blessed are the educators, 116 00:07:00,279 --> 00:07:02,480 for they shall shield children with care. 117 00:07:02,560 --> 00:07:06,160 Blessed are the students, for they shall be beacons of courage. 118 00:07:06,240 --> 00:07:09,240 Blessed are the artists, for they 119 00:07:09,240 --> 00:07:12,040 shall capture the beauty of our power and grief. 120 00:07:12,120 --> 00:07:16,920 Blessed are the faith leaders, for they shall proclaim our morality. 121 00:07:16,959 --> 00:07:20,120 Blessed are the marshals, for 122 00:07:20,160 --> 00:07:22,839 they shall protect our paths toward freedom. 123 00:07:22,920 --> 00:07:28,319 Blessed are the independent journalists, for they shall shine light on reality. 124 00:07:28,360 --> 00:07:33,439 Blessed are the fundraisers, for they shall make miracles manifest. 125 00:07:33,600 --> 00:07:38,800 Blessed are the grocery shoppers, for they shall nourish our resistance. 126 00:07:38,920 --> 00:07:43,399 Blessed are the street medics, for they shall tend to our holy flesh. 127 00:07:43,560 --> 00:07:46,600 Blessed are the body workers, 128 00:07:46,600 --> 00:07:49,240 for they shall bring grounding and balance. 129 00:07:49,319 --> 00:07:52,439 Blessed are the organizers, for they 130 00:07:52,439 --> 00:07:54,480 shall channel despair into action. 131 00:07:54,519 --> 00:07:59,480 Blessed are the block captains, for they shall weave neighbors into networks. 132 00:07:59,560 --> 00:08:02,800 Blessed are the movement veterans, for 133 00:08:02,800 --> 00:08:04,959 they shall share the wisdom of history. 134 00:08:05,040 --> 00:08:10,120 Blessed are the newly awakened, for they shall be welcomed with joy. 135 00:08:10,199 --> 00:08:13,199 Blessed are all who hunger and 136 00:08:13,199 --> 00:08:17,319 thirst for liberation, for we shall inherit the future. 137 00:08:23,519 --> 00:08:27,160 I hope you heard yourself blessed in those words, and 138 00:08:27,160 --> 00:08:30,439 those you love, blessed, and reflected in those words. 139 00:08:32,679 --> 00:08:36,039 Next, we'll be heading into breakout groups 140 00:08:36,039 --> 00:08:38,840 of about 4 people for about 10 minutes. 141 00:08:38,919 --> 00:08:41,960 You'll find the breakout group prompt in the 142 00:08:41,960 --> 00:08:44,279 chat in your breakout groups, 143 00:08:44,360 --> 00:08:47,960 each person will respond to the prompts for round one, sharing 144 00:08:47,960 --> 00:08:52,320 name, pronouns, congregation, and a theme, then go 145 00:08:52,360 --> 00:08:56,480 around the 2nd time with each responding to the prompt for round two. 146 00:08:56,559 --> 00:08:59,840 Share a time when music was a source of strength. 147 00:08:59,919 --> 00:09:03,679 Um, release, healing or hope for you. 148 00:09:03,759 --> 00:09:08,080 Just, uh, take just a minute for each person in each round. 149 00:09:08,120 --> 00:09:11,279 Ritoo will send us into breakout groups now. 150 00:09:13,200 --> 00:09:15,200 So hi again, everyone. 151 00:09:15,200 --> 00:09:16,480 My name is Hilary Allen. 152 00:09:16,559 --> 00:09:18,720 You can use she her pronouns for me. 153 00:09:18,759 --> 00:09:21,639 I am a middle-aged white woman. 154 00:09:21,639 --> 00:09:24,759 With chin length curly brown hair. 155 00:09:24,840 --> 00:09:28,240 I'm wearing clear glasses and a bright green shirt. 156 00:09:28,320 --> 00:09:33,039 And I have the honor of being the facilitator for tonight's conversation. 157 00:09:33,120 --> 00:09:36,960 I'm going to introduce our speakers in just a moment. 158 00:09:37,000 --> 00:09:40,360 For those of you, I don't know on one of the congregational life field 159 00:09:40,360 --> 00:09:43,960 staff in our New England region of the UUA, 160 00:09:43,960 --> 00:09:49,240 and I'm coming to you tonight from my home in Boston, where the sun is just setting. 161 00:09:49,320 --> 00:09:52,799 So uh, 162 00:09:52,799 --> 00:09:55,799 let me tell you a little bit more about Jen and Paolo. 163 00:09:55,840 --> 00:09:57,840 So Jen Hayman. 164 00:09:57,840 --> 00:10:01,120 She, her is a Thai American choral conductor, 165 00:10:01,120 --> 00:10:05,120 educator, singer, and pianist, who believes 166 00:10:05,159 --> 00:10:07,840 in the power of music to change lives and culture. 167 00:10:07,919 --> 00:10:10,919 Jen has nearly 20 years of 168 00:10:10,919 --> 00:10:13,320 experience in progressive religious spaces. 169 00:10:13,360 --> 00:10:16,639 She served our congregations in Philadelphia, 170 00:10:16,679 --> 00:10:21,120 Arlington, Virginia, Cambridge, Massachusetts, Washington, 171 00:10:21,120 --> 00:10:23,279 DC, and now Silver Spring, Maryland. 172 00:10:23,320 --> 00:10:26,320 Jen is currently president 173 00:10:26,320 --> 00:10:30,159 of AUUMM, our association for UU Music Ministries. 174 00:10:30,240 --> 00:10:34,240 And she's also the director of the women's vocal group bēheld. 175 00:10:34,320 --> 00:10:37,720 Really, check them out if you haven't already. 176 00:10:37,799 --> 00:10:41,879 And the newly formed Social Justice Youth Chorus, Sound and Vision. 177 00:10:41,919 --> 00:10:44,960 So we'll also be 178 00:10:45,000 --> 00:10:48,840 hearing from Paolo Debuque, who is a Filipino 179 00:10:48,840 --> 00:10:54,159 and Chinese American conductor, dedicated to music as a liberation practice. 180 00:10:54,240 --> 00:10:57,399 He's a founding artistic director 181 00:10:57,399 --> 00:11:00,799 of a 1000 tongues, which is uplifting 182 00:11:00,840 --> 00:11:03,000 Asian-American experiences through music and story. 183 00:11:03,039 --> 00:11:06,559 As well as artistic director of Caritas 184 00:11:06,600 --> 00:11:09,720 vocal ensemble, serving the community through song. 185 00:11:09,759 --> 00:11:12,799 Paolo also serves as director of music 186 00:11:12,840 --> 00:11:15,360 at First Universalist Church in Minneapolis. 187 00:11:15,399 --> 00:11:19,000 And he served on the coral faculty of St. 188 00:11:19,000 --> 00:11:22,960 Olaf College, and is currently pursuing a doctor of 189 00:11:22,960 --> 00:11:25,879 musical arts in conducting at the University of Minnesota. 190 00:11:26,039 --> 00:11:29,039 So I'm going to pose some questions 191 00:11:29,039 --> 00:11:33,120 to Jen and Paolo, we're basically just gonna have a conversation. 192 00:11:33,159 --> 00:11:36,759 Um, We ask that you stay muted 193 00:11:36,759 --> 00:11:40,120 for this part of the call and, um, you'll be able to engage 194 00:11:40,120 --> 00:11:43,159 with each other again, uh, and break out rooms. 195 00:11:43,320 --> 00:11:46,440 In about half an hour from now. 196 00:11:46,480 --> 00:11:49,759 And also as we go, please feel free to 197 00:11:49,799 --> 00:11:54,519 throw questions into the Q and A, um, or the chat. 198 00:11:54,600 --> 00:11:57,279 would love to know what's sort of sparking for you as we talk. 199 00:11:57,360 --> 00:12:02,200 So, just to begin, uh, we had, 200 00:12:03,480 --> 00:12:05,480 In our marketing for tonight. 201 00:12:05,480 --> 00:12:07,840 Described this event 202 00:12:07,840 --> 00:12:11,840 as, uh, exploring music in the key of liberation. 203 00:12:11,919 --> 00:12:15,200 And so, that's where we want to start, 204 00:12:15,240 --> 00:12:18,840 is about the liberatory potential of music, how 205 00:12:18,840 --> 00:12:23,440 it can galvanize communities, um, communities 206 00:12:23,440 --> 00:12:26,600 that have a wide variety of values and intentions. 207 00:12:26,679 --> 00:12:29,919 So, uh, come 208 00:12:29,919 --> 00:12:33,759 to you first, Paolo, when is music liberational? 209 00:12:33,759 --> 00:12:35,759 And when is it not? 210 00:12:35,759 --> 00:12:37,799 When is it liberatory and when is it not? 211 00:12:37,840 --> 00:12:41,720 Man, heavy hitter. 212 00:12:41,799 --> 00:12:45,279 Um, hi, everyone, I'm Paolo. 213 00:12:45,360 --> 00:12:48,360 I'm, I'm Asian American, uh, guy 214 00:12:48,360 --> 00:12:52,200 in his 30s, uh, short black hair, black 215 00:12:52,200 --> 00:12:55,960 glasses, and I'm sitting in front of a beautiful, 216 00:12:55,960 --> 00:12:59,799 uh, array of of paintings collected by my partner, 217 00:12:59,799 --> 00:13:02,840 um, who's kindly allowing me to use her office. 218 00:13:02,919 --> 00:13:07,600 Um, I 219 00:13:07,600 --> 00:13:10,840 mean, liberation is such an awesome keyword in that 220 00:13:10,840 --> 00:13:13,519 it's really powerful and like pretty vague. 221 00:13:13,600 --> 00:13:16,720 Um, but when I think of liberation 222 00:13:16,720 --> 00:13:22,960 in a musical context, I think of, uh, music, 223 00:13:22,960 --> 00:13:26,840 music that has the power to connect people to themselves, 224 00:13:26,879 --> 00:13:31,600 uh, to affirm, affirm 225 00:13:31,600 --> 00:13:35,679 people's own identity and worth 226 00:13:35,679 --> 00:13:39,080 and all of these things, uh. 227 00:13:40,080 --> 00:13:43,240 As opposed to music that is not liberational, 228 00:13:43,240 --> 00:13:46,639 that reinforces social hierarchies 229 00:13:46,679 --> 00:13:51,000 that we, you know, disagree with, uh, that encourages, 230 00:13:51,000 --> 00:13:55,679 uh, obedience or, uh, uh, 231 00:13:55,679 --> 00:14:00,639 stratification, um, I 232 00:14:00,639 --> 00:14:04,159 think that the, the 233 00:14:04,200 --> 00:14:06,720 music that is liberational, uh, 234 00:14:07,200 --> 00:14:10,360 is both guides folks 235 00:14:10,360 --> 00:14:13,759 towards a common purpose that 236 00:14:13,799 --> 00:14:17,279 we believe in together, and gives 237 00:14:17,279 --> 00:14:20,519 them the tools to continue that, 238 00:14:20,519 --> 00:14:24,480 uh, that journey on their own, um, 239 00:14:24,519 --> 00:14:26,960 Yeah. 240 00:14:27,039 --> 00:14:32,799 About you, Jen? 241 00:14:32,879 --> 00:14:35,080 When is music liberational? 242 00:14:35,159 --> 00:14:37,159 When is it not? 243 00:14:37,159 --> 00:14:37,799 What are you thinking? 244 00:14:37,799 --> 00:14:39,279 Hi, everyone. 245 00:14:39,360 --> 00:14:41,360 so good to be with you. 246 00:14:41,360 --> 00:14:42,720 I, uh, I am Jen. 247 00:14:42,720 --> 00:14:47,440 I use she her pronouns and um, I am an Asian-American woman with light brown skin. 248 00:14:47,519 --> 00:14:50,679 I have a black bob, and on Zoom, 249 00:14:50,679 --> 00:14:53,679 you can't tell how much silver is in it, and we'll just keep it that way. 250 00:14:53,759 --> 00:14:56,879 Um, I'm really excited to be here with you. 251 00:14:56,919 --> 00:14:59,919 I am coming from the basement of my 252 00:14:59,919 --> 00:15:04,600 home just outside of Washington, DC, which was recently decorated like a haunted house. 253 00:15:04,679 --> 00:15:07,919 So, uh, you know, if you catch a spider 254 00:15:07,919 --> 00:15:11,320 web or a skull, just just know that that's all uh, 255 00:15:11,320 --> 00:15:13,960 the work of my, my crafty 10 year old. 256 00:15:14,039 --> 00:15:16,240 It's good to be with you all. 257 00:15:16,320 --> 00:15:19,679 Whew, when is music liberatory? 258 00:15:19,720 --> 00:15:23,799 I think the best way I can talk about it is, 259 00:15:24,000 --> 00:15:26,679 Um, through experience. 260 00:15:26,799 --> 00:15:29,799 Um, I'm thinking of 261 00:15:29,799 --> 00:15:32,919 a woman who is in my choir right now who is, 262 00:15:32,919 --> 00:15:36,919 uh, in her 60s and after singing 263 00:15:36,960 --> 00:15:40,480 a piece that we programmed this spring, 264 00:15:40,480 --> 00:15:45,039 uh, she said, I felt that through 265 00:15:45,039 --> 00:15:49,960 my whole body, in a way that I didn't know, was possible. 266 00:15:50,039 --> 00:15:53,759 And um, I 267 00:15:53,759 --> 00:15:57,039 think so often that we think of liberation as something that serves 268 00:15:57,039 --> 00:16:00,399 a bigger cause outside of ourselves. 269 00:16:00,399 --> 00:16:02,399 And for sure, it does. 270 00:16:02,399 --> 00:16:04,519 But I think that there is also something that 271 00:16:04,559 --> 00:16:08,039 like, we know when we hear a 272 00:16:08,039 --> 00:16:11,159 truth that rings for us and speaks to us. 273 00:16:11,159 --> 00:16:15,240 And once we hear it, we can't unhear it. 274 00:16:15,279 --> 00:16:18,559 And then our job is to help others 275 00:16:18,600 --> 00:16:21,879 understand that power and that story. 276 00:16:21,960 --> 00:16:25,200 And so, I think that in my work, I'm always trying 277 00:16:25,200 --> 00:16:28,600 to help people find that experience 278 00:16:28,600 --> 00:16:32,240 within themselves so that they know what it 279 00:16:32,279 --> 00:16:35,679 feels like to be free from some of the, the confines, 280 00:16:35,679 --> 00:16:38,840 you know, the, the isolation of the, of our 281 00:16:38,879 --> 00:16:42,279 current culture, the, the fear that 282 00:16:42,279 --> 00:16:45,759 surrounds them so that they can help 283 00:16:45,759 --> 00:16:49,279 not only by talking about it from this headspace, 284 00:16:49,320 --> 00:16:52,600 but can help convey a story through a heart space too. 285 00:16:52,679 --> 00:16:55,799 Um, so I think that 286 00:16:55,799 --> 00:16:59,440 like what I what I would impress about that is that for 287 00:16:59,440 --> 00:17:02,960 me and for the way that I try to program music, um, 288 00:17:03,000 --> 00:17:06,400 in a lot of the spaces that I'm in is like, it starts 289 00:17:06,400 --> 00:17:09,799 with a visceral body reaction 1st 290 00:17:09,839 --> 00:17:13,599 and that can be sublime beauty 291 00:17:13,599 --> 00:17:16,960 or it can be a really hard truth that I had to 292 00:17:17,039 --> 00:17:21,759 reconcile or a deep grief that I feel with my siblings. 293 00:17:21,880 --> 00:17:23,880 One and all. 294 00:17:23,880 --> 00:17:26,680 Um, But it always 295 00:17:26,680 --> 00:17:29,599 comes from that place where I feel like I have been broken open. 296 00:17:29,680 --> 00:17:35,119 And then I must not keep it to myself. 297 00:17:35,200 --> 00:17:38,680 Wow. 298 00:17:38,759 --> 00:17:40,759 So we'll start there. 299 00:17:40,759 --> 00:17:42,599 That was a big question. 300 00:17:42,640 --> 00:17:44,640 1st question, Hilary. 301 00:17:44,640 --> 00:17:47,200 Yeah, and 302 00:17:47,200 --> 00:17:49,480 I'm wondering if we can keep going about bodies. 303 00:17:49,559 --> 00:17:53,440 Um, How? 304 00:17:53,559 --> 00:17:56,240 I mean, that's such a great story, Jen. 305 00:17:56,319 --> 00:17:58,319 Um. 306 00:17:58,319 --> 00:18:00,599 you 307 00:18:00,640 --> 00:18:03,880 know, to discover something, to make that connection, to have that. 308 00:18:03,960 --> 00:18:07,319 Yeah, the embodiment, 309 00:18:07,319 --> 00:18:09,599 maybe another word that gets used a lot. 310 00:18:09,640 --> 00:18:11,640 Um, but what does it mean? 311 00:18:11,640 --> 00:18:14,680 Um, How 312 00:18:14,680 --> 00:18:18,519 do we get more grounded in our bodies when we're singing, 313 00:18:18,519 --> 00:18:20,960 when we're feeling music? 314 00:18:21,039 --> 00:18:24,079 Um, how does it connect 315 00:18:24,119 --> 00:18:26,559 us, literally, with the vibrations? 316 00:18:26,640 --> 00:18:31,000 Like, what's a relationship with our bodies and music? 317 00:18:31,079 --> 00:18:33,079 What do you all know about that? 318 00:18:33,079 --> 00:18:37,039 The 319 00:18:37,079 --> 00:18:41,920 encouraging or teaching or um, inviting embodiment has 320 00:18:41,920 --> 00:18:46,480 grown to become, especially in my work at 1st U, uh, 321 00:18:46,480 --> 00:18:50,200 grown from like a cool portion to 322 00:18:50,200 --> 00:18:55,519 like a fundamental and like enormous part of my practice. 323 00:18:55,599 --> 00:18:59,119 Um, and in 324 00:18:59,160 --> 00:19:03,000 my experience, it, it, it's, 325 00:19:03,000 --> 00:19:07,839 it, it's finicky because you, everybody's body is different. 326 00:19:07,920 --> 00:19:11,160 And so the practice of teaching embodiment 327 00:19:11,160 --> 00:19:16,359 cannot be prescriptive, cannot be like, now do this and now do this. 328 00:19:16,440 --> 00:19:18,839 It can say try this. 329 00:19:18,880 --> 00:19:20,880 Like, how does that feel? 330 00:19:20,880 --> 00:19:24,039 But ultimately, I 331 00:19:24,039 --> 00:19:27,680 think it's about having a kind of curiosity, 332 00:19:27,720 --> 00:19:30,880 a kind of presence of yourself in your body, which 333 00:19:30,880 --> 00:19:33,759 can come from, you know, meditative practices. 334 00:19:33,839 --> 00:19:37,599 Um, one thing that I do with, uh, 335 00:19:37,599 --> 00:19:41,359 at 1st U often is a drone and 336 00:19:41,400 --> 00:19:45,119 like not just, you know, not just make 337 00:19:45,119 --> 00:19:48,359 a note, a sound, but like, you know, put your hand on 338 00:19:48,359 --> 00:19:51,720 your chest and like send vibration into your hand. 339 00:19:51,759 --> 00:19:54,680 Put your hand on your belly and send vibration there. 340 00:19:54,759 --> 00:19:58,000 And then like, feel the aura 341 00:19:58,000 --> 00:20:00,680 of yourself extend beyond yourself. 342 00:20:00,759 --> 00:20:04,599 Um, or I'll, you know, uh, 343 00:20:04,599 --> 00:20:08,559 I'll have, uh, the pianist just 344 00:20:08,559 --> 00:20:11,359 kind of groove on 4 chords. 345 00:20:11,440 --> 00:20:14,079 And I did this last week. 346 00:20:14,160 --> 00:20:19,000 Uh, I had, I had our amazing pianist in choir rehearsal. 347 00:20:19,079 --> 00:20:21,079 Just play these 4 chords. 348 00:20:21,079 --> 00:20:24,079 And uh, we spent about, 349 00:20:24,119 --> 00:20:29,400 and then I said to the choir, we were seated, like, start making percussion. 350 00:20:29,440 --> 00:20:32,920 Like, start grooving with this with your hands, with your feet, 351 00:20:32,920 --> 00:20:35,079 like, I don't know what, try different things. 352 00:20:35,160 --> 00:20:37,720 We're gonna go through it a lot, a lot. 353 00:20:37,799 --> 00:20:40,920 And my choir and my congregation have become much more 354 00:20:40,920 --> 00:20:46,440 comfortable with kind of unending repeats because that's what it takes to kind of sink into the music. 355 00:20:46,480 --> 00:20:50,319 Um, and then, you 356 00:20:50,319 --> 00:20:54,279 know, from those percussive, uh, 357 00:20:54,279 --> 00:20:57,799 you know, improvised pieces, I then said 358 00:20:57,839 --> 00:21:02,680 like, okay, now whatever your hands were doing, whatever your body was doing, now make it with your mouth. 359 00:21:02,759 --> 00:21:06,160 So if they were doing, They're 360 00:21:06,160 --> 00:21:09,680 now going, doom, doom, doom, doom, doom, doom, doom, 361 00:21:09,720 --> 00:21:13,079 and then just slowly build this like, this very 362 00:21:13,079 --> 00:21:17,079 rich context of music around, around 363 00:21:17,079 --> 00:21:21,880 the materials that were given to them so that, And, 364 00:21:21,880 --> 00:21:24,319 you know, ultimately, it did become a song. 365 00:21:24,400 --> 00:21:27,400 There was a song that I had in mind that went with these 366 00:21:27,400 --> 00:21:32,079 chords, and the last thing that we did was learned the melody. 367 00:21:32,160 --> 00:21:35,160 But in order for, in 368 00:21:35,160 --> 00:21:38,400 order for music, in order for people to feel that they can be 369 00:21:38,400 --> 00:21:41,640 present in music, there's so 370 00:21:41,640 --> 00:21:45,519 much contextual, just like richness, that 371 00:21:45,519 --> 00:21:49,000 they have to, that they have to be both aware 372 00:21:49,000 --> 00:21:52,359 of and invited into, you know, 373 00:21:52,359 --> 00:21:56,000 you can't improvise on a tune if you only know the melody, 374 00:21:56,039 --> 00:22:02,759 but you can improvise, if you know the groove, if you know the style if you know the kind of chords, 375 00:22:02,880 --> 00:22:04,880 how they feel. 376 00:22:04,880 --> 00:22:06,920 Um, But 377 00:22:06,960 --> 00:22:11,279 that, that, the starving, the starving of information that 378 00:22:11,279 --> 00:22:14,640 is uh, part of the Western classical practice, 379 00:22:14,640 --> 00:22:18,480 kind of, you know, boiling everything down 380 00:22:18,480 --> 00:22:21,519 to notes and rhythms, what's on the page, what the conductor says. 381 00:22:21,599 --> 00:22:24,720 That is inherently non-liberational. 382 00:22:24,759 --> 00:22:27,880 You're inherently saying, these are 383 00:22:27,880 --> 00:22:30,680 the strictures under which you're about to operate. 384 00:22:30,759 --> 00:22:32,759 Go no farther. 385 00:22:32,759 --> 00:22:35,920 And that inherently 386 00:22:35,920 --> 00:22:39,640 keeps you in the mind and inherently, uh, 387 00:22:39,640 --> 00:22:45,640 makes you afraid to try and makes you afraid to be present in and live in the music. 388 00:22:45,759 --> 00:22:51,200 Amazing. 389 00:22:51,279 --> 00:22:53,279 Jen, do you want to keep riffing on this? 390 00:22:53,279 --> 00:22:54,799 I see you nodding. 391 00:22:54,799 --> 00:22:56,799 I'm just wondering about like, especially like breaking 392 00:22:56,799 --> 00:22:58,839 people out of some of these norms. 393 00:22:58,920 --> 00:23:00,920 Like getting people moving. 394 00:23:00,920 --> 00:23:02,519 Yeah. 395 00:23:02,519 --> 00:23:05,039 I mean, I was gonna, I'll start by saying, I have an autoimmune disease, 396 00:23:05,039 --> 00:23:08,519 and so it took me a while to realize that like, hmm. 397 00:23:08,559 --> 00:23:13,400 No matter whatever I might try to suppress, my body is going to remind me at some point. 398 00:23:13,480 --> 00:23:16,519 Um, and I think that a lot of us, 399 00:23:16,559 --> 00:23:22,440 um, feel really disconnected from our bodies in a lot of our daily life. 400 00:23:22,480 --> 00:23:25,720 Um, you know, we spend a lot of time in 401 00:23:25,720 --> 00:23:29,200 front of our phones and our televisions and our screens, 402 00:23:29,200 --> 00:23:33,400 and I'm thinking about how when I'm on the subway, you 403 00:23:33,400 --> 00:23:36,680 know, I'm watching someone reading the news, and they 404 00:23:36,720 --> 00:23:40,240 are reading something that might be hilarious or 405 00:23:40,240 --> 00:23:45,319 horrific or shocking or incredibly 406 00:23:45,359 --> 00:23:49,240 frustrating, and their face says nothing about what they're. 407 00:23:49,319 --> 00:23:51,319 We are 408 00:23:51,319 --> 00:23:53,440 It's another conditioning of how to put up a veneer that 409 00:23:53,440 --> 00:23:56,480 keeps our emotions suppressed. 410 00:23:56,559 --> 00:23:59,559 And so I think every time I have choristers come to 411 00:23:59,559 --> 00:24:04,240 rehearsal, we start with this like somatic warm-up where it's 412 00:24:04,240 --> 00:24:07,480 like, you know, I don't know any conductors who have the 413 00:24:07,480 --> 00:24:10,880 grace of like being the 1st thing that people get to 414 00:24:10,920 --> 00:24:14,079 do before they do the rest of their day is to start rehearsal 415 00:24:14,079 --> 00:24:16,839 with, you know, at 9 AM or something. 416 00:24:16,920 --> 00:24:19,920 So, you know, I'm I'm getting my folks at 7.30 417 00:24:19,920 --> 00:24:24,400 at night and they've already had a day or their kid got sick or whatever. 418 00:24:24,480 --> 00:24:27,519 And so I just want to get people to this neutral place 419 00:24:27,519 --> 00:24:31,000 so that we can be permeable with one another. 420 00:24:31,079 --> 00:24:34,119 So sometimes that is like big body movement. 421 00:24:34,200 --> 00:24:37,240 Lots of sighing, lots of shaking, lots of 422 00:24:37,240 --> 00:24:41,119 things that people don't, you don't normally do throughout their day, 423 00:24:41,160 --> 00:24:45,880 but I'm finding that like just getting us to a plane where 424 00:24:45,880 --> 00:24:48,519 we can begin to do something together. 425 00:24:48,599 --> 00:24:53,440 It's like we have to get everybody back to neutral after all the ways we've been dysregulated throughout the day. 426 00:24:53,440 --> 00:24:56,559 So, um, Another 427 00:24:56,559 --> 00:24:59,799 thing I've been thinking about and something I try to impress upon my choirs 428 00:24:59,799 --> 00:25:03,039 is like, what are our faces doing to help us 429 00:25:03,039 --> 00:25:06,200 tell the story that we need to convey? 430 00:25:06,279 --> 00:25:09,279 Like, when we are, when we are having 431 00:25:09,279 --> 00:25:12,519 a one-sided experience of what communication looks 432 00:25:12,519 --> 00:25:16,039 like, it's very different than the way that we want to convey, 433 00:25:16,079 --> 00:25:21,880 what is on our spirits when we sing, when we are in community together in church. 434 00:25:21,960 --> 00:25:24,960 And so I am looking to find all of the places 435 00:25:24,960 --> 00:25:28,599 that feel like inhibitors of that. 436 00:25:28,680 --> 00:25:31,839 So I'm often learning things in the oral tradition so 437 00:25:31,839 --> 00:25:35,240 that we're not, we don't have binders that are another wall 438 00:25:35,279 --> 00:25:38,319 between us and the people that we're hoping to communicate with. 439 00:25:38,400 --> 00:25:40,920 Or I'm, I am, 440 00:25:41,039 --> 00:25:44,039 I'm never the person who turns around 441 00:25:44,039 --> 00:25:47,319 and like encourages the congregation to clap, but 442 00:25:47,319 --> 00:25:51,039 I'm also never the person who is discouraging the congregation 443 00:25:51,039 --> 00:25:55,519 from clapping when the moment calls for an expression of something. 444 00:25:55,599 --> 00:25:57,599 It is. 445 00:25:57,599 --> 00:26:00,079 I just want, 446 00:26:00,119 --> 00:26:04,240 I want people both in the, in the 447 00:26:04,240 --> 00:26:09,920 singing aspect and in the receiving aspect of it, to know that it's a dialogue between us, right? 448 00:26:10,000 --> 00:26:13,119 Like, we're not just pouring our hearts out 449 00:26:13,119 --> 00:26:16,039 for you to just, Let them fall to the floor. 450 00:26:16,119 --> 00:26:19,160 On the other hand, we want to be careful 451 00:26:19,200 --> 00:26:22,599 with the way our listeners experience the music that we make too, 452 00:26:22,599 --> 00:26:24,680 so that it feels reciprocal. 453 00:26:24,759 --> 00:26:27,039 We're all in the same space making something together. 454 00:26:27,119 --> 00:26:29,400 I'll leave it there. 455 00:26:29,440 --> 00:26:32,720 Well, and that's tricky when we have, 456 00:26:32,759 --> 00:26:36,640 like, a lot of our cultural context for music is 457 00:26:36,640 --> 00:26:41,720 within consumerism or, you know, we're receiving, we're 458 00:26:41,759 --> 00:26:45,279 paying for a concert, and we're going to take in a show, and 459 00:26:45,279 --> 00:26:48,279 we have this, like, sort of passive posture. 460 00:26:48,359 --> 00:26:50,359 How do you all 461 00:26:50,359 --> 00:26:54,680 engage that, navigate that? 462 00:26:54,759 --> 00:26:58,640 You know, I, I, I taught at St. 463 00:26:58,680 --> 00:27:02,400 Olaf last year, which is like a, um, 464 00:27:02,400 --> 00:27:07,119 has a long tradition of excellent choral music, 465 00:27:07,119 --> 00:27:12,559 um, is a kind of hot spot of, you know, Midwestern choral culture. 466 00:27:12,640 --> 00:27:17,680 Um, One 467 00:27:17,680 --> 00:27:20,440 thing, and and it's a, it's an amazing place. 468 00:27:20,519 --> 00:27:22,519 I had a great time. 469 00:27:22,519 --> 00:27:24,519 And I'm about to kind of rag on them a little bit. 470 00:27:24,599 --> 00:27:29,279 Um, There 471 00:27:29,279 --> 00:27:32,759 can be in classical music, in choral music, in like 472 00:27:32,759 --> 00:27:36,720 spaces that consider themselves in that lineage. 473 00:27:36,759 --> 00:27:39,880 Um, a kind of, 474 00:27:39,880 --> 00:27:44,799 um, A 475 00:27:44,799 --> 00:27:48,400 sense of your, you're blessed to be in our presence. 476 00:27:48,480 --> 00:27:51,640 A sense of like, how lucky 477 00:27:51,640 --> 00:27:54,920 are you, audience, to be able to hear us for an hour and a half . 478 00:27:55,079 --> 00:27:57,079 Um, 479 00:27:57,079 --> 00:28:00,640 And I, I just hate that. 480 00:28:00,720 --> 00:28:04,200 I, I, as an audience member, I'm, 481 00:28:04,200 --> 00:28:07,440 I mean, maybe this is just my ADHD, but as soon as 482 00:28:07,440 --> 00:28:12,039 that starts happening, I'm like, I'm out, like, this is boring. 483 00:28:12,160 --> 00:28:16,039 So I think, I think to 484 00:28:16,079 --> 00:28:19,480 your, to your question about the, this, this 485 00:28:19,480 --> 00:28:23,319 structure that we live in, like, step one is just 486 00:28:23,319 --> 00:28:25,519 not taking anything for granted. 487 00:28:25,599 --> 00:28:30,519 You know, there is no inherent value to, 488 00:28:30,519 --> 00:28:33,160 uh, really anything we do. 489 00:28:33,240 --> 00:28:36,480 There's no piece of music that we could be singing, 490 00:28:36,519 --> 00:28:40,759 that you that deserves to be listened to. 491 00:28:40,839 --> 00:28:43,000 There are people. 492 00:28:43,079 --> 00:28:46,119 There are communities that deserve to be listened to. 493 00:28:46,200 --> 00:28:49,200 And creating a space for music 494 00:28:49,200 --> 00:28:53,640 is acknowledging that we 495 00:28:53,640 --> 00:28:57,039 who are about to sing, are a community that 496 00:28:57,039 --> 00:29:00,160 has developed over this, um, however 497 00:29:00,160 --> 00:29:04,000 long we've been together, and there's something that we want to share with you. 498 00:29:04,079 --> 00:29:07,480 Not that we will deign to share with you, but 499 00:29:07,480 --> 00:29:09,640 something that we love that we would love for you to love. 500 00:29:09,720 --> 00:29:13,000 Um, and then, I mean, I 501 00:29:13,000 --> 00:29:16,880 feel like every, every concert that I do, I think I 502 00:29:16,920 --> 00:29:19,920 am incorporating more and more community singing. 503 00:29:19,960 --> 00:29:23,440 Um, it just, 504 00:29:23,440 --> 00:29:26,720 like, A breaks down that barrier, continues to 505 00:29:26,759 --> 00:29:29,920 break down that barrier, and reinforces the idea that, 506 00:29:29,920 --> 00:29:33,880 like, what, what is happening involves all of us, 507 00:29:33,880 --> 00:29:38,079 uh, you are going to listen probably more 508 00:29:38,079 --> 00:29:41,680 than you're, than you're singing, but the, 509 00:29:41,680 --> 00:29:46,720 the, the magic of the moment, um, the magic that's going to, 510 00:29:47,319 --> 00:29:50,319 uh, that's going to 511 00:29:50,319 --> 00:29:53,559 build us, that's going to create something beautiful for 512 00:29:53,559 --> 00:29:58,720 all of us, is not a, a gift downwards, but a co-creation. 513 00:29:58,799 --> 00:30:06,240 Yeah, I can't say any better than that. 514 00:30:06,279 --> 00:30:09,279 Well, 515 00:30:09,279 --> 00:30:13,480 and I think we're seeing that shift right before our eyes, right? 516 00:30:13,559 --> 00:30:17,799 Participatory singing, um, The singing resistance movement. 517 00:30:17,880 --> 00:30:22,480 Especially what we've seen come from Minneapolis. 518 00:30:22,599 --> 00:30:28,279 Um, I think it's sort of like set afire in a lot of our congregations about, 519 00:30:28,359 --> 00:30:31,400 Yeah, just how to be a collective body that 520 00:30:31,440 --> 00:30:35,079 is, um, together in song 521 00:30:35,079 --> 00:30:39,400 and coming down from that, um, that 522 00:30:39,400 --> 00:30:42,880 high place of something untouchable 523 00:30:42,880 --> 00:30:46,640 to something we're doing together in a, in a horizontal way. 524 00:30:46,720 --> 00:30:49,720 You'll have reflections about that? 525 00:30:49,799 --> 00:30:54,000 Um, how you're seeing that movement move through? 526 00:30:54,039 --> 00:30:58,839 How did Singing Resistance, uh, move through DC, Jen? 527 00:30:58,920 --> 00:31:00,920 I'm curious. 528 00:31:00,920 --> 00:31:02,680 Well, I think that 529 00:31:02,680 --> 00:31:09,039 The 1st I think that there have been singing efforts 530 00:31:09,039 --> 00:31:13,400 that have been happening certainly through the the 2 531 00:31:13,440 --> 00:31:16,920 Trump administrations, but I think to see such 532 00:31:16,920 --> 00:31:20,640 a critical mass of people come together in Minneapolis. 533 00:31:20,680 --> 00:31:24,559 It felt like, um, It 534 00:31:24,599 --> 00:31:27,759 it felt like I heard new songs. 535 00:31:27,839 --> 00:31:31,240 I heard songs that felt like all of us. 536 00:31:31,319 --> 00:31:34,599 I felt like there was an homage and honoring 537 00:31:34,599 --> 00:31:38,079 of of other traditions of, 538 00:31:38,079 --> 00:31:41,240 you know, singing resistance that had come before this moment. 539 00:31:41,319 --> 00:31:45,880 Um, and I think it just everyone in DC wanted to pay attention. 540 00:31:45,960 --> 00:31:49,079 And since then, there have been lots of, um, 541 00:31:49,079 --> 00:31:54,279 singing resistance groups that have sort of been birthed out of that experience. 542 00:31:54,359 --> 00:31:59,079 But I think in that way, Minneapolis taught us that that it was on all of us. 543 00:31:59,160 --> 00:32:04,680 Um, to make music, an important part of this movement. 544 00:32:04,720 --> 00:32:07,720 And I've worked with Reverend Dr. William Barber before who has led 545 00:32:07,720 --> 00:32:10,039 the Moral Mondays in the poor people's campaign. 546 00:32:10,119 --> 00:32:13,480 And he says every resistance 547 00:32:13,480 --> 00:32:16,599 throughout history has had some singing component. 548 00:32:16,680 --> 00:32:19,680 So, you know, and his work with Yara Allen, who 549 00:32:19,680 --> 00:32:22,720 traveled with him all of the time anytime he was speaking. 550 00:32:22,799 --> 00:32:27,480 There was music that she was helping to lead or was bringing other choirs and to help lead. 551 00:32:27,519 --> 00:32:30,799 Um, and working with the student, nonviolent 552 00:32:30,839 --> 00:32:34,599 coordinating committee and the freedom singers, you know, I mean, I 553 00:32:34,599 --> 00:32:37,960 got to work on a project with them in, uh, during the pandemic, 554 00:32:37,960 --> 00:32:41,680 and I just remember Charles Neblett, the founder, saying, like, all 555 00:32:41,680 --> 00:32:45,039 of these songs are meant to be changed as 556 00:32:45,039 --> 00:32:50,480 needed to meet what whatever moment needs this song. 557 00:32:50,559 --> 00:32:53,680 Um, and so I've taken that to heart with 558 00:32:53,680 --> 00:32:56,920 a lot of the ways that we, um, that we honor the work 559 00:32:56,920 --> 00:33:01,039 of, of the ancestors that have done this work before us, but I 560 00:33:01,079 --> 00:33:04,440 love that there is a whole new generation of people making music that 561 00:33:04,440 --> 00:33:07,200 feels so poignant to this moment. 562 00:33:07,240 --> 00:33:09,240 How is it for you? 563 00:33:09,240 --> 00:33:11,200 Um. 564 00:33:11,319 --> 00:33:14,720 It's it's still going strong over here. 565 00:33:14,799 --> 00:33:17,200 Um, as far as I can tell. 566 00:33:17,279 --> 00:33:20,680 Uh, yeah, one thing that I so 567 00:33:20,680 --> 00:33:25,119 admire about singing resistance, um, is the 568 00:33:25,119 --> 00:33:28,640 way that it marries, like, really smart, 569 00:33:28,680 --> 00:33:33,519 intentional, like, historically minded, 570 00:33:33,519 --> 00:33:37,240 you know, thinking, uh, 571 00:33:37,240 --> 00:33:41,960 like, understanding of how oppression works, understanding 572 00:33:42,000 --> 00:33:44,680 of, uh, of, you know, systems, all this, 573 00:33:45,160 --> 00:33:47,160 uh, very conceptual stuff. 574 00:33:47,160 --> 00:33:50,200 And like, intentionally, and 575 00:33:50,200 --> 00:33:57,319 continuously brings that down into, um, now how do we, 576 00:33:57,400 --> 00:34:00,319 How do we empower the people in the moment? 577 00:34:00,400 --> 00:34:03,440 Because it's an understanding, right? 578 00:34:03,519 --> 00:34:07,839 That, like, it is, it is so good to understand how oppression works. 579 00:34:07,920 --> 00:34:12,599 Systems of depression and historically how resistance has been successful or not. 580 00:34:12,639 --> 00:34:17,800 That is really important, but ultimately, That's not going to help you on the streets. 581 00:34:17,880 --> 00:34:21,039 And 1 thing, you 582 00:34:21,039 --> 00:34:25,239 know, 1 kind of example that encapsulates that for me is that, uh, 583 00:34:25,239 --> 00:34:30,039 is um, the song that went viral, I think, more than any. 584 00:34:30,119 --> 00:34:33,960 Okay, do change your 585 00:34:33,960 --> 00:34:36,400 mind, lay down your weapons. 586 00:34:36,480 --> 00:34:39,960 Leave them behind. 587 00:34:40,000 --> 00:34:43,480 It's okay to 588 00:34:43,480 --> 00:34:47,119 change your mind and you can join us. 589 00:34:47,199 --> 00:34:49,519 Join us here anytime. 590 00:34:49,599 --> 00:34:52,159 It is like such a bob. 591 00:34:52,239 --> 00:34:54,519 It is an amazing, it is so simple. 592 00:34:54,599 --> 00:34:57,639 It's so catchy, and, 593 00:34:57,639 --> 00:35:02,320 um, it came from, it, it, it was 594 00:35:02,320 --> 00:35:07,239 intentionally created based on an understanding of resistance. 595 00:35:07,239 --> 00:35:10,400 That resistance only begins 596 00:35:10,440 --> 00:35:15,480 to, that, that oppression is only dismantled when defections start. 597 00:35:15,519 --> 00:35:18,639 When the when the agents of power 598 00:35:18,639 --> 00:35:25,480 begin to, you know, back off and join the resistance. 599 00:35:25,559 --> 00:35:29,880 And so, that song came, 600 00:35:29,880 --> 00:35:33,280 what was written, because someone in the singing 601 00:35:33,280 --> 00:35:36,880 resistance said like, okay, we have all these great songs about, you 602 00:35:36,880 --> 00:35:40,360 know, holding each other about strength and love and all this stuff, but like, 603 00:35:40,360 --> 00:35:43,239 how are we gonna, how are we gonna talk about defections? 604 00:35:43,320 --> 00:35:47,639 And so, like, you 605 00:35:47,639 --> 00:35:51,400 know, speaking of embodiments, speaking about, you know, moving from 606 00:35:51,400 --> 00:35:54,679 the head to the to the body, of connecting these 2 things, 607 00:35:54,719 --> 00:35:57,400 like, that is, that is that rip large. 608 00:35:57,480 --> 00:35:59,480 Um, 609 00:35:59,480 --> 00:36:02,199 And and just like, to me, 610 00:36:02,199 --> 00:36:06,079 such an impressive and inspiring example of 611 00:36:06,119 --> 00:36:10,199 head knowledge being invested 612 00:36:10,199 --> 00:36:15,719 in a, like very humane and liberatory way. 613 00:36:15,760 --> 00:36:20,199 I've 614 00:36:20,199 --> 00:36:23,440 been thinking a lot about, um, I should have 615 00:36:23,440 --> 00:36:26,800 added when you asked about like what's been happening as part of the singing 616 00:36:26,800 --> 00:36:30,880 resistance, a lot of this has been, um, also compassion 617 00:36:30,880 --> 00:36:33,639 for federal workers who have lost their jobs. 618 00:36:33,719 --> 00:36:36,960 So people are going and singing at the metro stations. 619 00:36:37,000 --> 00:36:42,079 They're singing at the hearings for people who have been detained, you know, illegally detained. 620 00:36:42,159 --> 00:36:45,400 Um, But the one thing that I've 621 00:36:45,400 --> 00:36:49,159 noticed is like, that there, as the as 622 00:36:49,199 --> 00:36:54,039 the problems continue to, um, to escalate. 623 00:36:54,119 --> 00:36:57,480 Um, there is a real consideration 624 00:36:57,480 --> 00:37:01,599 for What if I don't see the 625 00:37:01,599 --> 00:37:04,599 other end of the moral arc in my lifetime? 626 00:37:04,679 --> 00:37:08,159 Will the work still be worthwhile? 627 00:37:08,199 --> 00:37:10,400 Will it still have meaning? 628 00:37:10,480 --> 00:37:12,480 Will it still have import? 629 00:37:12,480 --> 00:37:15,159 Um, and before all of you joined? 630 00:37:15,239 --> 00:37:18,480 I was sharing with the group of organizers tonight 631 00:37:18,480 --> 00:37:21,760 that I had the privilege of hearing Dr. Melissa Harris-Perry 632 00:37:21,760 --> 00:37:25,280 speak during the 1st Trump administration at All Souls 633 00:37:25,320 --> 00:37:29,159 Unitarian in DC, and she reminded all of us that none 634 00:37:29,159 --> 00:37:32,320 of us are too cute or too special to not have to 635 00:37:32,320 --> 00:37:34,599 live through the painful parts of history. 636 00:37:34,679 --> 00:37:38,519 And so I'm thinking a lot about, um, 637 00:37:38,679 --> 00:37:42,079 about how we continue 638 00:37:42,119 --> 00:37:47,880 to sing, when there's not, we're not just taking down one tyrant. 639 00:37:47,920 --> 00:37:49,920 We're not just fighting one cause. 640 00:37:49,960 --> 00:37:53,119 I think that we are finding that like the 641 00:37:53,159 --> 00:37:57,480 power of being together with people in song is so 642 00:37:57,480 --> 00:38:01,360 important and will need to endure through 643 00:38:01,360 --> 00:38:03,760 things that we haven't even yet imagined. 644 00:38:03,840 --> 00:38:07,320 So I'm, I'm excited to see what, 645 00:38:07,320 --> 00:38:10,119 what songs continue to evolve in this moment. 646 00:38:10,199 --> 00:38:14,880 And I agree with what you said that like, that one is like, what do we do for the defectors? 647 00:38:14,920 --> 00:38:17,960 Like, how, how are we reminding each other that 648 00:38:18,000 --> 00:38:22,119 those, those folks are still our comrades, and that there's 649 00:38:22,119 --> 00:38:25,400 still a place for them to join us, even if they're joining late, right? 650 00:38:25,480 --> 00:38:30,760 Yeah, amazing. 651 00:38:30,840 --> 00:38:35,199 All right, friends, so we are gonna take a little pause here. 652 00:38:35,280 --> 00:38:39,639 and invite you to, um, have some time and break out the room. 653 00:38:39,719 --> 00:38:42,599 So I want Laura, Lauren to um, share with that. 654 00:38:42,719 --> 00:38:45,119 That sort of that process for us. 655 00:38:45,159 --> 00:38:50,000 Uh, and then when we'll come back, I have more chance to engage with Jen and Paolo about some questions. 656 00:38:50,079 --> 00:38:52,079 Yeah. 657 00:38:52,079 --> 00:38:54,679 I know you have a lot that 658 00:38:54,719 --> 00:38:59,280 you want to talk about with one another and with Jen and Paolo. 659 00:38:59,400 --> 00:39:01,400 So that's what's next up. 660 00:39:01,400 --> 00:39:04,000 We're going to head into those breakout groups again that you were in earlier with 661 00:39:04,000 --> 00:39:08,679 a few minor adjustments to incorporate folks who joined us a little bit later. 662 00:39:08,760 --> 00:39:12,960 We'll be in the breakout groups until 40 minutes after the hour. 663 00:39:13,000 --> 00:39:18,039 So, quite a bit longer this time, you should have at least 15 minutes for this conversation. 664 00:39:18,119 --> 00:39:21,159 You'll find the prompts in the chat again. 665 00:39:21,239 --> 00:39:24,039 Um, to begin your conversation, 666 00:39:24,119 --> 00:39:27,360 you're invited to go around, 667 00:39:27,360 --> 00:39:31,840 have each of you respond to the 1st question, which is what 668 00:39:31,840 --> 00:39:35,360 was a moment in the presentation where you had an 669 00:39:35,400 --> 00:39:40,119 aha or a sparky moment, or a question came up for you? 670 00:39:40,199 --> 00:39:43,199 Like, what was the moment that really 671 00:39:43,199 --> 00:39:45,400 stood out for you as you were listening? 672 00:39:45,480 --> 00:39:50,519 Um, and every, after everyone's had a chance to talk about what, what really hit them, 673 00:39:50,559 --> 00:39:53,440 Um, then you can open it up to discussion. 674 00:39:53,519 --> 00:39:56,519 And then we're going to send you a little bit of a 675 00:39:56,519 --> 00:39:59,800 reminder when you've got about 5 minutes left, um, 676 00:39:59,800 --> 00:40:04,719 in the breakout rooms and, uh, encourage you to spend at least a couple of those last minutes, 677 00:40:04,800 --> 00:40:08,039 Um, crafting one or 678 00:40:08,039 --> 00:40:11,559 more questions for the Q and A that will follow immediately 679 00:40:11,559 --> 00:40:13,880 after the breakout groups. 680 00:40:14,039 --> 00:40:16,360 So off we go to those. 681 00:40:16,440 --> 00:40:20,679 We'll see you back here at 40 minutes before the hour or after the hour. 682 00:40:23,800 --> 00:40:27,159 Here comes everybody. 683 00:40:27,199 --> 00:40:29,199 Excellent. 684 00:40:29,199 --> 00:40:30,480 Okay. 685 00:40:30,480 --> 00:40:31,239 Welcome back, everybody. 686 00:40:31,239 --> 00:40:34,199 Um, we hope that was a rich time 687 00:40:34,239 --> 00:40:37,599 of connecting and being able to dip into the 688 00:40:37,599 --> 00:40:40,960 conversation, um, with each other. 689 00:40:41,000 --> 00:40:44,119 And I want to remind folks 690 00:40:44,119 --> 00:40:48,000 you're welcome to put questions in the chat or use the Q and A function. 691 00:40:48,079 --> 00:40:52,199 We want to know what you want to know, um, from Jen and Paolo. 692 00:40:52,280 --> 00:40:54,960 We have a little time for Q and A with them. 693 00:40:55,039 --> 00:40:58,039 And um, Yeah, 694 00:40:58,039 --> 00:41:00,800 I want to hear what's sparking. 695 00:41:00,880 --> 00:41:02,880 Sparky is our word for tonight. 696 00:41:02,880 --> 00:41:04,599 So what's sparking for you? 697 00:41:04,599 --> 00:41:06,880 I did want to, um, specifically 698 00:41:06,880 --> 00:41:10,119 mention somebody had asked if Jen and Paolo are going 699 00:41:10,119 --> 00:41:13,480 to be at the, uh, association of UU 700 00:41:13,480 --> 00:41:18,880 Music Ministries Conference coming up at the end of July in Milwaukee. 701 00:41:18,920 --> 00:41:22,079 Um, and Jen, as president 702 00:41:22,119 --> 00:41:26,840 of AUUMM, will definitely be there, um, or we're trying to convince Paolo to register. 703 00:41:26,920 --> 00:41:28,920 You all can also register. 704 00:41:28,920 --> 00:41:32,639 Um, it's a really, a tremendous gathering. 705 00:41:32,719 --> 00:41:36,079 for our music ministries and so want to encourage people. 706 00:41:36,199 --> 00:41:39,360 If something's piqued your interest, uh, tonight, 707 00:41:39,400 --> 00:41:41,440 that that would be something you could go to. 708 00:41:41,559 --> 00:41:44,559 Okay, here they are flooding in. 709 00:41:44,599 --> 00:41:48,440 All 710 00:41:48,440 --> 00:41:52,199 right, so we have the sort of practical things about licensing music. 711 00:41:52,280 --> 00:41:55,280 We have, um, 712 00:41:55,280 --> 00:42:00,719 There's the new online hymnal available. 713 00:42:00,800 --> 00:42:03,199 So these are great questions that we definitely have answers too. 714 00:42:03,280 --> 00:42:06,320 I want to see, um, we've talked a 715 00:42:06,320 --> 00:42:08,400 little bit about this, and we talked a little bit about this. 716 00:42:08,480 --> 00:42:10,480 Um, 717 00:42:10,480 --> 00:42:11,880 before. 718 00:42:11,960 --> 00:42:15,000 Techniques, tips, like, what do 719 00:42:15,039 --> 00:42:19,719 you all use to get the congregations to stretch? 720 00:42:19,840 --> 00:42:24,320 And I'm assuming we mean metaphorically stretch, but also maybe physically stretch. 721 00:42:24,400 --> 00:42:28,639 So when we're inviting people to maybe enter 722 00:42:28,639 --> 00:42:32,480 into some of these uh, ways 723 00:42:32,480 --> 00:42:35,960 of singing and engaging music that are not our norm. 724 00:42:36,039 --> 00:42:39,559 Um, you know, some of us maybe are like, am I doing it right? 725 00:42:39,679 --> 00:42:43,159 Um, how do you get your people to kind of loosen 726 00:42:43,159 --> 00:42:48,320 up a little bit and maybe tap into the spirituality of the music? 727 00:42:48,400 --> 00:42:50,800 What do you all do? 728 00:42:50,840 --> 00:42:54,800 I can, I can take that 1st if you want, if you want me to start. 729 00:42:54,880 --> 00:42:58,639 Um, and this ties into the AUUMM conference. 730 00:42:58,719 --> 00:43:01,840 Um, I'm going to be presenting a workshop 731 00:43:01,840 --> 00:43:05,199 uh, called breaking down the 4th wall. 732 00:43:05,239 --> 00:43:08,360 So, obviously, when we're talking about that and 733 00:43:08,360 --> 00:43:11,880 worship, it's break, the 4th wall would be where the congregation is. 734 00:43:11,960 --> 00:43:15,079 And so, um, some of the ways that I have 735 00:43:15,079 --> 00:43:18,920 done that, I have not only been through singing and participatory 736 00:43:18,920 --> 00:43:22,559 singing, although that's certainly the most obvious, but also 737 00:43:22,599 --> 00:43:26,679 thinking about placement of where the choir moves 738 00:43:26,679 --> 00:43:30,199 throughout a service or how they are engaging 739 00:43:30,199 --> 00:43:33,840 with the congregation that feels invitational, not just 740 00:43:33,880 --> 00:43:37,840 in their singing, but in their facial expressions, in their bodies. 741 00:43:37,880 --> 00:43:40,920 Um, And so I think that that 742 00:43:40,960 --> 00:43:44,599 workshop will definitely speak to some creative ways that 743 00:43:44,599 --> 00:43:47,840 people are finding to break the wall down between 744 00:43:47,840 --> 00:43:52,880 worship leader and worship experiencer and 745 00:43:52,880 --> 00:43:56,639 making a more collective participatory experience. 746 00:43:56,719 --> 00:43:59,760 Um, So just to 747 00:43:59,800 --> 00:44:03,400 that point, um, I'm 748 00:44:03,400 --> 00:44:06,559 learning so often, and I think this was another gift of this 749 00:44:06,559 --> 00:44:09,360 sort of current singing resistance movement. 750 00:44:09,440 --> 00:44:13,079 I'm learning so many songs just by following 751 00:44:13,119 --> 00:44:18,639 some of these amazing uh, thought leaders and song leaders on social media. 752 00:44:18,679 --> 00:44:21,679 Um, you know, so things 753 00:44:21,679 --> 00:44:26,719 that were never written down or were certainly not written down 1st, um, 754 00:44:26,800 --> 00:44:29,920 has been a good starting point for me and 755 00:44:29,920 --> 00:44:33,559 for my choir because something like, hold 756 00:44:33,559 --> 00:44:37,639 on, hold on. 757 00:44:37,760 --> 00:44:41,159 My dear ones, 758 00:44:41,199 --> 00:44:45,039 here comes the dawn. 759 00:44:45,079 --> 00:44:47,079 That's the whole song. 760 00:44:47,079 --> 00:44:49,360 So if people can learn those 4 761 00:44:49,360 --> 00:44:53,360 lines together, and they add the layers of their own harmonies, 762 00:44:53,360 --> 00:44:56,480 or they, you can add different dynamics, 763 00:44:56,480 --> 00:45:00,360 or what, you know, there are different ways to make this feel approachable, 764 00:45:00,400 --> 00:45:03,760 and maybe one of the ways we do that is by making the message so 765 00:45:03,760 --> 00:45:08,239 simple and so concise, that, It, 766 00:45:08,239 --> 00:45:12,119 it says enough that we don't, we don't need a printed score to convey it. 767 00:45:12,199 --> 00:45:15,199 Um, so that's a, that's at least one way that I've been 768 00:45:15,199 --> 00:45:18,800 engaging with, um, with both current 769 00:45:18,800 --> 00:45:22,880 oral tradition songs and just like finding ways to engage the 770 00:45:22,880 --> 00:45:27,199 choir and congregation that are not so print music dependent. 771 00:45:27,280 --> 00:45:29,960 I think jumping off that. 772 00:45:30,039 --> 00:45:33,159 One thing that I quickly learned when I 773 00:45:33,159 --> 00:45:36,440 started song leading more was that, uh, 774 00:45:36,440 --> 00:45:40,760 in order to teach a song by rote, it required you, it requires 775 00:45:40,760 --> 00:45:44,119 you to know the song, in a, to a depth 776 00:45:44,119 --> 00:45:47,239 that you never really have to with printed music. 777 00:45:47,320 --> 00:45:49,519 Um, it's great if you do. 778 00:45:49,599 --> 00:45:53,000 You should with printed music, but it's not, it doesn't, 779 00:45:53,000 --> 00:45:55,559 the success does not hinge on your knowing it so well. 780 00:45:55,719 --> 00:45:59,480 I mean, The, an 781 00:45:59,480 --> 00:46:02,760 example of a song that you might know so well is happy birthday. 782 00:46:02,840 --> 00:46:05,840 Like, you, if 783 00:46:05,840 --> 00:46:09,440 somebody sang happy birthday and sang one note wrong, you 784 00:46:09,440 --> 00:46:12,199 would on a, like, deep level. 785 00:46:12,280 --> 00:46:14,280 No, 0h my gosh, that's wrong. 786 00:46:14,280 --> 00:46:15,679 You wouldn't have to look at the score. 787 00:46:15,760 --> 00:46:17,760 You wouldn't have to do any of that. 788 00:46:17,760 --> 00:46:20,960 And that, that is what's required in order to, to, 789 00:46:20,960 --> 00:46:26,039 uh, to really feel good about living without sheet music. 790 00:46:26,119 --> 00:46:29,119 Um, and one way 791 00:46:29,119 --> 00:46:31,320 to do that is just repetition. 792 00:46:31,400 --> 00:46:35,519 And intentional repetition. 793 00:46:35,599 --> 00:46:38,599 Uh, in the Western tradition, we tend to think 794 00:46:38,599 --> 00:46:42,559 of repetition as, you know, uh, sometimes 795 00:46:42,559 --> 00:46:46,639 unnecessary, you know, you'll play through a sonata and just skip the repeat. 796 00:46:46,719 --> 00:46:50,800 But in the oral tradition, repetition 797 00:46:50,800 --> 00:46:54,079 is about deepening your understanding of 798 00:46:54,079 --> 00:46:57,360 the music and of seeing it from a different angle every time you come around. 799 00:46:57,440 --> 00:47:00,599 And so, if, if you 800 00:47:00,639 --> 00:47:04,880 experience the song through repetition that is driven 801 00:47:04,880 --> 00:47:08,159 by that curiosity, and just allow 802 00:47:08,199 --> 00:47:11,599 yourself to be imperfect, allow yourself to sing the 803 00:47:11,599 --> 00:47:16,039 wrong harmony, allow yourself to like riff on a rhythm that doesn't actually work. 804 00:47:16,119 --> 00:47:19,119 But, live into 805 00:47:19,119 --> 00:47:22,480 it, and it takes, it takes time, and it takes 806 00:47:22,480 --> 00:47:26,000 like a structural change, you know, 807 00:47:26,000 --> 00:47:30,320 uh, it takes, uh, a 808 00:47:30,320 --> 00:47:35,000 willingness to spend the time, and, 809 00:47:35,000 --> 00:47:40,159 uh, make the music not performative, but like an experience. 810 00:47:40,239 --> 00:47:43,239 And Paolo, can you keep 811 00:47:43,239 --> 00:47:46,840 going about, how you understand maybe 812 00:47:46,840 --> 00:47:50,119 like that we join, 813 00:47:50,119 --> 00:47:53,360 a song, because I think that's different than the repetition, 814 00:47:53,360 --> 00:47:57,000 repetition you're talking about, but I'm just, I feel like that would help people. 815 00:47:57,079 --> 00:48:00,119 Yeah, it's a kind 816 00:48:00,159 --> 00:48:03,760 of a spiritual concept that I have of, 817 00:48:04,639 --> 00:48:08,880 are you joining the music that exists or are you creating new music? 818 00:48:08,960 --> 00:48:12,320 Um, and I think we 819 00:48:12,320 --> 00:48:16,199 tend to think in the Western classical tradition of we are creating the music. 820 00:48:16,280 --> 00:48:20,760 The music starts when the bow hits the string when the voice begins vibrating. 821 00:48:20,840 --> 00:48:22,840 when the music starts. 822 00:48:22,840 --> 00:48:25,159 But, um, changing 823 00:48:25,159 --> 00:48:29,119 your mind to the music exists, it's 824 00:48:29,119 --> 00:48:32,400 already happening and my giving voice 825 00:48:32,440 --> 00:48:36,800 is just kind of joining the stream that was already there. 826 00:48:36,880 --> 00:48:40,239 Um, and when you think about that, like, 827 00:48:40,239 --> 00:48:43,599 if the song is eternal, then spending 10 minutes 828 00:48:43,599 --> 00:48:45,639 on it in a service is nothing. 829 00:48:45,679 --> 00:48:51,679 Beautiful. 830 00:48:51,760 --> 00:48:54,880 So we've got a question here, um, 831 00:48:54,880 --> 00:48:58,400 from the folks in Nashville who are going to be doing a search for 832 00:48:58,400 --> 00:49:00,559 a new music director, and I'm just curious. 833 00:49:00,639 --> 00:49:05,320 For you, Jen and Paolo, as music professionals. 834 00:49:05,360 --> 00:49:07,880 We've been talking about sort of like what you do. 835 00:49:07,920 --> 00:49:10,920 But I'm wondering if the liberation maybe needs to go 836 00:49:10,920 --> 00:49:14,079 in the other direction and we need our staff 837 00:49:14,119 --> 00:49:16,800 or our congregations, 838 00:49:16,880 --> 00:49:20,000 to like, be liberated 839 00:49:20,000 --> 00:49:24,239 from some ideas of what music ministry needs to look like. 840 00:49:24,320 --> 00:49:27,679 What kind of thoughts do you have about how 841 00:49:27,679 --> 00:49:31,559 to, within the congregational system, 842 00:49:31,599 --> 00:49:37,000 introduce that, even if you don't have the opportunity to hire a new, a new person? 843 00:49:37,039 --> 00:49:39,679 But like, what's important for that process? 844 00:49:39,760 --> 00:49:41,840 How do we shake that up a little bit? 845 00:49:41,960 --> 00:49:44,880 Mind if I start those one, Paolo? 846 00:49:44,960 --> 00:49:48,239 Um, I, I, I, 847 00:49:48,280 --> 00:49:51,519 say this because I've recently helped 3 different congregations through 848 00:49:51,519 --> 00:49:54,920 a search process and I think that what 849 00:49:54,920 --> 00:49:58,280 people went into the process with hopes for and 850 00:49:58,280 --> 00:50:03,320 expectations for was different than they left that discernment process. 851 00:50:03,679 --> 00:50:07,159 And so, I think, 1st of all, that 852 00:50:07,159 --> 00:50:11,000 we want music directors and music 853 00:50:11,000 --> 00:50:13,199 leaders to do a lot of things. 854 00:50:13,280 --> 00:50:16,639 And we expect them to do a lot of things well, right? 855 00:50:16,719 --> 00:50:20,360 So we want them to lead a choir, or maybe we want them to play 856 00:50:20,360 --> 00:50:23,719 the organ, or we want them to arrange music for a band, or we 857 00:50:23,719 --> 00:50:27,000 want them to be a dynamic song leader, or we want them 858 00:50:27,039 --> 00:50:30,880 to have come from a tradition that is not wholly Unitarian Universalist. 859 00:50:30,920 --> 00:50:34,039 Um, and what 860 00:50:34,039 --> 00:50:37,559 I have, urged music committees 861 00:50:37,599 --> 00:50:41,599 and search committees to consider is where does 862 00:50:41,599 --> 00:50:46,159 the community want to go in this at next iteration of its living? 863 00:50:46,239 --> 00:50:49,239 And maybe that is, we really 864 00:50:49,239 --> 00:50:52,239 want to nurture a robust choral program. 865 00:50:52,280 --> 00:50:55,800 Or maybe that is, we're a small congregation 866 00:50:55,840 --> 00:51:00,920 of only a 100 people and we want to cultivate a stronger song leader presence. 867 00:51:00,920 --> 00:51:04,280 I think, It is not a one size, 868 00:51:04,280 --> 00:51:06,480 one size fits all model anymore. 869 00:51:06,559 --> 00:51:09,599 And I also think that like 870 00:51:09,639 --> 00:51:13,840 sometimes the people who have the most decorated 871 00:51:13,840 --> 00:51:17,559 musical experience in terms of education 872 00:51:17,559 --> 00:51:21,800 may not have the, the interpersonal, 873 00:51:21,800 --> 00:51:24,599 uh, skills that your congregation is looking for. 874 00:51:24,679 --> 00:51:27,679 So I think that before you begin your search, 875 00:51:27,679 --> 00:51:30,840 that great question of like, where, where do, and I 876 00:51:30,880 --> 00:51:35,920 know where the Nashville congregation has been and it's been a really rich musical place. 877 00:51:35,960 --> 00:51:39,119 Where do we want to go in this next iteration so 878 00:51:39,159 --> 00:51:43,840 that we're not just looking to copy and paste from the experience that we've had before? 879 00:51:43,880 --> 00:51:47,000 What was significant about that experience before? 880 00:51:47,119 --> 00:51:49,320 That could translate into something new. 881 00:51:49,400 --> 00:51:52,920 Because I think one thing to remember is we 882 00:51:52,960 --> 00:51:57,519 want these programs to exist beyond all of us in this room, right? 883 00:51:57,559 --> 00:52:00,679 I want, I want my choirs to exist 884 00:52:00,679 --> 00:52:03,239 long after I have retired. 885 00:52:03,320 --> 00:52:07,519 I want that value to still be there in the congregations that I serve. 886 00:52:07,599 --> 00:52:10,239 So I would start with that 887 00:52:10,360 --> 00:52:12,360 audit first. 888 00:52:12,360 --> 00:52:14,360 Um, and, and 889 00:52:14,360 --> 00:52:18,119 aware that not everyone will have all of the skills that 890 00:52:18,159 --> 00:52:21,760 you might want from the beginning, but I do think that AUUMM 891 00:52:21,760 --> 00:52:25,239 and the UUA are starting to really think about how to better resource 892 00:52:25,239 --> 00:52:28,960 folks with equipping them with some 893 00:52:28,960 --> 00:52:32,119 of the, um, the education for the things that 894 00:52:32,119 --> 00:52:34,320 they may, they may be a little behind on. 895 00:52:34,400 --> 00:52:36,440 So that would be my suggestion to start. 896 00:52:36,519 --> 00:52:40,880 I can only add snaps. 897 00:52:44,320 --> 00:52:47,599 Alright, and I'll add a plug for, uh, yeah, being in touch with your 898 00:52:47,599 --> 00:52:52,800 congregational life staff, uh, to support you in any search, not just ministers. 899 00:52:52,880 --> 00:52:55,920 We, we support for all professional searches. 900 00:53:00,519 --> 00:53:05,920 I mean, luckily, I do not have the task of wrapping this conversation up. 901 00:53:05,960 --> 00:53:09,239 I'm going to turn that to my, uh, colleagues, Lauren and QuianaDenae 902 00:53:09,280 --> 00:53:12,199 but, um, Paolo and Jen. 903 00:53:12,280 --> 00:53:18,159 Just thank you so much for so much richness and uh, I really wish we could do this. 904 00:53:18,199 --> 00:53:20,599 Again, and again, again, maybe we will. 905 00:53:20,679 --> 00:53:23,920 Um, but thank you for, yeah, 906 00:53:23,920 --> 00:53:27,199 the generosity of sharing and really letting us into 907 00:53:27,199 --> 00:53:32,280 see, um, what you've been able to create with your ministries. 908 00:53:32,360 --> 00:53:34,360 Really grateful. 909 00:53:34,400 --> 00:53:36,400 Thank you. 910 00:53:36,400 --> 00:53:38,719 My friends. 911 00:53:38,800 --> 00:53:42,559 So, uh, QuianaDenae again, I want to thank Hilary. 912 00:53:42,639 --> 00:53:45,760 Um, as a colleague, I want to thank Jen and 913 00:53:45,760 --> 00:53:49,360 Paolo as as, uh, kin in music in 914 00:53:49,360 --> 00:53:52,280 our little UU world and space. 915 00:53:52,400 --> 00:53:55,400 Um, I want to take a point of privilege to 916 00:53:55,400 --> 00:53:58,559 thank Lauren for inviting me last May, as a matter of fact, about 917 00:53:58,599 --> 00:54:01,840 a year ago, to be on this adventure with her, 918 00:54:01,840 --> 00:54:04,880 and so I'm just really thankful, and I want to thank Ritoo, 919 00:54:04,880 --> 00:54:08,360 um, on a personal level who has juggled at least with me over these 920 00:54:08,360 --> 00:54:11,519 last 9 months as I try to understand the level of technology 921 00:54:11,559 --> 00:54:15,559 that happens in the background of this event that we get to do together. 922 00:54:15,639 --> 00:54:18,880 Um, and in addition, I 923 00:54:18,880 --> 00:54:20,920 want to let you all know, we have been recording this. 924 00:54:21,039 --> 00:54:24,199 And if you're looking, not your private conversations, but the 925 00:54:24,199 --> 00:54:28,159 goodness that was Hilary, Jen, and Paolo, if you were looking 926 00:54:28,159 --> 00:54:31,320 for the video recordings of tonight's programming, you'll be 927 00:54:31,360 --> 00:54:35,119 able to find those posted on the website in about a week or so, um, 928 00:54:35,119 --> 00:54:40,280 And we make sure that you know where that link is, and you can find the recordings from 929 00:54:40,280 --> 00:54:44,000 prior months as well, and that link will be in the chat. 930 00:54:44,079 --> 00:54:47,119 Um, and I want to thank you for the pleasure also of just letting 931 00:54:47,119 --> 00:54:49,679 us be community together the last 9 months. 932 00:54:49,760 --> 00:54:55,159 Um, and with a song in my heart, literally, I turn it over to Lauren Wyeth. 933 00:54:55,239 --> 00:54:57,239 My good friend. 934 00:54:57,239 --> 00:54:59,079 This has been such a blessing to get to with you. 935 00:54:59,079 --> 00:55:02,400 My dear, and I appreciate so much what you have 936 00:55:02,440 --> 00:55:05,920 brought to this gathered community each month that we've been together. 937 00:55:05,960 --> 00:55:09,079 We are, indeed, taking a break for the next 938 00:55:09,079 --> 00:55:12,679 few months and will continue our program in 939 00:55:12,679 --> 00:55:17,400 September, um, with a whole new, um, host of guests, 940 00:55:17,440 --> 00:55:20,920 um, and we're making, we're going to have a conversation 941 00:55:20,920 --> 00:55:26,239 about how to make sure that this program really gets to have its national reach. 942 00:55:26,320 --> 00:55:29,320 So we've got to figure out something about fixing the time zone 943 00:55:29,320 --> 00:55:31,360 situation for our country. 944 00:55:31,400 --> 00:55:34,760 I'm sure we're on that and we'll get it all figured out, but it's 945 00:55:34,760 --> 00:55:40,199 just so lovely to be together with congregational leaders from across the country. 946 00:55:40,239 --> 00:55:43,280 And we know that these videos get a lot of 947 00:55:43,280 --> 00:55:45,679 play after the evening as well. 948 00:55:45,760 --> 00:55:47,760 So. 949 00:55:47,760 --> 00:55:50,119 Ah, it's been very rich and what a year. 950 00:55:50,199 --> 00:55:53,239 So we do every 951 00:55:53,239 --> 00:55:56,719 time we gather, ask you to share your feedback 952 00:55:56,719 --> 00:56:00,320 about this program with us, and we will be looking at 953 00:56:00,320 --> 00:56:03,960 all of that, especially closely, after this gathering 954 00:56:04,000 --> 00:56:09,079 and through the summer, as we make plans for what will be on the docket for next year. 955 00:56:09,159 --> 00:56:12,320 So please, absolutely follow this link 956 00:56:12,320 --> 00:56:16,199 that we're putting into the chat 957 00:56:16,239 --> 00:56:20,199 right now and fill out this feedback form for us. 958 00:56:20,239 --> 00:56:23,960 We really want to know, um, what you're interested in, 959 00:56:23,960 --> 00:56:27,440 what conversations you would like to have, um, 960 00:56:27,440 --> 00:56:31,519 and what we can get, what we can get queued up while summer 961 00:56:31,519 --> 00:56:34,760 is happening so that we start off with a bang in September. 962 00:56:34,840 --> 00:56:38,239 And um, we're 963 00:56:38,239 --> 00:56:41,400 gonna take a little quiet moment for these last, 964 00:56:41,440 --> 00:56:44,559 or for a minute here for you to work on that feedback 965 00:56:44,559 --> 00:56:48,039 form and then, um, at some moment, 966 00:56:48,039 --> 00:56:53,840 um, Ritoo is gonna queue up some music from beheld. 967 00:56:53,920 --> 00:56:57,559 Singing a song that really is an offering. 968 00:56:57,639 --> 00:57:01,119 It really is a blessing and we chose it on purpose. 969 00:57:01,159 --> 00:57:05,039 I chose it on purpose because it is a balm to my soul every time I hear it. 970 00:57:05,119 --> 00:57:08,400 And um, I want to offer it to you. 971 00:57:08,480 --> 00:57:12,000 Um, tonight, because, 972 00:57:12,039 --> 00:57:16,880 well, you've gotten to know Jen a little bit for the 1st time perhaps or maybe gone to connect with her again. 973 00:57:16,960 --> 00:57:20,920 And it is, it is um, beheld that she is 974 00:57:20,920 --> 00:57:24,880 the lead 4 that offers it and it's just the right words for 975 00:57:24,880 --> 00:57:26,960 our congregational leaders, I think, in this time. 976 00:57:27,039 --> 00:57:29,360 So, this is a blessing for you. 977 00:57:29,440 --> 00:57:33,760 Um, We thank you for your leadership in your congregation. 978 00:57:33,800 --> 00:57:36,559 We thank you for your presence here this evening and throughout the year. 979 00:57:54,400 --> 00:57:56,079 Don't 980 00:57:56,079 --> 00:58:00,280 give up now 981 00:58:02,079 --> 00:58:05,599 Don't please... 982 00:58:05,639 --> 00:58:09,159 Don't 983 00:58:09,159 --> 00:58:12,679 give up now. 984 00:58:14,639 --> 00:58:15,760 Someday, 985 00:58:15,760 --> 00:58:19,239 Somebody's gonna make you wanna turn around and say goodbye 986 00:58:19,360 --> 00:58:22,760 Until then, baby, are you gonna let them 987 00:58:22,800 --> 00:58:25,199 Hold you down and make you cry? 988 00:58:25,320 --> 00:58:27,320 Don't you know? 989 00:58:27,320 --> 00:58:28,559 Don't you know things will change? 990 00:58:28,599 --> 00:58:30,760 Things'll go your way 991 00:58:30,760 --> 00:58:36,599 If you hold on for one more day 992 00:58:37,280 --> 00:58:42,599 Hold on for one more day 993 00:58:42,599 --> 00:58:49,719 Hold on for one more day 994 00:58:49,800 --> 00:59:00,000 Hold on for one more day 995 00:59:08,519 --> 00:59:13,760 Someday, somebody's gonna make me want to turn around, say goodbye. 996 00:59:13,920 --> 00:59:18,960 Until then, baby, are you gonna let them Hold you down and make you cry? 997 00:59:19,000 --> 00:59:20,440 Don't you know? 998 00:59:20,440 --> 00:59:21,559 Don't you know? 999 00:59:21,559 --> 00:59:22,920 Things will change. 1000 00:59:22,920 --> 00:59:24,559 Things will go your way. 1001 00:59:25,039 --> 00:59:30,960 If you hold on for one more day 1002 00:59:31,599 --> 00:59:37,199 hold on for one more day 1003 00:59:37,280 --> 00:59:43,079 hold on for one more day 1004 00:59:43,280 --> 00:59:53,599 hold on for one more day 1005 00:59:59,199 --> 01:00:06,400 For one more day 1006 01:00:14,960 --> 01:00:20,800 Don't discourage 1007 01:00:21,159 --> 01:00:30,079 Don't give up now 1008 01:00:35,639 --> 01:00:38,880 Good night, dear ones.