You have likely now heard that the Music Ministry at First Unitarian Church, particularly the adult choir program, has been largely restructured. This began last spring when it was announced that we would be retiring our three mixed choirs (then known as Chalice Choir, Chamber Choir, and Unitarian Choir) at the end of the church year. These choirs, all either formed or developed by our Minister Emeritus of Music, Mark Slegers, each held a strong and distinct identity. And, the members of each group were rightfully proud to sing in them. It has always been a vibrant and vital ministry for this congregation.

As I was reaching the end of my third year as Director of Music, I found that these distinct identities, though beautiful and meaningful in myriad ways, played an unintended role in hindering progress toward my own vision for the future of this ministry. So, the decision was made to retire each choir and build three new choirs that would, over time, come into a new understanding of who they are and their function in the congregation. Every choir member who made a commitment to continue to sing was given a place in one of our new choirs, in several instances, after an audition. There was a great shuffle and singing in our choirs has felt, this year like a brand new experience, even for those who have sung with us for decades. Feelings have been overwhelmingly positive, despite any very reasonable sense of loss.

Meanwhile, in our fourth adult choir, the Women’s Choir, they were asking themselves what it means to be a women’s choir in a society increasingly liberated from binary thought. What does it mean to be a woman? How is that represented and exalted in their work together and with their director, John Boelling, a cisgender male? Is their identity as a treble choir, or generally a choir for sopranos and altos, also important? They did a lot of deep thinking and questioning together, with a lot of support from Dana Buhl (Director of Social Justice). Through that process, they have now come to understand themselves as a treble choir that centers the voices and experiences of women, broadly, and other gender identities that are negatively impacted by patriarchal oppression. I continue to be impressed by how beautifully they did this work in community and through a process of consensus building.

I believe strongly in the power of naming oneself. Certain monarchs do it. The pope does it. Drag queens do it. It is even commonly done in the queer community, when in order to heal from past harms, it makes sense to re-identify. Obviously, renaming is common in the trans community when one’s given name is gendered in a way that oppresses or suppresses one’s true self. In naming ourselves, there is presented an opportunity to look beyond any held sense of identity toward an understanding of self that may not yet be fully realized.
At our recent Adult Music Retreat, each of our four, newly characterized, adult choirs were given an opportunity to name themselves, and two remarkable things occurred.

First, it was made clear, through a democratic process, that the members of our choir program no longer perceive themselves as belonging to particular groups, but rather to a whole – one large choir with shared purpose and vision. The great shuffle is likely a factor in this understanding, but I think another might be the bonds that have been sparked and fostered by our combined annual weekend retreats these past few years. So, for all intents and purposes, our four adult choirs are now one entity, known simply as First Unitarian Church’s Chancel Choir.

However, we still have four groups of people who meet at four different times and prepare four sets of repertoire. So, for logistical and internal-only purposes, each group – each chapter of our one choir needed to choose names. A prompt was given by the Music Council to choose names after a sacred or spiritual virtue. Then, and this is the second remarkable thing, each group went to work and established a wonderful set of names that reflect both their identities and their aspirations.

Our treble choir is now known among us as Amity.
Our non-auditioned mixed choir is now known among us as Grace.
Our large auditioned choir is now known among us as Radiance.
Our small auditioned choir is now known among us as Harmony.

It feels notable that almost every group had as their first choice, “Grace”, but democracy favors the fortunate. Thank you! I would be happy to address any questions or concerns this brings up for you.