by Music Director David Brown
As those of you who were my Sunday school teachers in the ’90s know best, I’ve never had trouble “opening my mouth.” (I suppose that closing it has always been my problem.) But reconciling my joyous vocation of music-making—in part fulfilling a personal affinity—with our collective, essential, UU responsibility to dedicate ourselves to speaking out against injustice is often a challenge for me. For example, how can I spend so many hours practicing the violin while so many suffer? Of course, as we hear so often both from Rev. John and Yvette, the pursuit of joy is an act of resistance—and I know well that music is unto itself a type of sanctuary. Just ask our Choir! But what about music as a conduit for tangible, on-the-ground action? My hybrid grassroots activist/musician identity has been puzzling this for some time.
At the outset of the pandemic, Kaitlyn and I began to host free, outdoor concerts in our backyard and in the parks of our municipality, Haverford Township. We called it “Haverford Harmony” and would invite Democratic elected officials, candidates, and committee people to connect with neighbors—of all political affiliations—about local issues. Our manifestation of the double entendre to “open our mouths” was civic engagement through music. My new friend and local operatic soprano, Alyssa Brode, had her own idea.
This Friday night, June 27 at 7:30 p.m. in the Main Meeting Room, Alyssa presents Open Your Mouth, a tapestry of justice-oriented songs, featuring singers Timothy Faulkner (our featured tenor from last year’s Christmas Carol Sing), Marisa Robinson, Kira Scharf, and Rachel Sigman; pianist Kat Bowman; and yours truly, playing violin, viola, and mandolin. From classical to pop, Offenbach to Simon & Garfunkel (and even some Tom Lehrer), the music is a call to action for us all to open our mouths and speak up about wealth inequality, immigration, climate change, and more. But Alyssa and Friends put their money where their mouths are, as the proceeds of this pay-what-you-can event will be sent to Reclaim Philadelphia, an organization that “builds community power to win change, reclaim government for the people, and advance economic, racial, and gender justice.”
However, Open Your Mouth isn’t even the final illumine concert of the 2024–25 congregational year! This Sunday, Jansen Wendell’s Bayou Porch Rockers, including accordionist Nancy Weston and guitarist Tom Marks, present Cajun dance music for our service (just when you thought you’d heard everything on a Sunday morning at MLUC).
Together we will sing hymns #155: “Circle ‘Round for Freedom” and #148: “Let Freedom Span Both East and West.” Of course, we all know that when Jansen is on stage, we’re going to want to dance—but he’s already planned on that. Following the service, at noon the Bayou Porch Rockers open up the dance floor! They lead their set with a beginner-friendly dance lesson (which I will need), and then the dance party begins.
See you this weekend!