2019 Christmas Singalong

Here are some pics from the singalong we had at the Music Room this past December. It was quite a milestone for me. We combined some members the Fun Band with some members of the Rapidan Pops, creating for the event the largest and most expert group of musicians I've ever led. As for the singers, I've led larger groups, but never so many experienced singers - even though the singers only had lyrics with no music - and all the hymn tunes were transposed down a couple or three steps - there was often four part harmony in the voices.

Here's a pic that shows all the strings. Clockwise from the right: Brian, Pam, Betsy, and Jenny on violin; Michael and Darlene on viola; Mary, Joe, Barbara, and Caroline on cello; and Hank on guitar. Back against the wall you can see our vocalists Maryvonne, Alegra, and Karla, and then Judy on ukulele, and Dale on guitar. 

Also in this pic you can see how we seated some of the singalongers right behind the strings. The gentleman right there in the bottom left hand corner is Al, without whom the Music Room wouldn't exist. Besides starting the Orange community chorus and band, he somehow got me to join the band, which is where I learned to play the horn from a standing start, which later led to playing in the Rapidan Orchestra, and the orchestra needing a rehearsal performance space had a lot to do with the Music Room coming into existence.

Here is a pic of the winds - Rebekah on flute, Jane on recorder, Heather on clarinet and Madelyn on bassoon.

Here's Don on drums.

In this pic you can see our friend Sara sitting to the right of Judy and Dale. Besides having been a member of the Orange Music Society and then starting the Culpeper Music Society, she was the one who first started the Shakespeare in the Ruins outdoor productions over in Barboursville. She had a great time and with both her and Al participating there was a wonderful feeling of solidarity with previous community performing arts projects.

This pic shows the overall shape of the room, which is much like a shoe box - and when people talk about the great music spaces in Europe, a lot of them apparently have a shoebox shape, so that must have something to do with good acoustics.

We did a Christmas singalong two years ago and here's a pic of that.

You can see the lights have been changed, that risers have been added in front of the stage - and that curtains have been added, which did a great job of damping the too bright sound. With the curtains, and a lot of people in the audience soaking up sound, most people think the sound is exceptionally good. Back when Rapidan first started rehearsing in the Music Room, conductor Benjamin said after just a couple of rehearsals we were playing better because we could hear each other better.