Welcome, 2021!

Hello, friends of music & life,

I would like to greet each of you by saying, however weird all this is, Happy New Year!  

Surely this time we are living in will go down in history as having been full of unprecedented extremes.  Sheltering in place has been a hardship for so many.  The sense of loneliness and isolation has been brutal and the tragic loss of life due to the Corona virus, staggering.  

As we wait out this deadly virus and process the recent destructive and deadly anarchy in DC, I wonder if all this cumulative crisis has actually helped us stay anchored in our convictions as informed individuals and as citizens of the World? 

Good things are happening.  I see that we are speaking up, encouraging each other to get the vote out in record numbers, raising our voices in collective solidarity and also in song, albeit online. To research and donate to important causes and campaigns, to get to know our neighbors, to cook more, practice more, write more, to spend more time outside and appreciate nature, to really listen to our friends, loved ones, and colleagues and therefore to grow because our interests and our conscience encourage us to do so. 

Amidst all of this societal change and transformation, I have continued to participate in the communities most dear to me. Here is what I have been up to recently! 

After quite a lot of technological adjustment at the beginning of the pandemic, the intrepid Singin’ Seniors, a musical ensemble group of well elderly singing students, continues to meet over Zoom to learn new songs and to enjoy each other’s presence, even if we are physically separated and meeting via screens. A little bit of touching base goes a long way these days. Some of our elder friends are living on their own, not able to spend quality time with their kids and grandchildren.  I am happy to say we have prioritized staying connected and have become a closer community in spite of the limitations.  

Thanks to Valerie Ghent and the non-profit organization, Feel The Music!, our Singin’ Seniors classes continue to meet online with gusto. Our next session begins on February 4th. 

It is our intention to present a video performance of our group singing a few of our selected songs in mid-May. We will keep you posted as to how to view it.

Besides directing our Singin’ Seniors in Zoom gatherings and participating in the Middle Church Jerriese Johnson Gospel Choir online projects, I have also continued to write some new songs. I am slowly learning how to record, both audio and video, however rudimentary. I really want to share them with you soon, starting with a song I wrote that we have produced a simple music video for called “Anchored in Love.” The audio isn’t quite up to my standards yet – watch this space! 

And on top of everything else in this unreal year, on December 5th, 2020, Middle Collegiate, my beloved church in NYC, burned to the ground in a horrific electrical fire caused by faulty wiring in a neighboring building, closed for renovations. The stately, 19th Century stone façade still stands on 2nd Avenue and 7th Street but our glorious sanctuary is gone.

A week later, on a bright and cold afternoon an informal group of Gospel Choir members gathered outside Cooper Union to sing Christmas carols to the downtown public and to offer simple but lovingly prepared paper bag lunches to our fellow New Yorkers who may have been in need of a meal.  We made 32 bag lunches.  They went like hotcakes.  

Photo by Patrick Mulch

After caroling, we walked down to Middle Church to pay our respects to the building. 

We stood across the street on 2nd Ave, behind the barricades, and sang gospel songs of faith, hope and love, offering our four part voices to the physical site and emotional home of our beautiful, healing Mama Middle.  

It was a moving and healing experience on so many levels. 

Our faith-based, brave-heart church leaders are amazing. Rev. Jacqui Lewis is a tireless representative for Middle Church’s ministry.  

Here is the link to our building fundraiser:

www.middlechurch.org/rising

I was recently made a deacon at Middle church. I hope to help spread the collective word that Middle Church remains an active, vital community of diverse, God-loving individuals, representing a culture of citizens who offer help for the hungry and vulnerable and who support and uphold social justice and racial inequality through virtual marching and community organizing.  

I am honored and ready to serve. 

I thank you for spending time reading about all of my musical goings-on! 

My extended family is healthy and well. Our one-year-old dog Ralph is a happy chap, living the life out here in the country. Mr. Mitten continues to decapitate mice like the feline assassin he is, Mike and I are on a January cleanse which always feels great when it’s over, and life is good, albeit quiet.

I send you my very best wishes for a healthy, prosperous and productive 2021!

With love & harmony,

xxx,

Deborah