Come sing! Spring Season begins and NW Folklife news

Hello folks,

FRFC at NW Folklife

Spring officially begins this week, bring on the flowers! The Free Range Folk Choir is starting spring season too, on Monday March 18th (tomorrow), 6:45pm at the VHS music room. We'll take a break next week, then continue singing through May each Monday at 7pm.  See the rehearsal schedule for all the dates.

Everyone is welcome, bring your friends and family. Want to just try it out? Come visit for a rehearsal, we would love to see you.

Great News: the Folk Choir has been selected to sing at NW Folklife this year!  We will sing at the Cornish Courtyard Stage, 1pm on Monday May 27th.  Every time we have sung at Folklife in the the past has been such a blast. We hope you will join us!  Spring season will culminate in our Folklife performance.

This season we are singing some of our favorite choral music from around the world: Ladysmith Black Mambazo's "Fall Rain", the tight harmony of Slavic mountain songs, folk choral music from South Africa, a beautiful piece from Japan, a Buddhist morning song from Thich Nhat Hanh... and many more.

The Free Range Folk Choir has been bringing community together in close harmony since 2008.  We hope you will join us this spring!

Warm regards,
Shane

Come Sing! 6:45pm Jan 7, VHS band room

Dear friends,

Happy New Year! You are cordially invited to come sing next week with the Free Range Folk Choir. Everyone is welcome, no auditions necessary. Sign-in will begin at 6:45pm Monday, Jan. 7 at the VHS band room.

We'll sing African, Slavic, English and Japanese music among others, some of my favorite pieces we have sung over the years, both beautiful and challenging compositions.  We'll be singing Mondays for the rest of the winter - see the whole schedule here.

Why is this important to me in these times?  Wendell Berry says it beautifully in his poem:

"...Put your faith in the two inches of humus
that will build under the trees
every thousand years.
Listen to carrion – put your ear
close, and hear the faint chattering
of the songs that are to come.
Expect the end of the world. Laugh.
Laughter is immeasurable. Be joyful
though you have considered all the facts."

                                 (From Manifesto: The Mad Farmer Liberation Front)

Come sing!

Thanks,
Shane

About the Choir | Video & Audio | Join the Choir | Choir Schedule

Choir Schedule and Exciting News

Dear friends and fellow singers,

As the heat of summer turns to cooler weather, our thoughts begin to turn to joining together with friends and family, and if you are like me, singing together in joyful harmony! I hope you will join us: see below for our choir season schedule.

But first, an important announcement: Emily and I have been offered an amazing opportunity through winning a grant to go record an album in France this fall for 2 months with world class musicians! It was a rather competitive grant, and we are very honored to have received it. We just got the news the other day, and all the pieces are falling into place beautifully. We are so happy to be embarking on this adventure!

It does mean that we won't be back until late November, so no choir Fall season this time around. But at the end of Winter and Spring season 2019 I have planned a third (Summer) season, culminating in a performance at Strawberry Festival, something many of us have hoped to do again for years.

Our first rehearsal this winter, then, will be on Monday, January 7th, 2019, with registration starting at 6:45pm in the VHS band room. Rehearsals will continue on Mondays at 7pm. As usual, you can see all the dates on the schedule page of the choir website for the year ahead. Keep an eye out for more details coming in December, and start the new year off with voices lifted high in song!

I hope to see you in the new year!
Gratefully yours,
Shane