music of the storms

T-Minus-1: The “Music of the Storms” Dress Rehearsal Post

March 15, 2013

We’re going to sing Music of the Storms tomorrow. Which means that this is the day for many things:

Dress rehearsal – In which at least two people will have never been to the venue and will get lost and/or be a touch late. It’s tradition. It’s like our version of “break a leg.”
Thudflurrst! – That’s the official technical term (as of now) for the noise your folder makes when it hits the ground, sheet music flying, because well, this is the evening where we practice the motions – when to tuck in the folder, when to clap, when to fistbump. Okay so that last part’s a total stretch.

Result of an extreme “Thudflurrst!”?

[Read more…]

Singing For Rain

February 27, 2013

India - Udaipur - 016 - Monsoon rains on Pichola Lake

Monsoon rains on Pichola Lake, Rajasthan, India (image courtesy mckaysavage)

There’s a famous story out of South Asia, about music, mood, and weather. Because many Hindustani and Karnatik ragas are highly evocative of the everyday – some sung very specifically during certain times of day, year, or season. In fact, there’s an entire corpus of compositions dedicated solely to the weather, the monsoons especially. Which makes perfect sense if you’ve ever seen a really Indian or Pakistani monsoon.

Anyway, back to the music. The north Indo-Pakistani Hindustani classical kind, in particular. [Read more…]

February 1, 2013

And here we go! Here’s our poster for Music of the Storms, by our awesome designer Steven Keen. Perfect timing with this week’s weather in our neck of the woods, no? (Monday sleet, Tuesday warm, Wednesday …75 and humid, really?!, Thursday cold, Friday snow.)

Tickets are already on sale online, and there’s an event invitation on our facebook page if you’d like to share with friends – please do!!

Poster for Music of the Storms, artwork by Steven Keen

Weather, The Great Equalizer

January 23, 2013

Joel Cline, meteorologist and VCS bass shoveling a LOT of snow

That ain’t “conversational” snow.

If you know us, or have sung with us, you know that VCS – like the neighborhood we live and work in – is incredibly diverse. People from all over the place, who do all kinds of fun things for work. This post is from Joel Cline (pictured right), who in addition to being a bass and frequent soloist, also happens to be a meteorologist.

As in, we call Joel to make decisions about show night when the Capital Weather Gang is not as clear as we’d like them to be about things like rain, and snow, and storms. Yes CWG, we love ya, but sometimes we love Joel more.

More than anyone else we know, Joel gets how music, weather, and science go together. He gets why science education is worth supporting and exactly how natural disasters works, and he gets why we are going to sing about the weather on March 16, 2013. [Read more…]

Concert For A Cause: Music Of The Storms, Science Education, And Disaster Relief

January 14, 2013

“You’re going to sing about the weather? Really?” It’s a fair question. But think about the question we asked in our last post:

Is there a culture or a place on the planet that doesn’t have music, poetry, art, and expression about the weather?

We humans have sung about the weather since time immemorial. We love to try and capture the feel, the rush, the atmosphere. Sometimes we succeed.*

[Read more…]

And 2013 Rehearsals Start with “Music of the Storms”

January 7, 2013

And just like that we dive right back into rehearsals starting tomorrow, January 8, 2013 for our next concert, “Music of the Storms” – a great name for a concert, don’t you think? Because honestly, is there a culture or a place on the planet that doesn’t have music, poetry, art, and expression about the weather?

Save the date for Music of the Storms – 7:30 pm, Saturday, March 16, 2013.

And as always, if you’d like to come see us do our thing, see if we’re the right choir for you to sing with, you are most welcome to drop by open rehearsals — January 8, 15, 22 at 7:15 pm at Church of the Holy Comforter (off Beulah Road in Vienna, VA). [Read more…]

A New Year, Meadowlark, And Open Rehearsals

December 28, 2012

Thank you all so much for braving the winds and coming to see us last weekend. It was great to usher in the holiday with you at Welcome Yule!

If you loved the music, and would like to order CDs, CD orders, fill out the information sheet and send it with your payment to the aptly named Mr. Bandman. We can attest that his turnaround is speedy fast. He can take orders starting January 2, 2013.

And if you’d like to see great photos of us, we’ve a few more at the end of this post, but there are more up on our Pinterest page as well as on Mr. King’s own website. Have a look! And yes, he does sell prints. You’ll have to email him directly for that.

Music of the Storms

So, what’s next? [Read more…]

Halfway Through Summer…..

July 8, 2012

…And we are getting ready for the 2012-13 season! Here’s a sneak peak at what we’re coming up with. Save the dates, and we hope to see you soon!

VCS 2012-13 Season Poster (by Steven Keen/KeenMethod)

T-Minus-1: The “Music of the Storms” Dress Rehearsal Post

Singing For Rain