The pursuit of learning an instrument takes countless hours outside of what anyone hears from the stage. It’s hours in the practice room by oneself. It’s exploring how different parts of the music fit together. It’s considering how we will let that music breathe through our technique. It’s asking what is resonant, what is dissonant, what is needed, and when is it needed? Then it’s hours together as an ensemble. It’s hours, and minutes, and seconds, and more hours all coming together in the pursuit of creation and recreation until an audience member hears that first note.
And then, when that note is shared, that phrase, that piece of music changes because the nature of music is a practice that never stays the same: music is dependent on each time and place it is shared with the people who share it. And at the same time music starts very simply with a single note. It starts with a single phrase, or a song that grabs you and won’t let go. Music at its core is an invitation to play.
Like practicing an instrument, construction projects are messy and we need to be careful at job sites, testing out what we build each step of the way. That’s the process the Unitarian Universalist Association is engaged in as they build a new UU Virtual Hymnal. Their vision, which I want to invite you to join, is “to build a living collection of song resources through an accessible, equitable, online platform grounded in UU values. […]” You can learn more about the project here https://www.uua.org/worship/lab/virtual-hymnal; we will beta test some of their work so far this fall.
The Virtual Hymnal Task Force has been designing our new platform and checking in with musicians and support organizations since March of 2023. To date that’s 17 months of various phases of work behind the scenes, with the team emerging every now and then to share their learning with the wider UU world.
This fall, I have my own project that will be going into a new phase. It’s a project that will require me to be away and practicing at home for three months starting when my baby arrives sometime this September. Tending to this new life will be a new practice for me and my family. We will be under construction.
You will be under construction too. You will learn how to rely on one another in ways you already know, and welcome ensemble members we haven’t heard yet. What will you listen for? What will sound resonant? What will feel dissonant? It’s a beautiful thing to make music together.
In August, we will be tuning up and finishing our plans for this practice time. Please reach out in the next few weeks if you’d like to help with the upcoming construction. And please consider joining in the next phase, which will commence in December upon my return. I can’t wait to hear what we create in our practice spaces.
Yours in learning and song,
Ebee Bromley, Director of Religious Education & Director of Music