Music has a seasonality that’s not immediately obvious unless you’re a singer, instrumentalist, accompanist, or composer. Seasonality is also related to which particular instrument you play, and where you perform. Parents of an adolescent who plays the baritone horn, for example, know they can expect invitations to three concerts: the first about six weeks after the school year has begun; the second in late November or early December; and the third near the end of the school year. If your child is part of a marching band, you may be asked to help get uniforms clean and pressed for a holiday parade in late November or early December. Then you’ll be expected to chaperone the band on a trip to the nation’s capital near Memorial Day. Every musician knows to expect invitations to pour in before the “holiday season.” Seasonality for someone who is part of a congregational choir depends on the liturgical year of a particular faith community.
For members of the Fellowship choir, the year starts soon after Labor Day, when weekly rehearsals begin. The choir is part of holiday celebrations in late November and early December, even though most members of our congregation are humanist and do not link their holiday celebrations with the birth of Jesus, the story of Hanukah, or the death of Buddha or Confucius. We reach the end of the congregational year in late May or early June.
During the summer Katherine Price, the music director, has the opportunity to attend the annual conference of the Unitarian Universalist Musicians Network. She has a chance to consider whether the choir will be performing a single major work such as the Missa Gaia, by Paul Winter, or a requiem by a living UU composer such as Clif Hardin. She also has time for a more leisurely practice schedule than is the case during the congregational year.
Choir members, on the other hand, have to search out opportunities to sing during the summer if the thought of three months without singing is intolerable. Sometimes another congregation in Hendersonville organizes a pick-up choir, or plans a concert scheduled for mid-September. Sometimes the choir has the opportunity to take part in a memorial service, although it’s difficult to sing when the life being celebrated was part of the choir or played an active role in the life of the Fellowship. Sometimes choir members return from trips to other regions or countries with new music for Katherine to consider.
Whatever you’re doing this summer, build in time to relax and time to explore a musical setting or type that’s new to you. Make music part of your summer. Who knows – you may decide you want to join the choir yourself.
Enjoy!