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HarmonyJanuary 11, 2011 Nick Page, musician, composer, educator, and workshop leader, is on the island this week working with kids in the school, and this evening he led a singing workshop for adults. (More about Nick on his website, which he said was in need of updating but it'll give you an idea of what he's up to.) We gathered in the high school's music room, where the Island Community Chorus rehearses. That means it's big! I'm not sure how many attended, because I was sitting in the front row with some of my old front-row alto chorus buddies, but it had to be more than 60, maybe closer to 75. Lots of chorus people, including director Peter B., and people (like me) who sing regularly with Roberta K. What a blast. Nick teaches everything aurally/orally, line by line, no written music. This means you can participate whether you read music or not -- I read music, but my sight-singing skills are rudimentary -- and it also means that leader and singers communicate directly, without the distraction of a paper score. We learned several songs from South Africa and Zimbabwe, some from the American gospel tradition, and more. Nearly all of them lent themselves to harmonizing and improv. Nick said harmonizing was like no-fault driving -- go where you want, and if you hit something, turn! No note was "wrong," but you can hear what works and what doesn't. Vocal harmonies are my favorite music. I'm not all that good at it, but in a group that size the sound is much more than the individual voices that create it, and being part of it was wonderful. I could hear my voice, and the voices around me, and the ensemble sound rising up to the ceiling. At the end of the two hours, one woman said, "That was the best ten dollars I ever spent." Yeah!
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