Free Enrichment
One of my loves is listening to music--almost all kinds of music. Last night I had a front row seat to performances by two choirs, a brass sextet and timpani and an accomplished guest organist at a church building that was designed to enhance beautiful music.
The American Guild of Organists is having their mid-Atlantic convention in my town and the opening concert last night featured several new arrangements of Reformation hymns. Concert description
This may not seem thrilling to everyone, but the fact that we were sitting in the front row with a hawk's-eye view of the organist and other performers made it completely engaging. Did you know that there are specialized shoes that allow for the flexibility and swift movements needed to manage all the work done by the organist's feet? During the especially complicated pieces his feet were flying on the pedals and there were even a few moments when the pedals alone did the "talking." We were so close we could see his fingers and feet delivering every note.
And the choir. The women could reach the very highest notes with no difficulty. The shades of softness and heart-shaking loudness of their voices (okay, I'll say pianissimo and forte) made the words of the hymns dive into my body. The nerd in me had printed out the German text for "Ein Feste Berg" and, sure enough, it was the first hymn in the program for the congregation to sing along with the choirs. I sang out with no fear of seeming too weird, since the other 500+ people there were singing their hearts out, too.
About those front-row seats. My friend, a performer in a local symphony, had brought her daughter along to hear the performance. Since her daughter required accessible seating we all ended up in the very first row of pews. The whole row was reserved for the members of the local organ guild and we saw many of them streaming by in front of us prior to the performance, wearing their ID badges. From their looks on their faces it was clear that they couldn't bother a whit about giving up a couple of their privileged seats; they had nothing but welcoming smiles for our little band of music lovers.
Oh yes, all of this was free. I'm going to keep my eyes peeled for more opportunities like this in my culturally-rich, little city.
The American Guild of Organists is having their mid-Atlantic convention in my town and the opening concert last night featured several new arrangements of Reformation hymns. Concert description
This may not seem thrilling to everyone, but the fact that we were sitting in the front row with a hawk's-eye view of the organist and other performers made it completely engaging. Did you know that there are specialized shoes that allow for the flexibility and swift movements needed to manage all the work done by the organist's feet? During the especially complicated pieces his feet were flying on the pedals and there were even a few moments when the pedals alone did the "talking." We were so close we could see his fingers and feet delivering every note.
And the choir. The women could reach the very highest notes with no difficulty. The shades of softness and heart-shaking loudness of their voices (okay, I'll say pianissimo and forte) made the words of the hymns dive into my body. The nerd in me had printed out the German text for "Ein Feste Berg" and, sure enough, it was the first hymn in the program for the congregation to sing along with the choirs. I sang out with no fear of seeming too weird, since the other 500+ people there were singing their hearts out, too.
About those front-row seats. My friend, a performer in a local symphony, had brought her daughter along to hear the performance. Since her daughter required accessible seating we all ended up in the very first row of pews. The whole row was reserved for the members of the local organ guild and we saw many of them streaming by in front of us prior to the performance, wearing their ID badges. From their looks on their faces it was clear that they couldn't bother a whit about giving up a couple of their privileged seats; they had nothing but welcoming smiles for our little band of music lovers.
Oh yes, all of this was free. I'm going to keep my eyes peeled for more opportunities like this in my culturally-rich, little city.
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| from the Richmond Times-Dispatch, July 2017 |
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