a cappella

Join the Brattleboro Women’s Chorus!

by giddyitup | Music

The Brattleboro Women’s Chorus will begin their spring session with open rehearsals the first week of March. To celebrate the 100thanniversary of women’s right to vote, the theme of the songs will be of strength, solidary, and suffrage. Following the Chorus’s concerts in May, those who choose to can join a repeat performance of several songsat WomenSing100, a singing gathering in honor of women’s strength and voting rights to be held in Worcester, MA in August.

Open rehearsals are for any women or girls age 10 and older to check out with no obligation whether Chorus is right for them. The Chorus has been under the direction of Becky Graber since 1996 and is unique in that much of the music, even multiple and complicated parts, is taught by ear. Written music is available on occasion, but practice recordings and word sheets are always provided to help with learning.

Dec. 13 & 14: “An Olde New England Christmas”

by fomag | Music

Guilford, Vt. — Friends of Music at Guilford (FOMAG) presents “An Olde New England Christmas” at 7:30 on Friday, December 13, and again at 4:00 on Saturday, December 14. By tradition, this 47th annual Christmas at Christ Church event includes choral and instrumental music for the season, a dramatic reading, and a few carols for everyone.

The a cappella vocal program was drawn from tune books by New England composers born in the middle of the 18th century: William Billings, Supply Belcher, Oliver Holden, Timothy Swan, and Samuel Adams Holyoke, as well as one English composer, Joseph Stephenson. These itinerant singing masters traveled the region from about 1770 through 1810, teaching sight-singing to select groups in church parishes. They gave concerts for local folks and then moved on to the next town. This practice fundamentally changed the place of music in worship, which finds its legacy in church choirs today.