Previous events

Aug5

Vocal Week daily morning warm-ups

Augusta Heritage Center, Davis & Elkins College, Elkins, WV

Once again I have the good luck to be running the morning warm-ups for Vocal Week at the Augusta Heritage Center!

Dec1

8th Annual Friends Benefit Concert

Quaker Meeting House, 4836 Ellsworth Ave, Pittsburgh, PA

Lineup:

Raging Grannies
Sarah Bowen-Salio and Chuck Bowen
Pittsburghers for Public Transit presentation and song (Dean Mougianis)
Penny Anderson
Casa San Jose presentation (and song?)
Chie Togami and friends
Smokestack Lightning and friends

Aug7

Shape note sing with tutorial

Augusta Heritage Workshop, Davis & Elkins College, Elkins, WV

A one-hour sing with a little help for newcomers.

Aug6

Vocal warm-ups

Augusta Heritage Workshop, Davis and Elkins College, Elkins, WV

I'll be running vocal warm-ups again, one of my favorite things to do, the week of August 6th.  

Aug7

Vocal warmups for Vocal Week

Augusta Heritage Center, Davis and Elkins College, Elkins, WV

Vocal Week is August 7–12th this year. I'll be leading vocal warmups and acting as liaison for Flawn.

 

Jul9

Pittsburgh monthly shape note sing

St. Andrews Lutheran Church, Centre and Morewood, Pittsburgh, PA

See the shape note page for details. All are welcome, no experience necessary!

Jun2

Music for lunchtime in the tent

Schenley Plaza, Pittsburgh, PA

Probably a little of me with my concertina while waiting for my friends to show up – then some shape note singing. We'll be done around 12:35. (For the Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy through Calliope.)

Here are some photos of the event.

free

May19

Crankie demo

South Arts Schoolhouse, 2600 South Park Road, Bethel Park, PA

A crankie presentation with Annie Trimble and Ellen Gozion.

Mar26

Pittsburgh Regional All-Day Shape Note Sing

Wilkins School Community Center, 7604 Charleston Ave, Pittsburgh, PA

Not a performance! Everyone welcome to come sing from the Denson edition of the Sacred Harp. Pot-luck lunch at noon.

 

Free

Mar20

Bach's Birthday

Church of the Redeemer, 5700 Forbes Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA

Bach's Birthday celebration with a small choir and some instrumental music and a reception afterwards.

 

Feb28

Crankie Festival

Wilkins School Community Center, 7604 Charleston Ave, Pittsburgh, PA

$15 suggested donation

Aug3

Mini-class: New England Choral Music

Augusta Heritage Workshop, Davis & Elkins College, Elkins, WV

Four 75-minute sessions Monday through Thursday of Augusta Heritage Center's week five.

In 18th-century New England a generation of self-taught composers created a new choral style. They were inspired by a grab-bag of materials including Handel’s oratorios, British “fuging tunes”, the “grave and solemne and plaine Tunes” of traditional psalmody, newfangled hymns, and their own unruly imaginations. This music truly lives at the intersection of the oral and written traditions, giving life to the vigorous voices of the working people who made it. It is fun to sing and there are many interesting texts, including William Billings’s “Chester” (arguably the first American national anthem), and the self-referential “Down Steers the Bass with Grave Majestic Air.” Too rambunctious and “incorrect” for the would-be sophisticated churches in the urbanizing northern states, the New England music gave birth to the shape-note tradition preserved in Appalachia and the deep South. We will sing some “plain” tunes, fuging tunes, anthems, and “set pieces,” in three or four-part harmony, selected from the work of Billings and his contemporaries. The ability to read music is helpful though not necessary, but students should be able to match pitch and hold a part.

Aug3

Vocal warmups and jams

Augusta Heritage Workshop, Davis & Elkins College, Elkins, WV

I'll be leading the morning vocal warmups and running some evening jams for Augusta Heritage Center's Vocal Week.

 

May2

The Choir With No Name at the Mayday Parade

Polish Hill Mayday Parade 2015, Lower Melwood Ave (past the Pittsburgh Filmmakers), Pittsburgh, PA

The still-unnamed MayDay Choir will sing Cat Jeoffrey again as part of an eclectic mix including a re-imagined shape-note hymn and a new composition by Joel Kennedy. We're also collaborating with the marching band.

Free

May1

The Choir With No Name at the Variety Show

Annual Variety Show, 3600 Bethoven St., Polish Hill, Pittsburgh, PA

The still un-named choir variously known as the MayDay Choir and the Anarchist Choir will perform my composition Cat Jeoffrey.

Mar23

Shape-notes and Early American Hymnody

Ben Avon Community Presbyterian Church, Ben Avon, PA

A lecture-demonstration for the local chapter of the American Guild of Organists on shape-note singing and early American hymnody, with a lot of help from local shape-note singers.

Sep10

Eclectic Chorus

Wilkins School Community Center, 7604 Charleston Avenue, Swissvale, PA

Eclectic Chorus: harmony singing from all over the map

 Five-week sessions: Begins September 10th Wednesdays 7:30—9:00 PM. $60 for a five-week session.

 Come  sing music from many times and places in two, three, or four parts. Using just our voices and occasionally our hands and feet we will make music drawn from cultures ranging from southern Africa to New England, from the 14th to the 21st century. Some of the sources we can draw on, depending on our personal tastes and talents: African village music, French and English folksongs, medieval chansons, Renaissance madrigals and songs, Balkan and Georgian songs, rounds, and shape-note hymns. Bring your own favorite songs if you'd like to! Singing together in harmony is fun and better than fun--stimulating mind, body, and soul. 

 We will learn parts by ear. Word sheets and occasionally printed music will be provided, but there is no need to read music. All you need is the ability to match pitch and carry a tune

$60 for five weeks

Previous events

Aug5

Vocal Week daily morning warm-ups

Augusta Heritage Center, Davis & Elkins College, Elkins, WV

Once again I have the good luck to be running the morning warm-ups for Vocal Week at the Augusta Heritage Center!

Dec1

8th Annual Friends Benefit Concert

Quaker Meeting House, 4836 Ellsworth Ave, Pittsburgh, PA

Lineup:

Raging Grannies
Sarah Bowen-Salio and Chuck Bowen
Pittsburghers for Public Transit presentation and song (Dean Mougianis)
Penny Anderson
Casa San Jose presentation (and song?)
Chie Togami and friends
Smokestack Lightning and friends

Aug7

Shape note sing with tutorial

Augusta Heritage Workshop, Davis & Elkins College, Elkins, WV

A one-hour sing with a little help for newcomers.

Aug6

Vocal warm-ups

Augusta Heritage Workshop, Davis and Elkins College, Elkins, WV

I'll be running vocal warm-ups again, one of my favorite things to do, the week of August 6th.  

Aug7

Vocal warmups for Vocal Week

Augusta Heritage Center, Davis and Elkins College, Elkins, WV

Vocal Week is August 7–12th this year. I'll be leading vocal warmups and acting as liaison for Flawn.

 

Jul9

Pittsburgh monthly shape note sing

St. Andrews Lutheran Church, Centre and Morewood, Pittsburgh, PA

See the shape note page for details. All are welcome, no experience necessary!

Jun2

Music for lunchtime in the tent

Schenley Plaza, Pittsburgh, PA

Probably a little of me with my concertina while waiting for my friends to show up – then some shape note singing. We'll be done around 12:35. (For the Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy through Calliope.)

Here are some photos of the event.

free

May19

Crankie demo

South Arts Schoolhouse, 2600 South Park Road, Bethel Park, PA

A crankie presentation with Annie Trimble and Ellen Gozion.

Mar26

Pittsburgh Regional All-Day Shape Note Sing

Wilkins School Community Center, 7604 Charleston Ave, Pittsburgh, PA

Not a performance! Everyone welcome to come sing from the Denson edition of the Sacred Harp. Pot-luck lunch at noon.

 

Free

Mar20

Bach's Birthday

Church of the Redeemer, 5700 Forbes Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA

Bach's Birthday celebration with a small choir and some instrumental music and a reception afterwards.

 

Feb28

Crankie Festival

Wilkins School Community Center, 7604 Charleston Ave, Pittsburgh, PA

$15 suggested donation

Aug3

Mini-class: New England Choral Music

Augusta Heritage Workshop, Davis & Elkins College, Elkins, WV

Four 75-minute sessions Monday through Thursday of Augusta Heritage Center's week five.

In 18th-century New England a generation of self-taught composers created a new choral style. They were inspired by a grab-bag of materials including Handel’s oratorios, British “fuging tunes”, the “grave and solemne and plaine Tunes” of traditional psalmody, newfangled hymns, and their own unruly imaginations. This music truly lives at the intersection of the oral and written traditions, giving life to the vigorous voices of the working people who made it. It is fun to sing and there are many interesting texts, including William Billings’s “Chester” (arguably the first American national anthem), and the self-referential “Down Steers the Bass with Grave Majestic Air.” Too rambunctious and “incorrect” for the would-be sophisticated churches in the urbanizing northern states, the New England music gave birth to the shape-note tradition preserved in Appalachia and the deep South. We will sing some “plain” tunes, fuging tunes, anthems, and “set pieces,” in three or four-part harmony, selected from the work of Billings and his contemporaries. The ability to read music is helpful though not necessary, but students should be able to match pitch and hold a part.

Aug3

Vocal warmups and jams

Augusta Heritage Workshop, Davis & Elkins College, Elkins, WV

I'll be leading the morning vocal warmups and running some evening jams for Augusta Heritage Center's Vocal Week.

 

May2

The Choir With No Name at the Mayday Parade

Polish Hill Mayday Parade 2015, Lower Melwood Ave (past the Pittsburgh Filmmakers), Pittsburgh, PA

The still-unnamed MayDay Choir will sing Cat Jeoffrey again as part of an eclectic mix including a re-imagined shape-note hymn and a new composition by Joel Kennedy. We're also collaborating with the marching band.

Free

May1

The Choir With No Name at the Variety Show

Annual Variety Show, 3600 Bethoven St., Polish Hill, Pittsburgh, PA

The still un-named choir variously known as the MayDay Choir and the Anarchist Choir will perform my composition Cat Jeoffrey.

Mar23

Shape-notes and Early American Hymnody

Ben Avon Community Presbyterian Church, Ben Avon, PA

A lecture-demonstration for the local chapter of the American Guild of Organists on shape-note singing and early American hymnody, with a lot of help from local shape-note singers.

Sep10

Eclectic Chorus

Wilkins School Community Center, 7604 Charleston Avenue, Swissvale, PA

Eclectic Chorus: harmony singing from all over the map

 Five-week sessions: Begins September 10th Wednesdays 7:30—9:00 PM. $60 for a five-week session.

 Come  sing music from many times and places in two, three, or four parts. Using just our voices and occasionally our hands and feet we will make music drawn from cultures ranging from southern Africa to New England, from the 14th to the 21st century. Some of the sources we can draw on, depending on our personal tastes and talents: African village music, French and English folksongs, medieval chansons, Renaissance madrigals and songs, Balkan and Georgian songs, rounds, and shape-note hymns. Bring your own favorite songs if you'd like to! Singing together in harmony is fun and better than fun--stimulating mind, body, and soul. 

 We will learn parts by ear. Word sheets and occasionally printed music will be provided, but there is no need to read music. All you need is the ability to match pitch and carry a tune

$60 for five weeks

Coming events