Anyone who knows me well knows that I love music. It seems to fill a place in my soul that would be void without it.  I can’t profess that I am good at creating it, but I sure love to listen to it.  I’ve always been the one in the crowd at a concert that can’t sit still – I’m always tapping my foot, bobbing my head, or whispering along with the words.  Music has a real affect on me, in positive and visceral ways.

EUUC has some tangible ways for me to follow my love of music.  I feel so blessed to have so many opportunities right here in Chapman Hall.  From the concert series of guest performers every year to opportunities for us to make our own music, we have choices.  We are so fortunate to have Wil who brings us some new options this year – Drum Circle and Singing classes on Saturday mornings.  I am enjoying the challenge of the drumming class so much that I had to go out and get my very own drum! The group will get a chance to play along with the choir this month and in January.

I love the opportunities for people to get up and share their own musical talents with others in our monthly Open Mike evenings, though I am only an avid fan at this point.  Vespers, with its beautifully quiet songs, poetry reading, flute playing and singing bowls makes for an amazing evening.  If you haven’t made the event on a Friday evening you must come and experience the sense of peace and quiet happiness you feel as you leave afterward.  A truly meditative way to end your week.

And of course we have our choirs.  I love being in our adult choir but I am so impressed with how our children’s choir has grown in body and ability.  They rock the house!  It is so fun to hear them share music with our congregation. Of course I can’t write about music at EUUC without acknowledging the part our pianist, Tomoko, shares in making it beautiful and inspiring.  She is amazingly talented.  Wil is such a versatile music director and I can’t thank him enough for the variety of musical ways he feeds my soul on Sundays and beyond.

Notes from a Choir Member.

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I had been beseeched to join in the Seabeck Experience for several years, and finally, it seemed that the stars had lined up to allow me to partake. Even the ferry seemed to cooperate, as the departure from my Greenwood home to the Seattle dock with a 35 minute interval to departure left a pleasant enough time on the dock to pause for a ten minutes and lean against the car as I watched commuters pull up and take in another day’s mundane commute while I embarked on an adventure. (more…)