by Joy Wallens-Penford, Friends of Music at Guilford
Friends of Music at Guilford has just concluded its first year of providing music enrichment programs for Guilford Central School students. During 5 weekly sessions from January into March, Todd Roach brought a wonderful selection of hand drums and 5-gallon buckets into the school and worked with the Middle Schoolers, divided into 3 groups. (An intended 6th session was canceled due to illness.) On March 16, sharing the evening with the intermediate and advanced bands, the drumming groups performed for an audience of parents, students and community members. The residency seemed to be quite successful, and we’re hoping to have Todd Roach back next year.
On May 14, Friends of Music rounded out this year’s program by bringing a Brattleboro Union High School male a cappella group, Shoulder Narrows, to the school for a presentation to the upper grades. This is a group which formed and operates independently of the music program at BUHS, and we were pleased to highlight what students just a few years older than the audience are doing on their own initiative.
Friends of Music board members (including Junior Trustee Heather Franklin, a GCS grad now at BUHS, and FOMAG/GCS liaison Don McLean) helped bring these programs to the school, with important funding from the Max Y. Seaton Memorial Trust. Our thanks to music teachers Colleen Hartmann and Mary Bandish and the school administration, faculty and staff for making the program work.
We are now seeking grant funding to continue and even expand the program for next year. As in all our endeavors, we welcome your support in the form of a Membership donation to Friends of Music. If you own a business, you might consider placing an ad in our annual program book, which is distributed to audiences at our concerts in Guilford and Brattleboro. Contact the FOMAG office at 254-3600 or email office@fomag.org for further information.
FRIENDS OF MUSIC ANNOUNCES SPRING & SUMMER EVENTS IN GUILFORD
by Joy Wallens-Penford, Friends of Music at Guilford
The public is cordially invited to join Friends of Music at a few upcoming events. . . .
The organization's biennial "A Cappella à la Carte" evening is on Saturday, June 6, at Guilford Community Church, a pleasant follow-up to the Strolling of the Heifers earlier in the day. It's really three events in one, and you may come to all or some of them. The 6:00 ANNUAL MEETING is very brief and generally enjoyable; it's a great opportunity to give us some feedback and suggestions. This is followed at 6:30 by an ALL-COMMUNITY POTLUCK and at 7:30 by an approximately 45-minute CONCERT BY SHOULDER NARROWS, an a cappella male sextet from BUHS that gets raves reviews from our three Junior Trustees, who are all graduates of Guilford Central School: Heather Franklin, Megan Majonen, and Megan Young (aka Meaghaykn Younge). Admission is free, donations are very welcome.
On Saturday, August 22, we'll be running a COFFEE BREAK FUNDRAISER at the Guilford Welcome Center. Our board of trustees and a few other volunteers bake great quantities of goodies to offer the traveling public, and we play or sing music to keep ourselves and our visitors amused. If you want to lend a hand with baked goods or even hanging out with us for part of the day, give the office a call at (802) 254-3600.
Our 44th LABOR DAY WEEKEND FESTIVAL comes around on September 5 and 6, at the fabled Organ Barn off Packer Corners Rd. in Guilford. There's a Saturday evening organ concert at 7:30, usually with other instruments and sometimes voices, too. Sunday finds a few hundred picnickers wending their way to the property to stake out a place on the lawn. We sell a vegetarian lunch beginning at 12:00 noon, and also sell our famous warm chocolate chip cookies and delicious lemonade during the afternoon. A lawn concert by the Guilford Festival Orchestra begins at 2:00. For further information, check our website as the date approaches.
Joy Wallens-Penford, Administrative Director
Friends of Music at Guilford
37 Bee Barn Rd., Ste. 1
Guilford, Vermont 05301