Frequent Small Meals presents

Natural Rhythms
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

a house concert

featuring

Elise Witt
Becky Reardon
Terry Garthwaite


Sunday, May 9, 2010
in the Frequent Small Meals performance space
located at 522 Grant St SE, 30312 (in Atlanta's Grant Park)
7:00 PM

Whether it's a polyrhythmic groove on juju magic, a playful musing on the rhythm of the heartbeat, a march about the mating season of tarantulas, a swing on spring fever, or rockin' and rollin' with a ride on the happiness train, Terry, Becky & Elise cook from the minute they hit the stage. Imagine Laurie Anderson, Janis Joplin, and Edith Piaf taking a turn from Starhawk and then from Dr. Seuss, and you'll have some idea of the mad and moving musical adventures created with the rhythms of the natural world and experiments with language and sound. Bringing three uniquely different voices to the blend, Terry, Becky & Elise's harmonies spread a web of joy and the delight of singing together. The threesome's workshops play with improvisation and original songs, and their concerts are famous for transforming the audience, even self-professed "non-singers," into a glorious choir.

Reservations are required for this concert: Please email your name, contact info, and number in your party to
info at frequentsmallmeals dot com.

The performers:

Terry Garthwaite is an internationally known singer, songwriter, composer, producer, and teacher. Her recording career dates back to the late 1960s in San Francisco, when she and Toni Brown formed the acclaimed rock group Joy of Cooking. Garthwaite has produced recordings by numerous other artists including Ferron’s album Shadows on a Dime (awarded four stars by Rolling Stone).

In performance, Terry has shared the stage with such artists as BB King, Janis Joplin, Bonnie Raitt, The Band, Allen Ginsberg, Santana, Rosalie Sorrels and writer Bobbie Hawkins at venues that include Carnegie Hall, the Joseph Papp Theater, the Hollywood Bowl, and Canadian Folk Festivals. In 1992 she recorded her critically acclaimed Affirhythms - rhythmic affirmation chantsongs, and followed it in 2000 with Sacred Circles, songs of hope and heart. She is currently writing a memoir of her life in music.

Becky Reardon's voice is familiar to the millions of people who heard her singing on the Charlie Brown TV specials in the 1970s and '80s. During that time, she was a regular performer at acoustic venues in the San Francisco Bay Area, as well as a studio singer for many national TV and radio commercials, and co-composer with Judy Munsen of the album The Love Reaction. Drawn to New Mexico in the early 90's, Becky began writing rounds and songs about the rhythms and cycles of the natural world. Over the past 15 years these songs have come to be sung widely in song circles across the US and the UK, and are treasured for their ability to move singers and listeners to ancient places of pleasure and healing in themselves and the community created by singing together.

Becky teaches and performs nationwide and this year was invited to bring her songs about the stars and moon to the NASA-sponsored Chaco Educators Institute in Astronomy. She lives in Taos, New Mexico, and teaches an on-going class, The Joy of Singing Harmony, and is cultivating the use of improvised singing and movement to illuminate and resolve conflict. Her songs and rounds are collected on her CDs: Follow the Motion, Songs for a Walk, and Inside the Outside, and on Natural Rhythms, with Terry Garthwaite and special guest Elise Witt.

The producer of the Kennedy Center's Millennium Stage calls
Elise Witt "a performer to remember with international savvy & personal charm." Elise was born in Switzerland, raised in North Carolina, and since 1977 has made her home in Atlanta. She speaks five languages fluently, sings in over a dozen more, and has been a cultural ambassador to South Africa, Italy, Nicaragua, Switzerland, and China. A songwriter and composer, she recently released the Elise Witt Choral Series, and has just released Valise, her 11th recording for EMWorld Records. Elise has studied with master of improvisation Bobby McFerrin, and in 2008 was part of a 16-voice international vocal ensemble with Rhiannon (founding member of Bobby McFerrin's Voicestra). Elise has earned a reputation as a masterful educator, encouraging even the shyest singers to revel in their voices. As a Residency Artist, she works with students in elementary schools through universities, as well as with professional ensembles and community groups. Her workshops and concerts use music as a language to celebrate our cultural diversity while appreciating our connections as one human family.


Sliding scale admission $8-48 (be affordable and generous). All proceeds to the musicians.

Frequent Small Meals performance space:
522 Grant St SE, Atlanta, GA, 30312
Type "522 grant 30312" into Google maps

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