Category: Our Music: Musings
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Our Music: On Inviting Musicians to Neighbourhood
by Susanne Maziarz, Music Director at Neighbourhood I invite musicians to Neighbourhood regularly. And I love to. I am proud of our congregation. It is a special, warm place for musicians to share their gifts. Musicians by trade are asked to open themselves up and be made vulnerable to their audience. The supporting, loving, and…
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Our Music: Love And Beauty In The Face Of Hate
by Susanne Maziarz, Music Director at Neighbourhood Over five years ago, I heard about Threshold Choirs at the Unitarian Universalist Musicians Network (UUMN) conference. A seed had been planted and now the Comfort Choir is in our fifth year singing at the Michael Garron (formerly Toronto East General) Hospital. Thinking of how music can both…
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Our Music: Make Time To Listen To Music
by Susanne Maziarz, Music Director at Neighbourhood I used to listen to music a lot. Daily. When I was in school, I was so turned on by all of the new kinds of music and new sounds that I was hearing that sitting and listening to music in my headphones without any other distractions was…
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Our Music: Sectional Healing
by Susanne Maziarz, Music Director at Neighbourhood Each year, the Spirit Choir participates in an exercise called Sectional Healing. Each of the four sections (Soprano, Alto, Tenor and Bass) meet privately to plan the presentation of a song (of their choice) to the rest of the choir. Everyone must have at least one line of…
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Our Music: Sharing of Soul and Spirit is What Matters
by Susanne Maziarz, Music Director at Neighbourhood My role at Neighbourhood is one of both teaching and learning, shining and reflecting, supporting and standing tall. Because of my years of musical discipline, I’ve pushed myself to improve my skills in a way that a hobby musician may not. So I expect to hear music from…
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Our Music: Visiting Choir and Trio
by Susanne Maziarz, Music Director at Neighbourhood Musicking fosters compassion. We hear our own stories in song lyrics and our emotions give us a direct line to the composer’s soul. There are many opportunities to participate in music-making at Neighbourhood this month and feel the interconnectedness between us. . Friday, March 3rd, 7:30 pm: Talent…
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Our Music: Let Love Continue Long!
by Susanne Maziarz, Music Director at Neighbourhood Love … the inspiration for so much great music! At Neighbourhood this month we will have the chance to hear and sing some of our favourites. The Spirit Band will be featuring some beautiful love songs by Paul McCartney and The Beach Boys. Our Spirit Choir will sing…
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Our Music: I Am Looking For You!
by Susanne Maziarz, Music Director at Neighbourhood Written by Ghanaian drummer Sol Amarifio, Woyaya is the title song of a 1971 album by Oisibisa, a musical group of Ghanaian and Caribbean musicians. It was frequently heard in work camps throughout central West Africa in the 1970s and 1980s. The arrangement in Singing the Journey comes…
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Our Music: A Month For Singing!
by Susanne Maziarz, Music Director at Neighbourhood Our hymn of the month is the same as last December, Shelley Jackson Denham’s (1950-2013) Dark of Winter, #55. It is a beautiful four-part hymn, beautiful in both text and music and so profoundly appropriate for this time of year. The lyrics are as follows: Dark of winter,…
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Our Music: Collaborative Music
by Susanne Maziarz, Music Director at Neighbourhood Our hymn of the month for the theme of Gratitude is the product of a collaborative effort between Neighbourhood member and poet Peter Marmorek, and myself. I invited members of the congregation to submit their original poetry to me to be set to music. I received many entries…