Muusic 4UU Season Three: Fall

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Presenting … MUSIC FOR YOU!

December 14, 2024: Bells and Brass Holiday Concert

Saturday, December 14, 2024, 4:00 p.m.

Muusic 4UU  Bells and Brass Holiday Concert

Featuring

The Ringers on the Square

The Muusic 4UU Celestial Brass Ensemble

Program

Brass

Fanfare  – William Walton

Bells

Angels We Have Heard on High – arr. Martha Lynn Thompson

The Holly and the Ivy – Traditional British Carol, collect by Cecil Sharp

Patchwork Christmas – arr. by Karen Buckwalter

Brass

And the Glory of the Lord –  G.F. Handel  arr. Thomas

Christmas Jazz Suite –  Bill Holcombe

Bells

Carol of the Bells – by Peter J. Wilhousky

I Wonder as I Wander – Appalachian Carol, collected by John Jacob Niles

Brass

Just a Closer Walk With Thee – arr. Jack Gale

Three Christmas Quartets –  arr. John Beyrent

Simple Gifts  Arr. David R. Thomas

Bells

 Deck the Hall – Traditional Welsh Carol

Go, Tell it on the Mountain – African American Spiritual

Brass

Holiday Sing Along!

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Program notes:

With the glint of shiny brass, and the colors of Christmas, the experience of the sight and sound of handbell choir and brass ensemble is at once festive and thrilling. Keene United Church of Christ Ringers on the Square join with the Muusic 4UU Celestial Brass Ensemble for our second annual joyous holiday themed concert in the Peterborough Unitarian Universalist Sanctuary.   Holiday favorites and a community sing along round out the program.

Ringers on the Square has been ringing handbells at the UCC in Keene, NH for over 40 years, and is led by Diantha Dorman.  Diantha, a pianist and organist in addition to Bell Choir Director, has been leading two bell choirs at the UCC in Keene for over 20 years. 

This concert will be a “rare public appearance outside of church” for the group. The 13 ringers play 5 Octaves (that’s 61 bells) of Schulmerich English Handbells. The bells, made in Pennsylvania, range from the lowest, at 7 pounds, to tiny, higher pitched ones. While the larger bells definitely require some brawn to heft, the tiny bells are frequently played “two in hand” by skilled ringers who can ring up to four bells at once.

The multiple ways to sound the bells (ringing, hitting with mallets, tapping on the tables, and swinging) and the light and airy sounds of chimes all enhance the ethereal quality of the group’s sound.

A brass ensemble can come in various sizes, from a trio to a large all-brass band, but a quartet or quintet is somewhat the standard for a brass choir. There is tons of music written for this conformation – think “Canadian Brass” who for years has written, arranged and performed brass choir music resulting in (more or less) the canon for modern brass music. And among the best music is written for the holidays – cleverly arranged for smaller ensembles. The Muusic 4UU Celestial Brass Ensemble includes Sheldon Ross and Vincent Destefano on trumpets, David Sworny, trombone, and Dan Walker on euphonium/trombone.

Singalong Lyrics

O Come All Ye Faithful

Joy to the World

Joy to the world, the Lord is come
Let earth receive her King
Let every heart prepare Him room
And Heaven and nature sing
And Heaven and nature sing
And Heaven, and Heaven, and nature sing

He rules the world with truth and grace
And makes the nations prove
The glories of His righteousness
And wonders of His love
And wonders of His love
And wonders, wonders, of His love

O Little Town of Bethlehem

O little town of Bethlehem
How still we see thee lie
Above thy deep and dreamless sleep
The silent stars go by
Yet in thy dark streets shineth
The everlasting light
The hopes and fears of all the years
Are met in thee tonight

For Christ is born of Mary
And gathered all above
While mortals sleep, the angels keep
Their watch of wondering love

O morning stars together
Proclaim thy holy birth
And praises sing to God the King
And peace to men on earth

Angels We Have Heard on High

Angels we have heard on high,
sweetly singing o’er the plains,
and the mountains in reply
echoing their joyous strains:

Refrain:
Gloria, in excelsis Deo!
Gloria, in excelsis Deo

Shepherds, why this jubilee?
Why your joyous strains prolong?
What the gladsome tidings be
which inspire your heav’nly song? [Refrain]

Jingle Bells

Dashing through the snow
In a one-horse open sleigh
O’er the fields we go
Laughing all the way
Bells on bobtails ring
Making spirits bright
What fun it is to ride and sing
A sleighing song tonight

Jingle bells, jingle bells
Jingle all the way
Oh, what fun it is to ride
In a one-horse open sleigh, hey
Jingle bells, jingle bells
Jingle all the way
Oh, what fun it is to ride
In a one-horse open sleigh

A day or two ago
I thought I’d take a ride
And soon, Miss Fanny Bright
Was seated by my side
The horse was lean and lank
Misfortune seemed his lot
He got into a drifted bank
And then we got upsot

Jingle bells, jingle bells
Jingle all the way
Oh, what fun it is to ride
In a one-horse open sleigh, hey
Jingle bells, jingle bells
Jingle all the way
Oh, what fun it is to ride
In a one-horse open sleigh

Silent Night

Silent night, holy night!
All is calm, all is bright.
Round yon Virgin, Mother and Child.
Holy infant so tender and mild,
Sleep in heavenly peace,
Sleep in heavenly peace

Silent night, holy night!
Shepherds quake at the sight.
Glories stream from heaven afar
Heavenly hosts sing Alleluia,
Christ the Savior is born!
Christ the Savior is born

Silent night, holy night!
Son of God love’s pure light.
Radiant beams from Thy holy face
With dawn of redeeming grace,
Jesus Lord, at Thy birth

Jesus Lord, at Thy birth

A Warm and Loving Holiday Season to Everyone!

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November 16, 2024, Piano Extravaganza

The Extravagance of Hammers and Strings

Tony Brinsdon and Beethoven

Program

Ludwig van Beethoven

Piano Sonata No. 7 in D major, Op. 10, No. 3

1. Presto
2. Largo e mesto
3. Minuet
4. Rondo

Tony Brinsdon, a gentle man and a fixture of Peterborough Unitarian Universalist Congregation, is also a quiet genius on the piano. He began his musical career at the age of five in Bristol, England. He was educated at Cambridge University and came to the United States in 1978, working in corporate accounting and finance in manufacturing companies, at some point living and working in France for six years. Since his retirement to the Monadnock region, he has studied with internationally renowned collaborative pianist, Vladimir Odinokikh, a teacher at Keene State University and Franklin Pierce College.

Tony is studious and very focused. He has been very much a part of PUUC operations and finance, but has still been part of the musical life of the congregation, giving recitals and accompanying choir and soloists when needed. The measure of the man is in his fondest memory: that of participating in his children’s efforts to learn a second language during their years in France.

The Sonata No. 7 was written in 1798, making it one Beethoven’s earlier works. He dedicated the sonata to the Countess Anne Margarete von Browne. This makes it contemporary with his three Op. 9 string trios, his three Op. 12 violin sonatas, and the violin and orchestra romance that later became his Op. 50 upon its publication. 

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An Original in Her Own Right: Marybeth Hallinan

Program

Selections to be announced

Original compositions by Marybeth Hallinan

Marybeth Hallinan is one of those freelance musicians that the rest of us dream of becoming. As a teacher, mentor, composer, performer, music director, and trail guide for musicians, she fills a keystone position in two communities: the general public and the strong and vibrant musical community of the Monadnock area. Her lesson studio for piano and voice students has been a fixture for thirty years and she is a familiar presence locally as accompanist for local school choir concerts and other musical events.

Building a career in music is a real two-step for musicians. Marybeth has accomplished this masterfully; her stability in the choral scene comes from a long term post at the Peterborough Unitarian Universalist Congregation and with a community choir she founded and directed. As a composer, she has established a presence both locally and online; her songs are gentle and soulful, her voice warm and earthy. She has crafted many poignant compositions around themes of love, loss, grief, joy, community, and spirit.

This fits the artist and her approach to life, and there is so much more to that than just directing a choir or giving a piano lesson. To Marybeth, music is the essence of healing the whole person. When not teaching or accompanying, she leads a hiking and singing camp for adults, “Sound Adventures,” and offers workshops and sessions, “Sound Healing for Sound Health” through her business Fundamentally Harmonic. As she puts it:

Music’s innate ability to bring people together and to heal have led me naturally to a place of intentional healing through sound. I am passionate about assisting others to return to their own fundamentally harmonic self.

This approach comes through her performances, building her sets around what the moment might need. She considers “how best to serve that moment through the arc of the songs. A gentle beginning, provocative middle, and hopeful resolve.” That sounds pretty much like her compositions.

With a career that weaves such a rich tapestry, she has found the ideal way to offer herself to our world. Of this tapestry, she says:

These threads are woven from the depth of heart connection with the natural world, with sound and vibration as a healing modality, and the skills I arrived with in this world. They are a collective as an outpouring born from my experience. Most of these colorful threads found their way to my tapestry on their own. I follow the threads!

What a beautiful idea…

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The Incomparable Virginia Eskin

Program

Frederick Chopin

• Fantasy Impromptu, “Aeolian Harp” Etude
• Revolutionary Etude, Op 25                                

Joseph Lamb

• Ragtime Nightingale 

Scott Joplin                                        

• Mexican Serenade                                                          

Franz Liszt

• Liebestraume, Valse Oubliee   

Ludwig van Beethoven                                          

• Sonata quasi una fantasia “Moonlight,” Op 27                       

One of the most delicious aspects of living and working in the Monadnock region is that, due to the area’s wealth of the Arts, many world class artists come here to retire!  Yes, Virginia Eskin is indeed a world class artist; a boilerplate bio puts it this way: Virginia has performed all over the world and on national radio and television. She created and hosted “First Ladies of Music,” winner of the Clarion Award in 2007. A regular with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, she has traveled the world over in the capacity of a soloist and concerto artist.

This is all true, but so narrow a vision. For starters, Virginia is such an interesting entertainer!  I asked a few questions of her and received a wealth of information worthy of a full biographical sketch. In the interest of this blog, I’ll give you the highlights.

When speaking informally to a major figure, it seems uncharitable to reduce such a presence to a resume of performances – in any event, impossible to list thousands of appearances in the manner of Wikipedia. Moments of conversations of luminaries in their field engenders the best of stories – the fact that she enumerated her Symphony Hall appearances (26), the conductors she worked with (Arthur Fiedler, Harry Ellis Dickson, and John Williams at the top of the list).

My favorite story is also hers, and one that speaks so eloquently of the connection to tradition that musicians share. In her words, which I paraphrase:

The highlight of my career was playing in Carnegie Hall with the Boston Symphony Orchestra … playing on that fabled stage, looking down at the knotholes in the floorboards, and realizing I am sitting in the exact spot that Arthur Rubinstein and Vladimir Horowitz once sat in.

This sense of awe and wonder is an illumination of another Virginia-ism. Asked about early developments in her career, she thought back to younger days and revealed what it is to be an emerging artist:

Well, we never stop emerging really. Musicians are magpies and constantly pick up ideas, themes, modulations, chord changes, anything to improve, enhance our sound.

So, music keeps us growing, then. Seeing something develop in our children, watching students become aware and enlightened or people healing, discovering oneself on the front lines of making Tradition: What comes from a relatively simple analog musical instrument of keys and strings, dampers and hammers, has so much to do with the person touching those keys and bringing themselves to the music.

~Lucinda Ellert

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Just What the Heck is Americana?

Styles of music go through cycles – not exactly a birth/life/death cycle as organic entities experience – but something more like recombinant DNA. Each new period of music has its creators, followers and adherents, which then segues gradually toward a new period with new creators and followers who all borrow from past styles and move forward. The building blocks of one period – i.e. DNA – provides the foundation for something new.

Consider the segue between the Classical and Romantic periods – Mozart to Beethoven comes to mind. Mozart wrote at the pinnacle of the Classic period in a manner that shouts logic to our ears. Beethoven, whose lifetime crossed Mozart’s by about 20 years wrote in a style similar to Mozart’s until around 1800 when he began to depart from the Classical period by degrees, pioneering early Romanticism which gave rise to the greatness of the symphonic music of the 19^th century.  That period in the late 1700’s to the first decade or so of the 1800’s, which featured many great works of music but which is largely overshadowed by Beethoven’s early symphonies is just such a segue.

This may seem to have nothing to do with the Muusic4UU concert of Americana with Jonas Taub and Off the Cuff, but keep reading and I’ll bring it around for you. Here is the Wikipedia definition of Americana:

Americana (also known as American roots music) is an amalgam of American music formed by the confluence of the shared and varied traditions that make up the musical ethos of the United States of America, with particular emphasis on music historically developed in the American South.

The word amalgam is important in this context. We are all familiar with the different approaches to music in our lifetimes: Jazz, Blues, Swing, Folk, Bluegrass. Also Country, Soul, Gospel and we mustn’t forget rock and roll. Americana is what is now being defined, in some words, as the “rich threads”¹ all being woven together into a tapestry.

When I asked Jonas Taub to name five words that come to mind when he considers the music played by Off the Cuff, those first five above (Jazz, Blues, Swing, Folk and Bluegrass in that order) were where he started. I asked him to explain them in order of importance:

“This is a list of musical style that are part of our repertoire. No one is more important than the others. As our PR materials state, we are an acoustic band performing different styles of American Music, Americana, if you like. But Americana often refers to music that draws from folk/country/bluegrass/traditional influences. We define Americana more broadly to reference the influences of jazz, blues, swing, soul, R&B “The Great American Songbook” and musical theater, as well as traditional and modern folk, rock, country, bluegrass and other roots music. “

So for the purposes of an Off the Cuff concert, there is no order of importance. And that’s what’s important.

What I’m hearing is a combination of standard tunes with a predominantly folk instrumentation, but sometimes electronically amplified. Vocals are often tight trios a la 1940’s Swing or 1970’s rock, but there are also descanted duos with interesting harmonies in fourths and fifths in the style of folk and country. The addition of clarinet becomes a stand-in for a whole host of higher tessatura instruments like the harmonica, but also improvises in a way that hearkens back to Pee Wee Russell or Barney Bigard.

A tune like  If It Hadn’t Been for Love has a feel much like the Neil Young or Eric Clapton unplugged concerts and recordings of the 90’s, but with clarinet filling in the harmonica licks. Likewise, Wake Up Little Suzie, that iconic Buddy Holly early rock standard, is transformed into a solid blues approach reminiscent of Blind Lemon Jefferson. But the versatility is clearly their liveliest calling card – they can play Pennies From Heaven in a very typical Traditional Jazz style as easily as they can channel Joan Baez in Red Skies.

Jonas puts it this way:

Ray Charles was once asked if he considers himself a Jazz musician. He answered that he considers himself an R&B musician who sings jazz songs. In that sense, we are a folk group that sings jazz songs, blues, bluegrass, and all the rest of what I listed. We would no more be considered a jazz group than a bluegrass group, but we try to bring some authenticity to each song and add our own personal touch.

It’s impossible to not get excited by this musical movement.  This tells us that not only is the evolution of music not dead, but that there are new things on the horizon.  If the timeline of music has a tendency to morph — an inexorable recombining of DNA – then we are on the brink of yet more change toward new sounds to delight and deepen our cultural heritage. In the meantime I’m just going to sit back and enjoy hearing all my favorite old tunes presented in such refreshing ways. Off the Cuff may seem to be something that is casually tossed out to us, but it really is a balsam for the American soul.

¹The term “Americana music” was defined by the Americana Music Association (AMA) in 2020 as “…the rich threads of country, folk,  blues, soul, bluegrass, gospel, and rock in our tapestry.” From Wikipedia.

Sept. 21 Wendy Keith

“What a voice! Hubba Hubba!” — Vance Gilbert

Wendy Keith is an award winning singer songwriter with roots in Boston and a long and musical life in and around the Monadnock Region. She has recorded four LP original recordings, the most recent of which is It’s About Time with her Alleged Band. Wendy will be playing with acoustic bass player and friend, Ramsey Thomas and friends, an accumulation of original, Americana, blues and jazz. She has played at the Folkway, the Colonial Theatre, and other regional venues. She has opened for the band America and for Jesse Colin Young.

Ms. Keith is an essentialist – as essential as afternoon tea. She writes from her core and sings from her heart. Warm and earthy, her music is the ground beneath us: a foundation. That foundation is solidified by her co-players for this concert: Ramsey Thomas and Walden Whitman

With a name that is literary from all vantage points, Walden Whitman is a poet and a naturalist of music. His basis is wide – saxophone, clarinet, flute and penny whistle are his instruments, but he sings in a warm gospel baritone and picks up the Celtic harp as needed.  In my mind, Celtic harp, flute and pennywhistle in a folk band is like jelly with peanut butter or clotted cream with our biscuit. Adding saxophone is a real game changer with a whole new performance practice and inflection in the music.  Sax brings the wail to the blues, the edge to the folk and invites jazz into what would otherwise be a polite tea party.

Ramsey Thomas is one of those musicians who stands at the back of the band, seemingly innocuous and without a lot of flash and bang. But for our tea party, his smooth, deep and resonant sound on his acoustic string bass is literally the cream in the cup. You may not so easily find him all over YouTube or Facebook as a soloist, but you will never forget that incredible sound. He is a veteran of many years with the Folksoul band with fellow musicians Fred Simmons, Leslie Vogel, Tara Greenblatt, and of course Walden Whitman playing an enticing mix of folk, blues and jazz.  

I asked Wendy if they planned on changing up any of their repertoire for this concert and she said:

We intend to play originals, some familiar and some new. We will be adding blues, jazz, Americana favorites and I’m excited about the freedom to explore with this particular trio.  Last year we focused a great deal on jazz and added some vocal harmonies with new personnel. I have worked with Walden for years and recently began to work with Ramsey on bass, particularly at a very successful blues show with Skip Philbrick on the Hancock common.

Well, I don’t know about you, but I can’t wait to hear.

FALL 2024

• Sept. 21 Wendy Keith
• Oct. 19 Off the Cuff (Jonas Taub) 
• Nov. 16 Piano Extravaganza with Tony Brinsdon Beethoven Sonata Op 10 No. 3; Virginia Eskin, and others
• Dec. 14 Bells and Brass – Keene United Church of Christ Ringers on the Square and Celestial Brass

SPRING 2025

• March 15, 2025 To Be Announced
• April 19, 2025 José Lezcano – Classical Guitarist, Grammy-nominated performer, Keene State College Faculty
• May 31, 2025 Peter Sykes – Hear our magnificent Organ played by this stellar performer!
• June 21, 2025 To Be Announced

Welcome to the Muusic 4UU Blogsite! We’re planning Season Three and because we’re so excited about our success of Season Two we’re really stoked about our plans for a new series of concerts for fall of 2024 and spring of 2025. It’s always so great to see something that has been created take flight, but the real success is in the followers and supporters that get on board with us, the creative team.

Soooo, if you are reading this, you are either one of those supporters, or you just got here because you found the QR code on one of our posters or postcards and scanned it. If you are in the former camp

THANK YOU!!!

If you’re a newcomer to Muusic 4UU: WELCOME!

Here you will find all the information you need to know (or ever hope to!) about all our performances that we present throughout a season. We will add all the program and performer information for each concert as it comes up, so you may have to scroll down a bit to find the one you are currently attending. But just think, almost no paper waste, low printing costs, and information that can be archived and still available for all time … we’re green, baby!

WHO ARE WE?

We are all part of a community of musicians and music lovers who live and work in the Peterborough, NH area; some of whom attend the Peterborough Unitarian Universalist Church (hence the proliferation of UU in our logo!). Coming out of the pandemic and seeing an opportunity to bring back live music, we organize and promote two half-seasons of concerts to help bring more music and joy into the world. Our performers are professionals — local and regional and our groove is uh, shall we say diverse? From folk and jazz, to blues and country, to classical and opera — our plan is to keep it interesting and representative of who we are in our musical souls up here in Peterborough, New Hampshire.

Muusic 4UU is sponsored by The Bessie Foundation and RBC Wealth Management.