Yes, it was lunchtime, but several POHC singers were able reschedule mid-day plans and made our concert at Goddard Riverside Community Center a huge success. We sang in a large lunchroom where the seniors who attend the Senior Center were sitting at tables after recently eating lunch. One woman shouted out as we walked in, “We were waiting for you!” This was one of our larger audiences, and they were very responsive--to familiar songs, like Simon & Garfunkel's Bridge Over Troubled Water and to less-familiar songs as well. They liked all of our introductions too, in particular the one to Cherokee Morning Song, where René explained the pentatonic scale and demonstrated how his flute doubles as a weapon.
The two sing-along songs were hits—Down By the Riverside and This Land is Your Land. Almost everyone joined enthusiastically, some from memory, some using the lyric sheets we handed out. As we have done in past seasons when singing Down By The Riverside, we went out into the audience to shake hands with people during the verse "Gonna shake hands around the world...Down by the Riverside." Some seniors also sang with us during the non-sing-along songs, especially when we sang the POHC theme song Let There Be Peace On Earth.
After the concert, one woman said to me, “This was inspirational. Nostalgic.” Another said, “It gives me goose bumps. It gives us energy--how do you say--to get up the next day.” Another woman kissed me and said thank you. Still another said, “Please come again” and I assured her we would.
-Peace of Heart Alto
It has become a tradition for a member of POHC to do a post-concert write-up. It started when our Sign-up Coordinator began emailing her summaries to the other members in order to entice newer members to sign-up to sing at community concerts held early in the season. It didn't take long for Concert Write-ups to become greatly anticipated amongst our members, so we share them here in hopes that you'll join us at a future concert.