Mark Your Calendars
December 2, 2017 -
Holiday Concert,
RCS and Rockbridge
Youth Chorale,
7 PM
Lexington
Presbyterian Church
January 28, 2018 - Rockbridge Chamber Singers presents
Songs of Love,
3 PM
Lexington
Presbyterian Church
April 29, 2018 - RCS with
orchestra and soloists,
Mass in B Minor,
J. S. Bach
7 PM,
Wilson Concert Hall, Washington and Lee University
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Cheaper Than Therapy -
Listen to Bach
Trying to keep up with the news these days is like trying to drink from a fire hose. Even if you don't want to keep up, you can hardly avoid it.
Are you longing for some peace, some order?
If so, according to the Boston Globe's Joan Wickersham, you can hardly do better for structure, order, and reassurance in times of disorder than Bach's B Minor Mass. In the B Minor, Bach managed to shape a coherent work, revising some of his earlier vocal music and adding new sections almost until he died in 1750. As far as is known, the finished work was not performed for another 100 years. Yet, for centuries, mere mortals plodding along through the world, in circumstances better or worse than in our world today, have listened to and been comforted by this music. It endures. Listen here
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The Tank and a
Roomfull of Teeth
In the high desert of northwest Colorado, above a little town called Rangely, in a landscape more lunar than earthly, sits an old, rusting, steel water tank left over from railroad days. Affectionately called The Tank by the locals and sound chasers world-wide, this silo is 65 feet of sonic wonderland.
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Bruce Odland and The Tank
Rangely is not a railroad town; it's an oil town. The water tank, a relic from the age of steam locomotives, was relocated from south of Rangely decades ago and mistakenly settled onto a gravel pit. The weight of the tank, sitting on an unstable surface, caused the floor of the tank to curve upward. It is this configuration which produces the reverberating acoustics that bring musicians and the curious from all over the world to experience sound in this unique space. Sounds swirl and echo around in a way that would not be possible if the floor were flat, according to sound artist Bruce Odland. Odland discovered the sound phenomena of The Tank in 1976 and has worked tirelessly ever since to save the rusting, magical sound space from the scrap yard. With help from a crowd funding campaign and from the locals in Rangely, The Tank is now an audio laboratory for musicians, sound artists and anyone who wants to experience the sensation of sound. The Tank Center for the Sonic Arts officially opened in the summer of 2016.
For a taste of why musicians flock to Rangely, check out Grammy award winning vocal ensemble, Roomfull of Teeth. This octet came to The Tank to give a fund-raising concert this year.
Hear a selection.
For more on this wonderfully strange sound space, check out
The New Yorker
here.
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Drunks around the world understand that nothing pairs with
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"Mickey Mozart"
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late-night boozing like a greasy burger and some fries. McDonalds appreciates this and provides accordingly, but what this global giant of two all-beef patties also knows is that these fun-loving partiers can turn surly while waiting in line for that grease fix. What to do? Turns out, the playing of classical music soothes the savage boozer and is becoming common practice during evening hours at franchises in Britain, Scotland, and Australia. Classical music is known to increase dopamine production in the human brain and to lower blood pressure. And, if that weren't enough, research shows that diners who are hearing ambient classical music spend up to 10% more on their meal. Big Mac with a side of Mozart may be coming to a McDonald's near you.
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