Winchester Community Music School

For today's SoundBreaking Community Spotlight, we're highlighting voice teaching artist Melissa Glaister! Melissa has been part of the WCMS voice department for many years, and in that time she's built a reputation for not only her excellent teaching but also for how deeply she cares about her students.

We're grateful to Melissa for her eloquent words about how the upcoming building expansion will impact her students for years to come!

In honor of Juneteenth, please enjoy this inspiring performance of "Lift Every Voice And Sing" by the Howard Gospel Choir of Howard University. This hymn is often referred to as the Black National Anthem and was composed in 1900 by J. Rosamond Johnson, the lyrics having been written by his older brother, James Weldon Johnson. Both men were prominent leaders in the struggle for civil rights and key figures in the Harlem Renaissance.

"Lift Every Voice And Sing" is closely associated with Juneteenth, which commemorates June 19,1865 when the last group of enslaved Black people were finally freed in Galveston, Texas--over two years after the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation.

When reading the poem, it's clear why this hymn resonates so strongly with this day:
Lift every voice and sing,
Till earth and heaven ring,
Ring with the harmonies of Liberty;
Let our rejoicing rise
High as the list’ning skies,
Let it resound loud as the rolling sea.
Sing a song full of the faith that the dark past has taught us,
Sing a song full of the hope that the present has brought us;
Facing the rising sun of our new day begun,
Let us march on till victory is won.
Stony the road we trod,
Bitter the chast’ning rod,
Felt in the days when hope unborn had died;
Yet with a steady beat,
Have not our weary feet
Come to the place for which our fathers sighed?
We have come over a way that with tears has been watered.
We have come, treading our path through the blood of the slaughtered,
Out from the gloomy past,
Till now we stand at last
Where the white gleam of our bright star is cast.
God of our weary years,
God of our silent tears,
Thou who hast brought us thus far on the way;
Thou who hast by Thy might,
Led us into the light,
Keep us forever in the path, we pray.
Lest our feet stray from the places, our God, where we met Thee,
Lest our hearts, drunk with the wine of the world, we forget Thee;
Shadowed beneath Thy hand,
May we forever stand,
True to our God,
True to our native land.

Howard Gospel Choir - "Lift Every Voice and Sing" Enjoy the videos and music that you love, upload original content and share it all with friends, family and the world on YouTube.

WCMS is growing--and if you're an outstanding musician and educator in any of these areas, come join us! With a beautiful new concert hall and expanded teaching spaces coming in Fall 2026, there's never been a better time to become part of the WCMS community ❤️🎶🎻🎸🎹 Learn more here: https://www.winchestermusic.org/job-opportunities/

For today's SoundBreaking Community Spotlight, we're highlighting WCMS music therapist Monika Gibbons! Monika has been a bright light at WCMS ever since she started our beloved Music Therapy Group for People with Parkinson's. This group has brought healing and community to so many over the years, and we're grateful that Monika could lend her voice to the in support of our historic building expansion.

Tomorrow evening, don't miss out on Sheffield Chamber Players (and our very own Alexander Vavilov's) last performance of the season at the Allen Center! Featuring Jessie Montgomery's infectious Strum; the world premiere of This Is It; part 3, a major new work by Reena Esmail; and Schubert's beloved Death and the Maiden, this performance is truly not to be missed. Learn more here: https://newtonculturalalliance.ticketspice.com/in-an-instant-sheffield-chamber-players

Join us tomorrow in the WCMS parking lot from 12:00-5:00 at Wi******er PorchFest! We'll have a whole lineup of awesome live music featuring WCMS students and faculty--everything from motown to steel drums, from jazz to Americana. And at 5:30 on the Griffin Museum terrace, the whole day will close out with a performance by our very own Blues Chasers under coach Jim Doran! Hope to see you there!

It's always so exciting to see what our students go on to do after leaving WCMS! Soprano Ruth Sowa, who is currently a senior at Walnut Hill School for the Arts, was recently selected as one of four winners of the Boston Pops Fidelity Young Artists Competition. Our very own Melissa Glaister, who was Ruth's first voice teacher here at WCMS, got to see her former student perform with Keith Lockhart and the Boston Pops on June 3. (Pictured, from left to right: Ruth; Melissa Glaister; and Walnut Hill Opera director Elaine Purcell-Smith)