Keith Atwater demonstrates how any instrument can work in accompanying a UU choir. Grass Valley church, April 6, 2019.

Today, Keith Atwater, UUSS music director, met with other area choir directors and singers for a wonderful day of music at the Unitarian Universalist Community of the Mountains (UUCM) in Grass Valley. The idea for this event occurred during the UUMN (now AUUMN, the Association for Unitarian Universalist Music Ministries) conference in Portland, Oregon during the summer of 2018 where some of our local directors conceived of the idea to bring more music to and connection with other area congregations.

Pictured from left: Bill Quinby, Jordan Thomas-Rose, Alison Skinner, Keith Atwater, and Rev. Kevin Tarsa.

Other festival directors included Bill Quinby (Reno), Jordan Thomas-Rose (Grass Valley), Alison Skinner (Davis), and Rev. Kevin Tarsa (Grass Valley). Each shared a piece of choral music and taught it to the group, and Keith presented a workshop about how to be inclusive of just about any musical instrument in UU choral music programming. It was a great day of music making, and sparked excitement for future joint UU choir festivals.