Friday morning at BCF

The composer of Dear Mrs. Parks, Hannibal Lokumbe, and the arranger of several of our smaller pieces, Pamela Warrick-Smith, arrived last evening. Hannibal talked to us about his experiences which inspire his music.

Hannibal Lokumbe, Philip Brunelle and Trudy Weaver Miller.

During the rehearsal, there was a rather lengthy thunderstorm storm which killed the lights over the choir and orchestra in the shed. I'm surprised the camera caught any detail.

We moved to the audience space where we could read by the emergency lighting.

This morning we awoke to dense fog.

But the lights were fixed and we could get on with the business of preparing a concert.

Thursday at BCF

There was a nasty thunderstorm tonight which killed the lights above the choir in the shed. Exciting. That and a bit disorganization made the evening rehearsal with soloists a bit frazzling and frazzled. The mezzo soloist is awesome. The soprano and bass are longtime BCF soloists. They are great too but the mezzo sang black - if you will permit me to use that word. It was inspiring.

At this point I would be worried about the confidence of the chorus. There are some really nasty entrances. But I think it will all come together with the orchestra - unlike more classical works.

The mosquitoes are ruling the shed however. I inhaled, coughed up and swallowed one tonight. Not fun. I must have a dozen itchy places and they won't stop itching for a week or more. Ugh.

Otherwise it was a quiet day. The gals going to see the Capitol Steps tomorrow found another driver so I decided to skip the rather steep expense and watch the orchestra rehearsal instead.

Wednesday at BCF

We have now been thru all the music. Most is amazingly redundant but that is the nature of Gospel music as it is an oral tradition.

I was waiting for the van to pick me up to go to Naumkeag when a friend wandered by and took my picture with the sign that points to the Berkshire School dorms. I'm in Eipper which you can see behind me.

Some of the photos below will embiggen if you click on them. This is the house.

The view of the Berkshire Hills from the front of the house.

I have no idea what this greenery is but the leaves are HUGE. compare them to my 16 oz water bottle at the bottom of the photo.

Then back for evening rehearsal. These are altos.

And those are sopranos and Kathy doing lip trills.

Mixed emotions

I'm very happy that it looks like D025 will be passed by the HoD as amended by the HoB. I'm very disappointed that our bishop voted with the exclusionists. If this is all gobbledygook to you, don't worry about it. If it is of interest, go to The Lead at Episcopal Cafe and read all about it.

Monday at BCF

We have now been thru most of the first half of the program. The remaining three will be done in sectionals tomorrow. The spirituals are all very different. Makes it fun. Then we start with the second half - Dear Mrs. Parks - which will be more than an hour long unless there are cuts. I didn't listen to it last night. Apparently it scared some folks but they didn't quit.

Today I visited the Berkshire Botanical Garden. The wet weather seems to have caused some problems there. Lots of beetle damage. Perhaps retarded some growth. There is a walk of daylilies some of which I wish I could have borrowed.

The Capitol Steps are in residence up the road in Lenox. Some of us are planning to go Friday night. Tickets are pretty expensive but nothing like Cirque du Soleil. Apparently I'm one of the few who can drive at night. I think they should buy my ticket. LOL.

Still dealing with plastic mattress but may just leave it the way it is. Since I have a private room, there is an extra blanket so I don't need the one I brought on top.

In the Berkshires in SW Massachusetts

Yes, another BCF week. The conductor is Philip Brunelle. You can read more here.

Pleasant drive today. Lots of traffic but no problems. Stopped in the Schenectady area for a short visit with Westminster Choir College classmate Lynn who provided a late lunch. She is a champion quilter. Her quilts are fascinating. It was good to catch up. Unfortunately I didn't get to meet her daughter who was napping or her husband who was at work. Someday...

There are a couple of people here who were in Montreal. Several who were in Vancouver. One gal I met here then at Westminster then here then Vancouver now here again. Some friends I haven't seen for several years. The chorus is very small - 128 or so I think they said. Back to the old days. The private room was a surprise. Lots of space to fill with stuff. LOL. Forgot the foam pad so will have to make a trip to Kmart tomorrow. Meanwhile have the blanket I brought between the plastic mattress and me.

A little frustrated because I can't access Facebook or IM for some reason. FB was ok when I arrived. Weird. I can send email from my windstream account and that is an improvement.

Am about to fall asleep. Up at 4:30 which is when I'm sometimes just falling asleep lately.