MUSINGS
FROM JOHN 
I want to welcome M. Carol Cotton as our new Accompanist. She has done a wonderful job of filling in as our Interim Accompanist during the search process. Our search team recommended Carol to the Board and the Board agreed to offer her the position. Carol brings seventeen years of experience as a church pianist serving Baptist churches in Florida and Alabama. She studied piano at the Florida School of the Arts and at Samford University in Birmingham. Carol also has extensive training and experience directing, accompanying and singing in musical theater. Carol’s first experience with BuxMont was singing in our choir, helping to swell our ranks for a special event. Since that time she has been very active in the music program: directing The UU Revue, singing in the choir, serving on the Music Committee, as well as being one of our wonderful substitute pianists.
Our Music Committee is already looking forward to next year. On May 18, following the Congregational Meeting and the annual music service, the Music Committee will be having their annual retreat. If you are interested in participating please talk to Michael Kahn or John Hook. This past year the Music Committee has produced our annual choir concert, two very successful coffee houses, and our ongoing Folk Song Circles. We’ve also continued our process of becoming more involved with children and youth though collaboration with RE as well as involving kids in our performing opportunities. At the retreat the Committee will be looking to next year and beyond. We need to solidify that musical link with our children and youth. There is a lot of excitement about sponsoring a concert series aligned with the BuxMont vision of being a “Beacon” to the community. There are thoughts around another show. There are dreams of having some special music event every month of the year. There’s an ongoing commitment to enhancing our Sunday worship services by continuing to expand the diversity of our music and to strengthen our ongoing programs. The Music Committee is a fun and very active group. You don’t need to be able to carry a tune in a bucket to help the committee shape BuxMont’s music program. We’d love to get your ideas, your time, and your creativity as we lay our plans for the coming year.
Music is a community activity. Even a soloist needs a listener, and often has an accompanist or a whole group ‘backing them up.’ It is a very direct way of connecting to each other as listeners, singers, instrumentalists – as humans joined in community. These connections can run very deep; they span not only individuals but different communities and different times. It is often easier to sing of our sorrows and joys than to speak of them with others. And when we see others laughing or tearing up at the same places we do, we know that the joys, the worries and the pains that we carry are indeed shared by others. “Sometimes I feel like a motherless child…” or “Sometimes I feel like an eagle in the air!” (Hymn 97) Knowing that others share our feelings, care about our feelings, and hold us in community – now that is magic indeed!
John
Hook, Music Director