In a message dated 11/29/00 3:01:15 PM, pauls@c... writes:
<< It's a volunteer thing, and I'm doing it for the fun of being in the
Dickens
Fair...
(dream come true sort of thing)
>>
Paul, that sounds fun. This weekend my HS choir (a Dickensian Society) is
traveling to Galveston, TX for the 26th annual Dickens on the Strand
Festival. Galveston is a historic island city off the coast of Texas, and it
has restored areas of shops and houses and churches which make a lovely and
fitting setting for this festival. Down on the Strand there is a street
festival for 3 days, plus there are special events. Saturday morning we are
going to an English Country Breakfast in the Ashton Villa (c. 1868), then
down to the street fair, and later to a concert in an old church, plus a
Candlelight tour of another home, this one built in 1838. We will be in
Victorian costumes all day long. One of Dickens' great-grandsons will be in
attendance and hosting several "Dickens Feasts" featuring English Christmas
dinners and the reading of "A Christmas Carol". Our students went to this
event last year and we have created our own version to have at home THIS
year...next week, as a matter of fact. We will sing, read Dickens, and serve
a fruit tart and some hot cider to our guests, each of whom we will meet
outside with carols, festive costumes and decorations.
This gives our HS singers a chance to build an entire performance persona, as
well as their voices. We are not singing all Victorian-era music, however,
but rather a mixture of old and new, mixed and treble, choral music with some
solos.
While in Galveston we will sing informally on the Strand...the costumes,
smell of roasting chestnuts, and all the music is my idea of a wonderful
holiday experience...and we will bring home even more ideas for our own
celebrations. I encourage everyone to experience a Dickens Fair or English
Christmas Feast somewhere this winter...in the UK or the US or wherever you
are!
Sincerely,
Lynda Lacy
Lynda Lacy, Director of Choral Activities
Jackson Preparatory School
Jackson, Mississippi
"Allow your voice to serve the music, not the other way around." - B. R.
Henson
<A HREF="http://hometown.aol.com/lynda313/myhomepage/profile.html">Lynda and
the Fine Arts</A>
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