The Community Chorus is pleased to feature guest artists Kim Christman, a former theatre and creative drama teacher, and her husband, Stan Dotson, founder of In Our Elements leadership training.
Kim and Stan, who live in the North Carolina mountains alongside a family of bears, have been playing and leading traditional folk music, as well as classical and spiritual music for decades.
The couple plans to spend 10 months in Cuba beginning this summer, teaching courses at the ecumenical seminary in Matanzas and traveling across the island facilitating workshops for churches and communities around topics of leadership, team building and drama.
Kim’s hammer dulcimer and Stan’s electric guitar will help to make rhythmic toe tapping a major activity at the Spring Concert. Percussion will abound, as students from Polk County High School play tambourine, the conga and djembe drums, as well as the unusual cabasa and clave.
The cabasa, an instrument made of steel-ball-chain wrapped around a wide cylinder, was originally made from a dried gourd strung with beads along the surface, while the clave, made from sticks of hardwood, is reputed to be the oldest musical instrument in history. Both produce a distinctive beat that will be sure to have audience members dancing in their seats. Along with the percussion will be the bright, joyous sound of the marimba.
Chorus members Linda Lee and Dick Wilson bring the richness of the bass and the bass guitar to the mix. The audience will also once again be treated to the soaring beauty of Donis Schweizer’s violin.
The Harmony of the World will be presented on Sunday, April 27 at 3 p.m. at the Polk County High School auditorium. Students get in free, but there is a small admission fee for adults. All ticket proceeds fund the Rotary Club of Tryon’s scholarship program.
– article submitted
by Julie Threlfall