Music at JUC

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Universal Peace Choir

• Music sung a cappella, mostly traditional, spiritual, religious or indigenous songs from all parts of the world.
• We sing with and to each other in a circle
• Most music learned by rote (by ear)
• Energizing songs as well as Calming songs
• Accompanied sometimes by flute, drum
• Sometimes we have movements or dances to go with the songs
• Improvisation happens, and also specific parts to the songs are taught and learned
• The singing changes emotions, character, louder, then softer, ebbing and flowing. The singing is alive with the inspiration of the moment
• Intergenerational, open to all ages
• Warm-ups to free the voice and release physical tension
• Singing in parts, unison, and rounds
• Joyful and Centering, bringing a feeling of connection to that which is larger than self
• lyrics and rhythms that tap universal wisdom and emotions
  

Current Repertoire

There is A Balm In Gilead, trad. Spiritual. arr., Barnwell
Deep Peace, Celtic prayer
Thula Klizeo, trans. from Zulu, “Be Still My Heart, Even here I am at Home”
Mother I Feel You, earth-centered chant
This Sky, Sufi poet Hafiz set to music
Babe Thandaza, Zulu , trans. “Things are as they are because of prayer. In the old days, the mothers/women used to pray”
Alleluia, Taize
Ubi Caritas, Taize
Wherever You Go, Whatever You Do, arr. Swetina, the Findhorn Choir
Now I Walk In Beauty, Navajo Round
Alleluia Israel, trad. Israeli melody, arr. unknown
Om Nama Shivaya, traditional chant set to 3-part music
How Could Anyone, Libby Roderick

Responses from Peace Choir Audience

“My husband and father were moved to tears.”
“Some absolutely beautiful moments”

Meeting Times

2nd, 4th and 5th Tuesdays in the magically sound-resonant Willis Chapel at Jefferson Unitarian Church. 7pm to 8:15, September through June.

Reflection on the Peace Choir, from Co-Founder Lisa Lowe

Since I was a young girl, I have used music of all kinds, and singing
specifically to console, amuse and uplift others and myself. This has
mostly been in the privacy of my own home, shower, or car; although I
have belonged to a few different choir groups, including JUC choir in
the 1990’s. I haven’t always felt comfortable in these groups however,
due to having a bit of “poor singing-self-esteem”, and being afraid of
making a mistake. However, 3 years ago when my daughter and her family
were living in Paonia Colorado, she invited me to attend choir practice
with her. I attended with the intention of listening only. When I
arrived at the community center in the middle of town, I was welcomed
by 15 or so women and men, and ushered into their singing circle. My
daughter had shared some of the songs and chants with me, so I was
familiar with the words and melody, at least generally. What I
discovered within minutes of joining the circle was that there was no
set format, when one person would start a song, everyone would then
join in and it would go on until the energy seemed to dissipate on its
own. Melodies gave way to spontaneous harmonies, some of which sounded
ok, some of which did not (and everyone would just smile and keep
singing), and some of which magically transported us all into a state
of well, ecstasy, if you want to know the truth! Immediately it became
a safe place for me to belt out a tune, experiment with adding harmony,
without the fear of doing it wrong and feeling foolish. The music was
all a cappela, by the way, and mostly traditional, spiritual, religious
or indigenous songs or chants from all parts of the world.
I was fortunate enough to have several opportunities over the next
season to sing with the Paonia Freedom choir, and hoped that I could
somehow find someone to help me create something similar closer to
home. ENTER my friend David Burrows, an experienced and talented
musician, with a deep understanding of the connection between singing,
music and the healing of the human spirit! He was the perfect
candidate, and willing to take on the task! (I’ll let him tell you more
of his background in relation to this, as I hardly even know the depth
of his studies and exposures to beautiful, spirit-based music from all
of his travels!) David has created the Universal Peace Choir, which enjoys this mutual love of singing for the pure joy of uplifting our spirits. We hope to provide anyone with a love of expressing themselves through song a safe place to bring your open voices and open hearts to join us here at JUC on the 2nd and 4th (and 5th) Tuesday evenings of each month.

The Seeds of the Peace Choir

I started the Peace Choir in collaboration with Lisa Lowe, who longed for a singing group similar to the “Freedom Choir” in Paonia, CO. At the time Lisa asked me if I could lead such a choir, I had just had three experiences of singing in community with Brian Tate, Ysaye Barnwell, and Allaudin Matthew. I gratefully acknowledge these music leaders, whose examples inspire me. As well, I acknowledge the Sufis of North America and their music of the heart and spirit which left an indelible mark on me as a very young man. The Peace Choir draws upon and continues the long tradition of people coming together to gather strength, wisdom, light and joy through community singing.

David Burrows,
Music Leader, The Universal Peace Choir, The Columbine UU Choir, The Radiance Choir at JUC
Music for Healing Practitioner

“The Healing Power of Sound and Music”
Reflection delivered at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Boulder, on 2/5/06, by David Burrows

I was in the sixth grade when an answer to life’s question came into my heart. Playing the saxophone in the band I had as much of an epiphany as an eleven yr old can have. In a moment of inner knowing I knew that music was what I was supposed to do. While my life has had many interesting twists and turns since the sixth grade, music has returned over and over as a key life task. In the last few years I have spent many hours directing church choirs, playing flute and singing in hospice and hospital situations, and exploring the healing power of music.

One of my favorite places to play in the hospital was neonatal intensive care. Playing gentle lullabies the babies stopped crying and the nursing staff loved it. I also benefited becoming calm as I played. In other situations in health care facilities, those I played for came to life, smiling and becoming very animated, like one women, who loved to sing “Won’t you come home Bill Bailey, won’t you come home.”

Playing one day for a group of Alzheimer’s patients, the nurse present commented on how much the music meant to them. To see those confused, stricken with disease and disoriented take on a look of contentment, happiness and foot tapping in time with the music of Scott Joplin I played on piano was wonderful to see. This past Xmas I led caroling for a group of developmentally disabled adults. The disabled man sitting closest to me sang out strongly and even cracked jokes during our caroling. The staff relayed to me that this man usually didn’t speak let alone crack jokes. My perception was that music’s heart touching power had opened this man up, enabling him to participate in the group activity more fully than usual. The day after our caroling I got a message from the woman in charge of the event. She said “They are going to remember this for many years to come. Thank you!” I have so many memories of people saying Thank You to me after music-making, so many images of faces full of gratitude, that I can’t help but think that music’s ability to create Gratitude is a key to its power.

Being part of an organization that promotes the use of live music in healthcare settings, I am kept abreast of the medical research around music, such as the recent experiments by a Boston Harpist/ MD to use harp music to stabilize cardiac arrhythmias, or the reduced need for painkillers when music is introduced, or the reduction of anxiety in Alzheimer’s patients and other conditions. Some of my colleagues have had the opportunity to play music in the Intensive Care Unit and to watch the breathing and heart rhythms normalize on the monitors in the hospital rooms.

The physical evidence is there to support the healing power of music, but I can’t help but go back to the expressions of Gratitude pouring out of the many people I have worked with and their families. If someone says thank you either verbally or by facial expression I know I have achieved something with my music. Conversely, lack of gratitude in any situation I may be in seems to be a signal that something is amiss or not working.

I remember the expression of thanks from one woman, who sat in the middle of a group toning circle to receive the sounds. Toning is the use of simple elongated sounds, usually vowel sounds, for meditation, centering and healing. She sat in the middle of our group’s circle and received the simple elongated vowel sounds being directed toward her with healing intention. After receiving the toning, a kind of sung prayer from the group of people around her, she said with a sense of wonder “I feel like I have received something. I am so grateful.” The look on her face and in her eyes showed the sense of peace she was experiencing.

Another person participating in a group toning experience began to cry, feeling a welcome release of emotion. She worked day after day in a high stress ER and didn’t have the liberty to cry with lives at stake. In addition she had lost her church community and her friends and was not allowing herself to grieve. The toning allowed her to come back to a place of psychological integration, releasing stored-up emotion.

My experience with music in hospice has left me in a state of awe. The day after Xmas 2002 I went to visit Suzie in a nursing home. Her breathing was fast and labored. She was grasping for life, for air, the body fighting to survive. Her family was gathered from Colorado and other states, all with her in the small cramped room. I was given the chair right next to her bed so I could play and sing for her. Using an entrainment technique, I gradually slowed my flute’s tempo and she entrained to the music’s decreasing speed, her breath becoming slower and slower, more peaceful, her face letting go, looking more at ease…until one moment she was gone. I continued to flute and sing, as sobbing broke out among the family and medical staff in the room. It was a holy moment, unable to be expressed through words. I was speechless and numb, silently nodding yes as family cried and thanked me. If I were much of painter I would have gone home and painted the scene in images, showing the soul leaving the body, the flute and vocal sounds some kind of bridge to the other side, where angels guided Suzie to her next home. I had the feeling I was experiencing not only death but birth, and that I was midwife-ing Suzie to her next life. This experience was to repeat itself with another hospice patient a few weeks later.

The hospice pastor spoke with me about these events. “Most people die in the middle of the night with no one around” he said. “You have had two experiences now with your music where people have died in daylight in the early morning with a small crowd of family and medical people present in the room.” The pastor related his experiences of using the 23rd Psalm with the dying…”The Lord is My Shepard, I shall not want…He maketh me to lie down in green pastures….He leadeth me beside the still waters….he restoreth my soul.” He related that people had made their transition in the middle of the night, with no one else around, after his reading of this Psalm. The pastor and I mused together about the power of music. The musical technique I use with the dying is from the 14th Century Cluny infirmary music of France, where monks used Gregorian chant and found it assisted the dying to peacefully pass. Aside from its spiritual overtones, Gregorian chant has no definite beat—it has spaciousness which encourages the listener to let go. It’s the opposite of the kind of music the harpist/MD I spoke of earlier is using with her cardiac patients. It’s also on the opposite end of spectrum from the kind of music that can be useful in intensive care. In those instances, a defined structured rhythm that entrains the heart to beat uniformly and steadily is helpful. In music for hospice you tell the heart it is ok to stop… to forget to keep time.

I have watched hearts come to life through music, and I have watched them die taking music as their wings. I can’t express enough gratitude for music’s place in my life. Music has been the most frequent source of gratitude coming back to me as well. A Boulder massage therapist once asked an interesting question, as Boulder massage therapists are wont to do, while I was lying on their table: “How would you fill in this sentence, ________loves me unconditionally.” I answered, “Music. Music loves me unconditionally."