Scrag Mountain Music had its first event last night—a joyous and delicious kick-off party hosted at the Green Mountain Girls’ Farm in Northfield, also one of our venues for the series.  We were pleased and encouraged by the turnout—the response to both our music and our vision continues to give us energy.  We took the opportunity to try out an interactive element to the music in this event by discussing four seasonal poems that Evan and I were going to later perform.  Then, the whole group shared memories that were evoked by these poems.  When it was time to sing the songs, people were delighted to recognize the poetry and discovered personal connections to the music in ways that surprised them and us!

Last night was also a great opportunity to discuss our goals for the first season, including:

• Come As You Are, Pay What You Can—admission by donation, a way to make our concerts affordable for anyone
• The use of non-traditional venues such as the Langdon Street Café and the Green Mountain Girls’ Farm, to encourage new audiences to experience classical music
• Building community through music—creating a space of warmth and welcome to everyone, especially newcomers to classical music
• Education and outreach—starting in April and extending into next season, we will be including events in schools and for the community at large related to our concert series
• Innovative programming—diverse repertoire, with an emphasis on works from the 20th and 21st centuries
• Concert experiences that move beyond listening to music as an intellectual exercise, and rather approach music from the heart to deepen our audiences’ and our own personal connections to our programs

We are still looking for ways to get the word out about the concerts and to raise money so that we can break even this season.  Please be in touch if you think you’d like to get involved in any way.  Thank you for your support and interest in this project!

See you all at our first weekend of concerts—January 21-23.  Bring your friends!  
- Mary and Evan