Cambridge
I got back to Troy from New York City today just in time to grab my Sacred Harp and Northern Harmony tunebooks and get back in my car to drive north to Cambridge, New York, where I attended an irregularly scheduled singing and pot-luck supper that rotates between a handful of houses. The singing is fun but less-than traditional, with all kinds of choral conventions inserted. The group almost exclusively sings fuging tunes, which is fine by me, and today was trying out a lot of new tunes, digging deeper into the Northern Harmony tunebook. We sang in particular, a bunch of tunes by Timothy Swan and Supply Belcher, along with “Walkley,” a Neely Bruce arrangement.
As always, dinner was great, mostly consisting of locally grown vegetables and locally grown, small-farm raised, organic meat. The conversation is always interesting too (to me anyhow), and this time mostly people were talking about gardening and instrument-building (three of the singers are instrument builders and restorers).
Next time the singing is held at the house of a couple who tap sugar maples, and they’re starting to tap the trees next week.