Our Woman of the Week is Juliana Woodlill, nominated for her work as the director of the Orthodox Church in America’s new jurisdictional choir, her stellar musicianship, and the way she leads the singers with clarity and grace. She also works with high school students, and has passion for teaching and directing. You see her here with her mission choir and her family. We asked her to tell you about herself:
“I was raised in a large Orthodox community in Northern California where music was a part of life both in and outside the church. Our parochial school had a children’s choir, the community college had a children’s choir, I sang in musicals, took voice lessons, and was always surrounded by music. We even cleaned the house on Saturdays to a CD of Mozart Overtures. My mother, Alice Hughes, and her co-director, Anne Schoepp, were actively engaged in music education within the Orthodox church. I had a front row seat to their work as they helped found PSALM and directed many Liturgical Singing Seminars. Our parish had an adult choir of 40-50 singers that rehearsed weekly. They sang prayerfully, intelligibly, and drew on music from a variety of Orthodox traditions. I was able to see what music can and should be in the church.
“After attending Westminster Choir College, I moved to the Washington, D.C. area with my husband and began work in the public school system as a choral director. Over the last 14 years I have taught all grade levels, though I have spent most of my time with middle and high school singers. The daily grind of leading rehearsals has given me a chance to really understand the musical building blocks that go into developing a strong choir. I began developing resources for teaching sight singing, and focused on how to bring along not just the excellent choirs, but the smaller, struggling groups as well. I discovered that much of my musical passion is not about being the “best” and having the largest, most advanced groups, but rather learning how to meet people where they are at, finding areas of need, and developing ways to help both singers and newer conductors to find their own success.
“After my husband and I married, we attended a small mission in Northern Virginia. I began to realize that the Orthodox musical world I grew up in was not only outside the “norm” but actually increasingly rare. Many churches struggle to get by musically. They don’t have the expectation of weekly rehearsals, and few conductors have training outside of the church. That is not to say that there are not shining examples of Orthodox choirs across the country - I’ve been lucky enough to see some of the best! But what I began to see around me are people who want to learn, who need resources, training, and encouragement. I saw a void, and a chance to connect my professional music learning with the church. I started lecturing and conducting at summer music conferences, and building resources for less experienced conductors. This work is just the first step for many, but I hope that it leads to a desire to learn more, and above all, creates opportunities for collaboration between musicians - this is one of the most important ways we grow!
“Three and a half years ago a few families came together to start a mission in the Fairfax area of Northern Virginia. This was a chance for me to really see how to build from the ground up. I have learned an incredible amount through this endeavor and have seen a new need as we navigated through covid - let’s call it “flexible music.” I have a mission choir that fluctuates from 3 to 13. Sometimes all 4 parts are covered, and more often, not. During the height of the pandemic my choir was only two voices - me and my husband. I started looking at our music in new ways. Which part mattered? Or when I had two or three, which ones were important? What if it was in a lower key so it fit our voices better? While the pandemic was my reason for this shift in how I viewed our music, it highlighted for many church musicians the need for more music that was adaptable and flexible. I suppose this is my new musical focal point in the church and I am excited to keep exploring this area in years to come.”
Axia!
Juliana Woodill is our Woman of the Week, nominated for her work with the OCA’s new jurisdictional choir. You see her here rehearsing with the Archdiocesan choir and leading singers in warm-ups at an International Society of Orthodox Church Music event. We asked her to tell you about what developing an archdiocesan choir means in the Orthodox Church in America context:
“The Archdiocese of Washington, D.C. is a small diocese of just 14 parishes and missions. Around 3 years ago, Metropolitan Tikhon approached me with the idea of forming an Archdiocesan Choir. Covid slowed down the process, but in January of this year we finally began! The choir is primarily liturgical in function, available for when the Metropolitan or Archdiocese has need of a choir for major services or events. But we also have goals to serve the larger church and bring Orthodox music to those who may not know much about it.
“When I announced the formation of the choir, I hoped to begin with 15-20 musicians. Instead I was overwhelmed to discover the excitement around this project and we have 45 singers and conductors from area parishes both in the OCA and neighboring jurisdictions. They have entered into this new endeavor with open minds, a desire to create beauty, a willingness to try anything I ask of them, and a love of both music and the church. My church family has grown a little bigger and the relationships being formed here will reverberate throughout the churches in the area, and I hope will bring all of our churches closer together.
“The Archdiocesan Choir is currently rehearsing for our first summer concert on July 31 - American Orthodoxy. This project brings together two passions of mine: encouraging the development of an American Orthodox musical tradition, and providing resources for church conductors. While many of our churches have ethnic ties, I have never been anything but American Orthodox. Our church is built upon history and drawing on those who have come before us. But it also has allowed for development in every part of the world as it has taken root there. If you trace the music of the church back far enough you will find it has parallels to the music of the culture around it. This evolution takes many hundreds of years. But it also requires supporting those who are doing the work of creating music for the church. As such, I put out a call for compositions from American composers for Vespers and Divine Liturgy. Over 100 pieces were submitted and while I was only able to select a few it gave me great hope to see how many people are writing new music for the church! I focused on selecting music which not only is singable by typical parish choirs (nothing too difficult) but also that hints at a flavor of American sound, while remaining liturgically appropriate.
“As mentioned above, this concert has a second goal - providing resources and new music for church musicians. So often I have talked to church conductors who are never able to attend services at other churches. How could they? Like the priest, the service doesn’t happen without the music leader to make it happen. They end up with a limited pool of music and no way to hear other, newer compositions. To that end, we decided that the concert will be live-streamed and all music will be immediately available for purchase via digital download through our partnership with Seraphim Six Productions. Conductors from all over the country can tune in, hear a piece or two that might be a great fit for their community and access it immediately! It will also highlight the amazing people out there who are creating music for the church. I hope this will lead to more exposure for their work, and more choirs singing music that is coming directly out of our American musical tradition.
“Singing together is a way of giving people a sense of community, a sense of belonging. Music is simultaneously something so vulnerable but also so incredibly human. It speaks to the very core of our nature. And on a deeper level than that, singing in a choir is for me the truest type of community music making. Each person IS their own instrument, using only the body given to them by God. And yet they create something so much more beautiful than any single voice. They create beauty and art by being vulnerable together, simultaneously. It’s why heart beats sync up when humans sing together. You can take a room of disparate people, different ages, cultures, beliefs, but if you ask them to sing, they become one. My hope for this choir is that it can serve God and the church, and that as we learn from each other, we can take that learning back into our home parishes as well.”
We asked our Woman of the Week, Juliana Woodill, as usual about her morning routine:
“As a working mom, my morning routine is and must be incredibly stable. I am up at 5:45, showered and downstairs hopefully before 6:30 where I give hugs and kisses to the kids, pup, and three days a week, my husband. I am incredibly lucky to have my in-laws here and my mother in-law gets the children ready and off to school two days a week. My husband and I work opposite schedules. I work Monday-Friday and he works Friday-Monday. But three days a week I get to see him for a few minutes in the morning and he handles the morning routine with the kids. On many days, he has a hot cup of coffee waiting for me when I step out of the shower, and I do not take these short mornings with him for granted. By 6:45 I’m on the road to work and depending on the time of year and my mood I either listen to choral music or church music in the car. It is a wonderful way to gather my thoughts for the day of teaching and set my musical tone for the day. During Bright Week I listen to recordings of Paschal Matins - which somehow times out to exactly the length of my commute!
“My weekends are no less structured in the mornings. On Sundays we are up and off to church early. Saturdays are church music preparation days so once I am up and caffeinated (a critical part of my survival) I find myself surrounded by binders, music books, rubrics and my copy machine. As a developing mission, everything is created from the ground up and many hours go into preparation for Vespers and Divine Liturgy each week - not to mention the busier times of the church year! But the luxury of doing that work at home, surrounded by my two kids playing or taking care of Saturday chores, with coffee in hand and time to read and reflect on the beautiful hymnography of the church…Saturdays are truly a blessing.”
Thank you, Juliana!
