Words from Jen Cohen, Music Director

As your music director, I want to take a moment to introduce myself. My name is Jennifer (Jen) Cohen. For the past three years I have served as music director at the Union Church in Proctor. Other experience includes teaching music in the public schools, playing keyboards for musical theater productions, and teaching private piano. I am a classically trained pianist who embraces many genres of music, including calypso, which I have been playing on steel pan for a number of years. I am the director of the Panhandlers, a twelve-person community steel band that performs around Vermont and New Hampshire.  I also teach a lot of groups how to play pan, and perhaps we will get a group going at CVUUS.

For the past 30 years I have lived in Rutland with my husband Barry, who plays bassoon and also plays the bass pans in my band. We have two daughters — Sam, who lives outside of Santa Barbara; and Lena, who lives in Brooklyn. I love to play tennis, and Barry and I enjoy cycling the roads of Vermont together.

My belief is that music has a wonderful and unique way of building community. Whether you are a member of the choir, or one who reluctantly picks up the hymnal, I’m interested in getting to know you, and hearing your ideas about the role of music at CVUUS. Together I think we can create a music program that challenges, nurtures, and inspires.

Let me know if you need anything else. Jen Cohen (music@cvuus.org)

Music Is a Vital Part of Congregational Life at CVUUS

Our 20+ person volunteer choir sings regularly at Sunday services and rehearses each week on Thursday evenings. Our House Band provides special music once per month at worship services, featuring piano, drums, bass, clarinet, saxophone, guitar, and more. CVUUS frequently hosts rehearsals and concerts for local groups like the Wellspring Hospice Singers, the Middlebury College Community Chorus, Middlebury Opera Company, Point Counterpoint, and many others. Our sanctuary features a wonderful Steinway Model L piano which is at the center of our music program. We also have a modest Yamaha drum kit, which livens up music when the House Band plays. The acoustics of the room are wonderfully balanced for all kinds of music making!

We continue to be a home for community music making of all kinds. Reach out if you are interested in hosting your community arts-focused event with us. Contact office@cvuus.org to schedule your event or rehearsal.

Music Ministry Team

Jen Cohen, Carol Harden, Revell Allen, Chris Murphy, Joan Todd Soper, Ann Webster, YOU?! Contact office@cvuus.org if you have ideas or want to join our ministry.

Choir

Our thriving choir is open to all—we are always accepting new members!  Reading music is helpful but not required. We rehearse on Thursday evenings from 5:30-7 pm and Sunday mornings at 9 am when we sing at worship (usually 3x per month and off for summer).  We take off for the summer and resume with a gathering retreat in late August or early September. Contact office@cvuus.org or music@cvuus.org to be added to the choir list. Look for email from Choir Connections.

Singing Circle

All are welcome to join us in Fellowship Hall for these occasions to sing together with our choir. No singing experience is necessary. Just your joy of singing. Who knows? You may want to join our choir after one of these fun nights.

Open Mic Nights

Music Ministry hosts open mic nights periodically open to the community to attend and perform. We recruit for emcees and feature a wide range of short 2-5 minute acts by young pianists, storytellers – serious and comic, singers, banjo players, poetry readers, and more. Refreshments are provided by our choir members. Start imagining what act you and your invited guests would like to bring to future open mic nights and thanks to those who came on Saturday May 3 to our recent one.

Contra Dances

Come to our Contra Dances in the Sanctuary called by Richard Hopkins. We do traditional and new dances in any of several formations — circle dances, contra dances, longways sets (like a Virginia Reel), and squares.  All dances are taught before they are danced, and called during the dancing. Live music is provided by a group of players associated with CVUUS in various ways, led by Kai Fukuda and Carol Harden. Admission is free but contributions are gratefully accepted. No previous experience is necessary. You can come by yourself, with a friend, or with a group.  All dances are called in a gender-free fashion.  Most involve having a partner for that dance.  Some dances have identical roles for the person on the left and the one on the right; for others we used the terms Larks (on the left) and Robins (on the right).  Anyone can ask anyone to dance.

Steel Drums Arrive

Our music director Jen Cohen brings her longtime passion for steel drums to us. She’s taught it at Middlebury Community Music School and other locations and teaches it to congregants who win her Radical Love Exchange offering. She brought her Panhandlers Steel Drum Band to our sanctuary for a Sounds of the Season Concert in Dec 2024 where Kate Gridley assisted on bells and over 50 came to hear joyful holiday tunes. Listen to one here. 

World Music Day

This annual event since 1982 is held traditionally on the first day of summer as a way to celebrate music and summer. Musicians register to perform at a venue of their choosing at makemusicday.org. You don’t need to register to participate. You can join in at a site you find as your schedule permits. A sing-a-long led by the Counseling Service of Addison County’s Community Bridges program is held at CVUUS annually in honor of it. Percussion instruments are provided or you can bring your own. Look for this event each first day of summer. Come to the next one Sat June 21, 4:30-7:30 in Fellowship Hall.

World-Class Musical Events

Opera Company of Middlebury Meet the Singers (of their adult spring opera) comes to CVUUS each spring. Their Youth Opera performs with us regularly as well.

Middlebury Community Music School hosts events with us including a benefit faculty concert to support student scholarships on Fri March 28, 2025 at 5 pm.

Middlebury College Community Chorus rehearses at CVUUS and includes several congregants.

Point Counterpoint Faculty Concert performs each late summer.

West African Drumming accompanies dance classes led by world-class drummer and dancer Simbo Camara held at CVUUS in our sanctuary. Plans to return in Sept 2025 on Wednesday nights at 5:30 pm.