I’ve been thinking a lot about how Balance, our theme for March, and Emergence, our theme for April, intersect so beautifully. In my own life here at WES, I see the intersection in a couple areas: choosing music for platform, and growing the music program as a whole.

In selecting music for platform, I have always considered the connection between the theme and the lyrics, between the energy of the platform and the tone or style of the songs. But over time, I’ve become aware that in to deepen those choices, and to broaden the styles of music we share at WES, I needed to step back in order to see whether some pieces needed to be released to make space for new ones. A song that seemed perfect before, now might bowl me over with its ableist language (“standing for” meaning being in favor of something), or its metaphors embedded with negative racial stereotypes (dark=bad, light=good.) Another song might still feel vital, but need to be set aside so that something more contemporary could become part of our musical language. And to include more voices and perspectives, I now do more research, prioritizing the purchase of music by composers of color, rather than picking recommended pieces without considering how or whether those pieces would expand our music collection.

This process is variously fun and frustrating, interesting and painful. What if a song is a personal favorite (for me or someone else), but I can’t get permission to change a problematic word or phrase? Is the piece worth defending, at the risk of making someone at WES feel excluded or wounded? There aren’t easy answers, and there needs to be a balance. I still feel strongly that helping something deeper and richer emerge is worth the time, energy, patience, and—sometimes—loss.

Meanwhile, in growing the music program, I’ve continued to experiment to see what entices more folks to participate. In Chorus, I’ve tried repeating music more frequently or less, programming easier selections and harder. I’ve also tried to grow our Musicians’ Jam—an opportunity for people who play instruments to make music together, for fun or even for platform (you’ve seen some of them playing together on Sundays as a band!). With the band/jam, we tried meeting different days of the week, and now are exploring sticking to Wednesday evenings. All these ideas for chorus and the jam have worked well, and still leave room for even more opportunities, more ways for new music and new musicians to emerge. My sense is that more folks want to make music together at WES. Can you tell me what you need? I would love to hear your ideas.

I do hope that you have places in your life where you are exploring possibilities, mindful of what may need to be released so that new things can emerge. If we’re doing that together, who knows what may come? Maybe we can find a song that fits just right.

-Bailey Whiteman, Music Director