Well, WE certainly enjoyed last month's Open Mic Classical (on Sept 17, 2017 with teen prodigy Jim Dellamorte as the feature).

But what would a 3-month-old baby have thought?

This may seem an odd question to you, unless of course you were lucky enough to have attended. I say this because those in attendance were treated to not only great music, but also to some great ideas from a short talk titled "A Baby's Sense of Music" by co-founder Bob Marcus.

I would imagine even a baby would have oohed and ahhed at Ellen Adamson's lovely singing of a Pergelosi Arietta (which kicked things off for us), or Vicki Goldsmith (flute) and Jim Skinger (guitar) tenderly rocking Astor Piazzolla tango concoctions prefaced by von Paradis, or the delightful modulations of Vaughn Williams as played by Bob Marcus (viola) and house pianist of the day Sylvia Karkush Furash.

By what clever method could a researcher even assess to what degree a baby might notice melodic mistakes? Well, come to our next open mic and ask Bob Marcus yourself! Perhaps schmooze with him in our post-show snack lounge, or come early and ask him, and as you do perhaps meet some other musicians with whom you may wish to start an ensemble. (I am proud to say, Open Mic Classical has been the impetus for the formation of MANY new exciting cape classical ensembles, such as a quartet, a ukulele trio, the Cape Cod Guitar Trio, the Skinger-Goldsmith duo etc., and as a result many musicians undusted their instruments, and returned to performing)

Interesting lectures, great music, coalescing ensembles: just three of the nexus points of the nexus that is our lovely Open Mic Classical, for which I greatly thank all who attended and all who played. As one punster (I'm guessing a trombonist, you know how THEY are) put it: 
      "Without music, life would Bb." 

After Bob's talk, our very own Donna Pihl (who volunteers her great charm and abilities at the UU church and at OMC) came out of her shell and sang us a fantastic acapella "Summertime" from Gershwin's Porgy & Bess.

(Gershwin supposedly asked Stravinsky for composition lessons, but when Stravinsky learned of Gershwin's income responded "I should take lessons from you!".)

Jim radiated the 88s on "The Four Bs": Bach, Beethoven, Brahms, and Bolcom, played in the order of their birth, thus taking us on a wonderful chronological journey of the Western fascination with modulations, artful dissonance and pianistic theatrics. B is the sophomore letter of the alphabet and Jim Dellamorte is a sophomore at Sturgis High School. Quite an impressive young man.