This past Sunday, True North Brass performed at the historic Sharon Temple. This is truly a unique structure! It was built by a religious sect called the “Children of Peace,” who were former Quakers. The architecture represents many of the tenets of their faith; for instance, the building has three stories to represent the Trinity. You can read more about the Children of the Peace and the Sharon Temple here.
Because of the remarkable acoustics of the Temple, Stephen Cera, who is Artistic Director of Music at Sharon, requested that we include some antiphonal music in our program. So, for this performance, we invited Rob Weymouth & James Langridge (trumpets), Julian Alexandrov (horn), our webmaster Nick Mahon (trombone), and Courtney Lambert (tuba) to join us in a few selections, including Samuel Scheidt’s Gelobet seist du, Jesu Christ and a double quintet version of Scott’s Ceremonial Fanfare. TNB also performed selections from John Beckwith’s Tunes of the Sharon Band, which is a suite of music which was played by the first civilian band in Canada.
Inside the building, one of the most striking features is “Jacob’s Ladder,” which leads to a gallery on the second story. To begin the second half of the program, Ray, Rob and I climbed the ladder and played the fanfare from Swan Lake to call the audience back in. I’m pretty good with heights — I once acquired the nickname “Monkey Boy” — but it was a little disconcerting to realize that as soon as we climbed down one of the ushers roped off the ladder and hung a sign warning people to stay off! But we made it in one piece, and for the first time in my career I received applause for climbing a ladder.
All in all, it was a wonderful event — a great venue, an appreciative audience, and none of the trumpet players fell to their deaths! The shot above shows Ray making his descent. (Click the photo to enlarge.)
Congratulations to Richard, Nick and Amy on a wonderful new site. Very slick! I love that I can write in anytime and the store is fantastic! Thanks so much for all your time and expertise.
Very cool!
Joan
Posted on June 24th, 2008 by Joan in
General
Welcome to the new site!
Over the past few months, we’ve been busy getting this new and improved website ready for you. Nick and Amy Mahon have done an admirable job of putting up with our nitpicking and woeful lack of web savvy, and have built a website that we’re sure will be both informative and easy-to-use.
One of the most obvious new features of the site is this blog. We’re hoping to use it to connect with listeners, brass players, and anybody else who happens along. The plan for the blog is to be as flexible as possible, and use this forum for whatever strikes our fancy — or yours! Whether it’s discussion of past shows or upcoming events, our ideas about playing brass instruments or music in general, or even Scott’s gazpacho recipe, eventually you will find it here. If you want to see it, don’t be afraid to ask for it in the comments or via the contact page. We’re more than happy to try to respond to your requests. If you’re wondering what happened to the old website archives, have no fear — one of the regular features of this blog will be to republish articles from the old archives.
We’ve also enhanced our online store. You can now listen to MP3 samples from every track of every CD, and I have to say that I’m extremely impressed with the slick new shopping cart Nick has implemented. As well, you can purchase sheet music for many of our arrangements directly from this site. One of our priorities is creating and disseminating quality repertoire for brass quintet, and in the coming months we’ll be releasing many more pieces.
Of course, the website isn’t the only thing that’s new. Some of you may have noticed a new face in the group, and boy is it an ugly one! (I can say that, because it’s mine.) I’m thrilled to be part of such a fabulous group, and I look forward to lots more great music-making with True North Brass.
Please let us know if you have any problems with the website, suggestions for how we can make it even better, or ideas for future blog posts. Of course, if you just want to tell us how great the site is, we’re happy to hear that too!
This past Sunday, True North Brass performed at the historic Sharon Temple. This is truly a unique structure! It was built by a religious sect called the “Children of Peace,” who were former Quakers. The architecture represents many of the tenets of their faith; for instance, the building has three stories to represent the Trinity. You can read more about the Children of the Peace and the Sharon Temple here. 
