October 17, 9am-noon
with Beverly Goldston, Harvey Harman, and Linwood Watson
Community Singing, Song Leading & Storytelling
with Beverly Goldston, Harvey Harman, and Linwood Watson
Making music and making music together is an essential part of being human. The voice is the first musical instrument. Singing together is a form of deep communication and connection, a way of joining harmonically and soulfully with others, a way to unify by all singing the same words with the same melody and rhythm pattern, a way of remembering story and history, a method to encourage and strengthen us during difficult times, a creative way to express emotion and feeling, a form of entertainment and fun, and a way to remember and pass on important life lessons.
Pulling from folk, gospel, African, bluegrass, and other musical traditions we will explore the universality of music and how it helps people come together and create a stronger Community. We will explore the most common types of songs for group singing. We will also look at the song patterns that are the easiest to sing along with or lead including call and response, songs that have a lead part and an echo or refrain part, songs with motions, songs that have easily repeatable phrasing, songs that tell a story, songs with humorous or silly components, songs that tell a spiritual or universal truth, and songs with a memorable or catchy melody or rhythm. Additionally, we will look at ways a song leader can use hand and body movements to help guide the group singing experience. We also will explore singing acapella (just voice) vs. singing with various instrumental or percussion accompaniments. And we will look at the issue of movement as it connects with singing and how this issue varies based on culture, religion, or background.
This workshop is eligible for use with a season pass.
Youth under 18 may attend free with an adult registered for the same workshop (1 youth per adult).
Early-bird pricing ($55) is available through Oct 1. After that, the cost is $75.
Meet Your Instructors:
Beverly has been singing as long as she can remember, starting when she was just several years old singing with her Grandmother, "Big Mamma." In fact Beverly says that "Big Mamma" is her greatest music inspiration, learning gospel songs and call and response songs from her while growing up. Starting with singing in a church youth choir, "The Joyettes," Beverly has been singing in choirs and as a soloist for the past 50 years. While Gospel music is her background, she loves many genres of music including country, jazz, blues, R & B, and pop music.
Harvey is a green builder, licensed General Contractor, licensed plumber, conservation-oriented land developer, organic farmer, teacher, and writer. Harvey is influenced by his experiences of living in various community settings, including a remote retreat center in the cascade mountains in Washington state, and five years in a traditional, rural village in Southern Africa. Harvey initiated and helped develop the Sustainable Farming Program at Central Carolina Community College (CCCC) in Pittsboro, NC, and has taught many classes at CCCC in the past 25 years in Sustainable Agriculture, Permaculture, Green Building, and Construction/Plumbing. Harvey was the Carolina Farm Stewardship Association Farmer of the Year in 1998. Harvey has been a Building Contractor for the past 25 years and was the Construction Director for Chatham Habitat for Humanity for 13 years.
Harvey is also a cofounder of Living Well Ecovillage and is passionate about building resilient and sustainable networks of people and communities. In his spare time Harvey loves to design and build small and tiny houses and share information and practical skills with others.
Linwood Watson is a husband, father, orchardist, physician, and powwow singer/dancer. Born and raised in eastern North Carolina, he is an enrolled member of the Haliwa-Saponi Tribe. He is married to his wife Turi, and has 2 school age children- Aspen, a girls fancy shawl dancer, and Skye, a girls jingle dress dancer. His family has lived in Fuquay-Varina since 2008, and when he is not in the urgent care clinic he is out in the AspenSkye Orchard (established 2013).