Sounds Around

An intimate evening of music ...

    The Hinesburg Community Band &
    South County Chorus
    Rufus Patrick, Director

Patrick has the South County Chorus under control ... in a manner of speaking.

It’s easy to think “community” chorus or band is synonymous with amateurish.  But when it comes to the South County Chorus and the Hinesburg Community Band -- that would be wrong thinking. ...

In their intimate "Evening of Music" on November 29, these two groups, under the direction of Rufus Patrick, filled the Champlain Valley Union H.S. auditorium with beautiful sound.  In this concert, 'community' described the feeling of the performance ...  full of warmth, fun, enthusiasm  …  and great music.

The concert was the first joint performance for the two groups. The South Country Chorus, which draws singers from throughout Chittenden County, opened, setting the mood with "Be Our Guest."  Like several of the other choral pieces, this number included a bit of theater, with singing waiters dancing around a small restaurant table. 

Director Patrick kept not only the audience, but the Chorus, laughing with his own version of stand-up comedy between numbers.  There were also broad laughs built into several of the pieces, particularly "Jabberwocky" and "Throw the Yule Log On, Uncle John."

Patrick gets the attention of the  South County Chorus with his humor

Most of the other numbers were upbeat, from a syncopated "Swing Low Sweet Chariot" to a jazzy version of "Rise Shepherds."  But it was the soulful "I Will Sing with the Spirit" that showed a chorus that could also perform with emotional depth.

After a cider and donuts intermission, Patrick brought out his Hinesburg Community Band  with "Torch of Liberty," a march that accelerated the tempo toward the impossible and established the virtuosity of the band members.  The modern-style "Rondo of Third Suite" also pushed the edge of the envelope with its half-cartoonish, half-frantic quality.  "Festival Prelude" and the three-part "Longford Legend" were rich and deeply moving.   And for sheer joy, "At a Dixieland Jazz Funeral" stood out, with the Band’s Dixieland Quintet shaking the hall with a rousing "When the Saints Go Marching In."

The varied and ambitious program highlighted the Band’s versatility and fearlessness. Whatever challenge Patrick dished out, they took on. .Even the standard "William Tell Overture" came across with flair. 

Rufus Patrick conducting the Hinesburg Community Band

The feeling of community came to its height with a finale combining Chorus, Band ... and audience ... for the well known "America, the Beautiful."  With fathers and daughters and mothers and sons in the Band, with friends, family members and neighbors in the audience, it became clear that music is one thread that ties us together. 

“They were really good” echoed like a refrain as the audience got up to leave.  Anyone who had expected to sit through this concert out of duty was delightfully surprised.  The program let the Chorus show its strengths: a strong, full sound; beautiful harmonies; great rhythm and perfect timing.  And, as noted earlier, the band's repertoire proved both their depth and breadth, as well as their mastery.

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Finale ...  for now.

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We can look forward to seeing a joint band/chorus concert again in Spring 2001. And for those who have been looking for an excuse to dust off that old trumpet or take their show out of the shower and onto the stage, Rufus Patrick welcomes new members. (802-482-3010).

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Lou Colasanti, Editor & Laura Wisniewski, Associate Editor
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