Choir News

The Music Committee is seeking input as to the type(s) of music congregation members enjoy hearing during Sunday services. You can give your feedback by filling out a survey that the Music Committee has created and will make available on Sundays during September. We would also love to hear from individuals willing to contribute their musical talents to enhance our services. If you play an instrument or would like to see what the choir is all about, contact Music Director Rebecca Maze (rmaze@austin.rr.com).

December 2006

SPECIAL TEMPORARY CHOIR FOR CHRISTMAS EVE

Would you like to be in choir if it didn’t involve a long-term commitment? Do you love singing Christmas carols? Then you have your chance this Christmas! We probably need to have one or two rehearsals together (if not on Wednesday nights, then some other time we can all agree on). We would sing three carols during the Christmas Eve candlelight service. We would also welcome children (parents can judge their capability, I think).

Email Rebecca (rmaze@austin.rr.com) for questions or to volunteer.

November 2006

Music Meeting Results Approximately 15 people, more than half of them non-choir members, attended our discussion of Live Oak’s musical future last month. We exchanged many thoughts about the direction our music programs should take and I felt it was very productive.

Some suggestions included: having more youth and children from the church perform, creating a children’s choir, having more quartets and small groups of singers, inviting other choirs to come sing at our church, having more informal sing-alongs on stage during the service, using more drumming during services, having shorter-term choirs to get more people involved who are not able to attend regular weekly rehearsals, and a possible chimes choir (a less costly type of bell choir).

All were enthusiastic about introducing the new hymnal supplement to the congregation over the next few months and, if the songs are well received, starting a hymnal drive to purchase those. Some felt that having song leaders to both teach the new hymns before the service at the beginning of the Prelude time (10:20) and to lead them during the service, would be useful. Also, the need for more musical support during FRED and offering children’s choir and music classes during that time was mentioned.

Some of these suggestions are already being implemented. The first Sunday in November we will invite congregation members up on stage to sing a familiar and fun tune (to be announced!) and we hope the response to that will be as good as it was when we sang Over the Rainbow not too long ago. I would also like to invite anyone interested to form a three-week choir during the month of December to prepare carols for our Christmas Eve service. That invitation is extended especially to non-choir members.

I have asked Brent Baldwin, choir director at First UU, to choose a time for his choir to come sing at our church (we recently sang at his church), and we are really looking forward to that. Also, the choir has begun to sing selections from the new hymnal supplement in church.

One of the issues most discussed was the noise level in the sanctuary during the Prelude. This has been a topic in Worship Committee for years! It continues to be a challenge. It was thought that once we had a building in which people did not walk directly into the worship space, that the talking could take place in the foyer and narthex and that the sanctuary would naturally inspire a more meditative feeling as people entered to music. However, this has not been the case, and many in our meeting felt there is a lack of respect shown to both those members and visitors who want to listen quietly and to the person or people who are performing.

The Worship Committee and the greeters are now working together to try to make a more contemplative environment by ringing the chimes at 10:20, closing the sanctuary doors to shut out narthex noise, and beginning the Prelude. At 10:30 another set of chimes will ring to signal the beginning of the service. Of course, people are welcome to enter during the Prelude, as long as they can enter quietly and keep the talking on a low level so as to not disturb others. After all, we have lots of space for people who want to converse outside of the sanctuary!

I want to thank all of you who came to the meeting. Time is hard for all of us to come by! It really does mean a lot just to have had you there and to have listened and exchanged so many good ideas. It gave me a list of things to refer to, at least for the next six months or so! Any of you who would have liked to have been part of the discussion but could not come are welcome to email me (rmaze@austin.rr.com ).

We may have a repeat meeting of that sort in the spring.

Rebecca Maze, Director of Music

September 2006

What is Live Oak’s Musical Future?

This is a question I have been cogitating on this summer, having had some time to do so! What lies ahead?

In the last few years we have made great progress, thanks to the leadership of Craig Fredlund. With the help of so many church members we succeeded in raising $20,000 for a grand piano, and after a long search, again with many of us looking diligently, we found our perfect match in Sasha (the name given to our piano by her previous owner, Danielle Martin).

Thanks to Glenn McIntosh, the Live @ Live Oak jazz nights have brought some amazing musicians to some very lucky, although small, audiences. If you have not been to one yet, you are missing something!

It is time for us to consider what we want to achieve next. There are many options. Do we want to give more attention to children and youth in our music programs, and if so, how? Are there other types of music that we should begin to nurture in our church? The possibilities are too numerous for me to name – which is where you come in!

On Sunday, September 17, after the Town Hall meeting, the Music Committee would like to invite you to attend a session of thinking (and eating) about our church’s musical vision. We will be in the Fellowship Hall, with light lunch food and pencils and paper, and a desire to know what you think! Give us some ideas! We want our music program to follow your wishes, and we would like to know what those of you not directly involved in music think. What possibilities do you imagine?

Hope to see many of you there!

Rebecca Maze, Music Director, rmaze@austin.rr.com

August 2006

New Season Begins for LOUU Music It’s time to get the creative juices flowing! The languid days of summer are coming to a close and it’s time to regroup and make some music!

There are a number of ways for any of you musical folks to take part. For those who enjoy singing, there are the choir, occasional children’s choir, and the open-to-all Sing with the Choir Sundays.

No auditions are necessary for choir, but singers should have a basic understanding of music reading (rusty skills can be polished). We sing three times per month, usually with the third and fifth Sundays off. We meet Wednesday nights at 7:30 pm in the Choir Portable (at the end of the RE hall, outside). The first rehearsal is August 30.

The children’s choir comes together on rare occasions. The Sing with the Choir Sundays are more frequent. Both events will be announced on the Live Oak “announce” email list and in the Orders of Service, as the occasion arises.

Instrumentalists of all kinds are also welcome! Please make yourself known to the Director of Music, Rebecca Maze (rmaze@austin.rr.com ), and we will find a time for you to play. We frequently have ensembles, as well as solo players, in church. And we need more pianists who are able to be substitute hymn players!

Lots more information on the music programs are available in our music brochure, which is available in the narthex. It’s fun to make music, and the Live Oak audience is the best! Come get started with us!

June 2006

Quite a few members of the congregation joined Rebecca onstage

on June 7 to sing Somewhere Over the Rainbow as the offertory.

A summer pick-up choir sang Siyahamba for the offertory on June 18, 2006.

May 2006


The choir sings Vivaldi, accompanied by the orchestra.	Rebecca conducts the choir.

February 2006

The Live Oak Choir and friends on the first 'Sing With the Choir' Sunday February 2006.

December 2005

The kids made Ojo de Dioses while the choir sang. December 11, 2005.

September 2005

The Live Oak Choir begins rehearsal after our summer break on August 31. We will be happy to welcome new members to the choir. While we are especially in need of tenors, as usual, everyone is welcome. No audition needed! Members should have a basic understanding of music reading. With that in mind, there are no age limitations. We practice on Wednesday nights, 7:30-9:00 pm, in the choir portable at the end of the RE wing. We sing three Sundays a month, and on those Sundays we have an early practice before the service, usually at 9:15 am. Choir members are responsible for attending rehearsals, or notifying the director when they need to miss one. We usually have two “Choir Sundays” a year, in which the choir performs the complete Sunday worship service. If you have any questions or need more information, please contact: Rebecca Maze (266-2246, rmaze@austin.rr.com).

Our spring concert, featured Wedding Cantata, and was very well received. Once again, the webmaster is a small head in the back.

August 2005

Greeting to all former and future choir members! Hope you are enjoying the summer, with the many free Wednesday nights! Perhaps you are getting a little bored with that freedom? Happily, there will be an end to that, beginning August 25 at 7:30 pm! That is the date we have set for our first rehearsal. (If you want to be in the choir and can’t make that rehearsal, please let me know ahead of time.) Plans for our next year are in the works now, and I am looking forward to it.

To be in the choir, it is advisable that a person has some music-reading skills. There is no audition and there are no age specifications. The rehearsals are from Wednesdays from 7:30-9:00 pm in the choir room which is the small portable building at the end of the RE wing. Anyone who would like to join is advised to contact Diane Schultz (dianes@texas.net) to get on the choir email list or to contact Rebecca Maze at 266-2246.

July 2005

Mary Pritchard, Brenna Pritchard, Diane Schultz, Katherine Enyart, Kathi Lunny (behind the folder), and Jason Pritchard sing There is a Balm in Gilead, an example of the occasional small group performance opportunities our choir program offers.

March 2004

ARE YOU A FAN OF THE BEATLES WHO CAN READ MUSIC AND SING?

Then you might be interested in joining the Live Oak Choir for two months – our May 2 Choir Sunday is going to include readings and music by and about The Beatles. We will begin practicing this music in the next few weeks (along with our regular Sunday anthems) and we would love to have more people participating, especially tenors. Contact Rebecca Maze at rmaze@austin.rr.com.

Rebecca Maze

December 2003

Our yearly choir service featured a moving service on the famous musical lyricist Oscar Hammerstein. Click on a small image to see a larger photo of the choir during this service. Your webmaster would like to point out that she is the green sleeve behind the red-haired choir member in the first row. Thanks to Jon Montgomery for the photography!

October 2003

NEEDED: CHOIR MEMBERS

The Live Oak Choir is always looking for new members, particularly of the tenor-bass variety (although all are welcome). Some prior experience singing from written music would be helpful. We meet Wednesday nights at 7:30 in the Choir Shed (the middle portable) and rehearse at 9:45 on Sunday mornings. Just come! We will put some music in your hands.

September 2003

Choir rehearsals will begin again on Wednesday, September 3 at 7:30 p.m. in the "choir shed" behind the church--it is one of the two "temporary" structures, and has a sign on it. Check out the beautiful mural our talented choir director created, and enjoy our new rehearsal space! New folks, especially tenors, are always welcome!

June 2003

SUMMER MUSIC PROGRAM

While the choir takes a much deserved break this summer, I would like to try putting together two small musical groups.

One would be a recorder ensemble. Many of you have played the recorder at some point in your life. There are many duets, trios, and quartets written for recorder, at all levels, and it’s great fun!

I would also like to have a small vocal ensemble, which might sing 2 or 3 times during the summer. This would be music written in “parts”, so music reading is necessary. This might be a good idea for those of you who are too busy during the school year to participate in regular choir. Both these groups would use Wednesday night for rehearsing, and would only meet as often as needed to prepare for a given Sunday.

If you are interested in being a part of either group, contact Rebecca at rmaze@austin.rr.com.

April 2003

HYMN SING

CHOIR SUNDAY (the first Sunday in May) is going to be a little more participatory this year! The choir will be preparing some "gems" from the current and past UU hymnals, which are rarely or never sung. In between these, members of the congregation may make requests, and we will all sing those together. I am really looking forward to this! It's bound to be enlightening for me to see the choices that you will make! You all might want to be thinking about what your favorites are as you thumb through the hymnal in the coming month. Thanks! Rebecca Maze

January 2003

CHOIR HAS MASTERCLASS

In preparation for our Christmas Choir Sunday last month, the choir members had the great pleasure of taking a master class with Dr. Barry Williamson, of the Texas Choral Consort, Austin Choral Symposium, and Scola Cantorum of Austin. We had an opportunity to sing our entire performance for him, after which he took us through the pieces and made corrections, adjustments, and clarifications, large and small. This was a wonderful learning experience for Rebecca and the choir, and we are so happy to have had his input! Of course he was also very enthusiastic and supportive of the choir's singing. We would really like to have a repeat visit from him before our next Choir Sunday in May!