Sonneck Society for American Music
Bulletin, Volume XXIII, no. 2 (Summer 1997)
Communications
Letter from Edinburgh
The Edinburgh Youth Orchestra, under the direction of James Loughran, opened its Easter Concert
1997 with a vibrant performance of Michael Torke's energetic Javelin (1994). Concerts
took place on April 4 at Tait Hall in Kelso, and on April 5 at the Queen's Hall in
Edinburgh. It was a very gratifying experience to hear an orchestra of just under one
hundred Scots between the ages of fourteen and twenty-one play American music with such intensity
and vigor. The orchestra captured the rhythmic and ensemble challenges of Torkes' score, giving
the work the athletic quality implied by its title. The main lyrical theme of the work, heroic in
character, aroused smiles and looks of approval from audience members, a large number of
whome had children or friends in the orchestra.
The remainder of the first half of the program consisted of the Violin Concerto by Thomas Wilson,
a living Scottish composer. It was encouraging to see the interest the Scots have for their own
music, especially that of contemporary composers. The second half of the concert consisted of
a fine reading of Brahm's Fourth Symphony. The program taken as a whole, therefored,
combined the new with the established-- two works by living composers on the first half, an
American and a Scot, and a cornerstone of the symphonic repertoire on the second.
--William A. Everett
Bill Monroe's Final Journey
Bill Monroe(1911-96) was returne to his hometown of Rosine, Kentucky last September. A crowd
of 300-400 people -- far more than could fit inside the tiny Methodist church -- gathered to pay
respects and share a final moment with the man whose remarkable heart, head, and hands gave the world
a new type of music. Those who arrived too late to get a spot inside the church filed through,
siging guest registers and passing by the open casket. Many people place quarters on the rim
of the casket, others said short prayers, crossed themselves, or just stood for a moment in
teary silence, exchanging hugs and touches with those near them.
Many folks greeted old friends and acquaintances, passed a few words of pleasantries, and began to
share their memories of Bill Monroe and his music. "My daddy used to play music with him when
they were growin' up here." "He sure could pick fire outta that man'lin, couldn't he?" Three
sixty-something gentlemen in overalls and tractor caps engaged in a heartfelt discussion of the
hereafter, and how one needed to live one's life to keep from going down below ... I couldn't
exactly tell if they were speculating on Monroe's fate, or engaging in abstract theological
discussion.
Plenty of bluegrass music's finest were there -- Del McCoury, Ralph Stanley, Bobby Osborne,
Laurie Lewis, Wayne Lewis, Tater Tate, Butch Robbins -- many more. Much of the Nashville crowd of
pickers was there: Alan O'Bryant, John Hedgecoth, Butch Baldessari, David Grier, ... others who I'm
no doubt forgetting. Shortly after 2:00, Ricky Skaggs began singing "Amazing Grace" a capella, and
the people outside stopped their visiting and their milling around. Many people moved a step closer to their
neighbors. As Ricky moved through the verses, people inside the church began to join in the singing.
Soon, most people outside were singing as well. For the final verse, Skaggs sand simply "Praise
God" over and over again to the melody, with virtually everyone in attendance singing with him
Then Ralph Stanley, joined by Ricky for harmony sang a song that was new to me, and for which I
do not know the title: "... take off the old coat and put on the new." One of the most moving
performances that it's ever been my good fortune to hear.
Testimony from friends and associates, followed by words from the preacher, ended the church
service. The casket was carried out to the hearse for the short drive to the cemetary. People
apart from the family were asked to walk, and a long parade of folks filled the distance between
the church and the grave yeard. More singing from Ralph, Ricky, and others followed at
graveside, and after a few more words from the preacher, the casket was lowered into the ground. Two
workmen with shovels began the work of filling the grave, but numerous others in attendance picked
up handfuls of dirt and threw them in on top of the casket. The preacher took the quarters
that had earlier been placed on the casket and distributed them to the children in the crowd, always with the comment
that he felt sure that Mr. Monroe would want them to have it.
People continued milling and talking, visiting other graves in the cemetery. Uncle Pen is
across the way. Charlie is nearby, and Bill's parents are next to hem. "On Mom's is 'Gone,
but not forgotten,' On Dad's 'We'll meet again someday'." Finally it was time to leave. I came
away felling that it was one of hte most meaningful things I'd ever done, and that I understood
bluegrass a little differently, and perhaps a little more fully, than I had before in the thirty-odd
years that I've been listening to it.
--Paul Wells
Updated 9/22/97