Presenting … MUSIC FOR YOU!

Saturday, December 16, 2023, 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

Carillon and Bell Jubilee arr. Margaret Tucker

Jingle Bells – arr. L. Larson

Brass

And the Glory of the Lord –  Handel  arr. Thomas

Christmas Jazz Suite –  Bill Holcombe

Bells

El Shaddai – M. Card, arr. Geschke

Fum, Fum Fum – arr. Stephson

O Little Town of Bethlehem – arr. Dobrinski

Brass

Just a Closer Walk With Thee – arr. Jack Gale

Four Christmas Quartets –  arr. John Beyrent

Bells

Carol of the Bells – arr. McChesney

We Wish You a Merry Christmas –  arr. Stephenson

Brass

Holiday Sing Along!

Program Notes:

Thrill to the festive sound of Handbells and Brass!   Keene United Church of Christ Ringers on the Square join with Muusic 4UU’s very own Celestial Brass Ensemble for a 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.

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.

The Muusic 4UU Celestial Brass Ensemble includes Sheldon Ross and Dan Melbourne on trumpets (if you heard Sheldon play at the recent Messiah at the PUUC, you know you’ll want to hear him play again!), Peter Guidi on horn and Dan Walker on euphonium/trombone.

Suggested donation: $15

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!

* * *

Welcome to our second season of the Muusic 4UU Blogsite! We’re so excited about our success of our beautiful first 2023 season of five fabulous concerts. 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 members of the group of musicians 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’re starting a series 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.

* * *

SCHEDULE, Autumn 2023

Saturday, Sept 16 McGettigan & Gilbert

Saturday, Oct 21: Virginia Eskin w/ Mary Seaver and John Joyce

Saturday, Nov 18: Tara Greenblatt — after Holiday Stroll.

Saturday, Dec 16 – Bells and Brass – Holiday music with the Ringers on the Square from the Keene UCC and a Brass Quintet

All concerts are held in the beautiful, historic sanctuary of the Peterborough Unitarian Universalist Church, 25 Main St., Peterborough, NH

Concert times are 4:00 pm.

Past concerts:

The Tara Greenblatt Band

Saturday, November 18th at 4PM In the Sanctuary at the Peterborough UU (25 Main Street)

For those who aren’t yet familiar with Tara Greenblatt, you should know to expect “rolling infectious rhythms and a soulful soaring voice alive with the pulse of life.” Tara, who also plays with the Folk Soul Band, is an amazing drummer, a powerful singer and a world class songwriter. She will thrill you with her vivacious energy and extraordinary talents. Guaranteed!

Tara will be accompanied by Ramsay Thomas on bass and Richard Doherty on guitar. Together they will perform a repertoire of original material drawn from her four CDs. One can’t help but be moved emotionally, intellectually and physically by Tara’s music. She is that good and that deep! Her latest release, Let’s Wake Up, will be available for purchase. 

The beautiful and newly upgraded UU Sanctuary is a stellar place to experience the wonder of a Tara Greenblatt concert. 

Muusic 4UU is organized and operated by a group of local music lovers whose mission includes nurturing local musicians by providing a supportive setting where the audience can enjoy their music without commercial distractions. We are switching to a suggested donation format. It is more important to us that people come to our concerts than it is to charge a specific amount. You can donate what you want to contribute. A percentage of the income goes to the musicians, so please attend and enjoy our concerts. This will help us to support our local music scene. 

This concert is sponsored by the Bessie Foundation.

* * *

Past concerts

Muusic 4UU Presents: Eskin, Seaver and Joyce. Saturday, October 21st, 4 pm. Sanctuary of the PUUC, 25 Main Street, Peterborough, NH. Admission $15 at the door.

Welcome to our blog for the October 21 concert. Well known pianist Virginia Eskin is honored to be joined in concert with local musicians Jon Joyce and Mary Seaver.

Virginia Eskin is a renowned musician.  She has made numerous recordings including works by Amy Beach, Arthur Foote, and with members of the Boston Symphony for chamber music.  Her recent documentary film, First Ladies in Music, depicts Amy Beach’s life, her contributions to music and her inspiration to many later female composers. This film was broadcast on PBS. 

 Jon Joyce came from California to Vermont, fleeing COVID, and indulging in the cello.  He now plays in the Keene Chamber Orchestra and the Windham Philharmonic.  He received a Bachelor of Music in cello performance from CSUN at Northridge, CA at the age of 54. 

Mary Seaver, a local clarinetist, spent most of her life around New Hampshire enjoying music from all over.  She was also late getting to college and received a Master of Music in performance from UMass Amherst at the age of 52.

The concert consists of works by Robert Schumann, Clara Schumann, Brahms, Bernstein, and Copland.  This program brings together the close relationships of these composers.  Although these composers were not living in the same time frame, they all brought their deepest passions into their music.  Robert Schumann, Clara Schumann, and Brahms all belong in a group of closely tied musicians whose personal lives and musical careers were deeply related.  Copland and Bernstein, both students of Nadia Boulanger, also had a lifelong deep friendship that propelled them through their musical careers. Come learn more about these relationships and their influence on each other’s music.

* * * *

* * *

McGETTIGAN AND GILBERT

PROGRAM NOTES

In the past annals of recording duos, most have brought their own take to a similar style of music. Mash-ups, while never discouraged, are not usual. And yet, one is reminded that in our lifetime there has been one mash-up duo that made their entire act around their theme song and branding motto: “We’re a little bit country, a little bit rock ‘n roll.” These were Donny and Marie Osmond, the sister/brother duo from the 1970’s who dominated the television variety shows from that period and before you wince with the remembrance, consider that they were actually quite good at what they did.

Suzanne McGettigan and her singing partner of just over a year, Larry Gilbert, are a similar case in point. Both are excellent musicians; they come from different backgrounds, and each perform from their separate points of view — but in this case it’s a bit of folk and a bit of jazz. I asked them a few questions to try and suss out what it is about this combination of sounds that works so well for them.

First things first: Suzanne and Larry, I know that you’ve been working individually or in other groups for a number of years, but tell me how you came about working together.

Suzanne and I met at the Greenfield NH farmer’s market after a correspondence from Band Mix, an ad marketing place where musician’s meet.  We have been performing together for a little over a year.

I know you both come from different musical backgrounds, so tell me about the style of music you play and how you make folk and American Songbook work together.

Our first rehearsal we knew it was a fit, we knew the same songs, we heard the same harmonies, it just was a fit …

… and fitting harmonies is typical for folk and jazz ...

… Suzanne’s rhythmic chord progressions complemented Larry style of playing — our voices blended perfectly with our signature call and return vocals, dynamics was just the icing on the cake.

To follow that, just say a little bit about your background and how you developed as musicians? Lessons? Schooling?

Larry: My background is very diverse. Playing at a very young age I was exposed to many different styles. As I’ve aged, different styles of playing developed, from the folk, rock and jazz era. Today I’ve developed a style that combines a life time of playing guitar with a wide variety of techniques. 

Suzanne: I also started playing guitar at a very young age. My interests focused on the folk music.

Larry: After becoming an accomplished singer/ songwriter Suzanne went on to record her album and opened for some notable acts. She was a regular at the famous Folk Way of Peterborough where she gained popularity in the music scene.   

* * *

I wanted to ask them about their idols and influences but the conversation took a different direction. I’m left reflecting on some of what I’ve heard about these singers from the buzz around town and from local interviews such as the one write up by Bill Fonda in the Monadnock Ledger-Transcript in January of 2023. There is a huge body of repertoire in the folk music field and just as large, or larger, repertoire in jazz. So to try and pinpoint a particular approach of a particularly idolized artist may be pointless. Larry and Suzanne seem to have a very creative simpatico which takes its own direction.

As they work on finishing their first album, material around rock, jazz and gospel is mentioned, and steel guitar is considered as the perfect sound for a tune. The listener comes to understand that this is where music is going — the ground material for American music is pretty well established; now it’s time to explore, synthesize, develop. Throw some ideas at the wall and see where it takes us. For McGettigan and Gilbert the only real limitation is in whether their ideas can be performed live. This is the excitement inherent in following new groups because we’re hearing music history in the making.

* * *