Stay after worship for a special forum with Music Director Miranda Loud, who will be presenting on a new royalties initiative for First Parish this year. Read a note from her below explaining more about it!

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Last year I learned about an initiative by a few churches to set up a fund to collect royalties when a spiritual is sung or performed as an anthem in worship. Spirituals are considered a foundation of much of “American” music – from blues and jazz to rock and roll. Spirituals greatly influenced many other hymns which we often sing at FPL. Since those enslaved people who composed the spirituals were never given attribution (and therefore royalties to descendants for the thousands of times they have been sung and arranged), and since spirituals continue to uplift and deepen our worship here at FPL throughout the year, I suggested to the ministers that we find a way to do a similar initiative.

For context, every time we sing a hymn or an anthem in worship, royalties are paid to the composers and writers of the lyrics through the licenses the church pays for each year. Spirituals are not covered because no descendant is named to receive royalties. With this fund created, we can sing spirituals and spiritual choral arrangements and have a way to pay it forward for the universal emotional power of this music, which was created by enslaved people with the understanding that the debt to those who have created this music can never be fully repaid. This will involve choosing and partnering with a local organization dedicated to furthering Black musicians and Black music. Hamilton Garrett Academy is one we are considering. We are in the process of figuring out the logistics and in the meantime, are waiting to do any spirituals in church as hymns or anthems based on spirituals (This Little Light of Mine, He’s (She’s) Got the Whole World in His Hands, Gonna Lay Down My Sword and Shield, Go Tell it On the Mountain and so many more). This is part of the powerful work of racial justice already happening at First Parish.

The committee for this project is currently Steve Johnson, Joan Mansfield, Jona Donaldson, Nate Klug and myself with members of Outreach, Deacons and the Racial Justice Group. I look forward to seeing many of you on September 29th.

Miranda Loud, Director of Music