From soprano, Daphne Romanoff:

Our upcoming concert, One Voice, is a collection of fun, uplifting songs about challenge, strength, diversity, and inclusion. This concert is also a fundraiser for Best Buddies, a terrific program for people with disabilities.

We have first hand knowledge about Best Buddies since our son, Ben, an NFS member with autism, participates in Boston College’s Best Buddies program, where BC students do fun social activities with disabled young adults, many of whom work at BC like Ben.

Ben, who sings bass in the group, also just tried out for a solo for this concert, trying really hard to nail those pitches with the lyrics: 

"People see me. I’m a challenge to your balance.  I’m over your heads how I confound you and astound you.” 

I’m not sure if he’ll get the solo, but the process of trying out and practicing is certainly a learning opportunity!

Here’s a link to the essay that I wrote, together with Jack Cheng of NFS, a few years ago.  http://www.newtonfamilysingers.org/jacks-blog/category/essays

Any contribution to Best Buddies is valued and, of course, just as important: come to our concert to sing, clap, and smile!

See you there!

Daphne and Ben

The founding members of Newton Family Singers were inspired by the Arlington based Family Folk Chorale, led by Chris Eastburn (who has been kind enough to continue to share musical and organizational advice with us).

I was inspired to join our group because I had a bug in my brain after reading this New York Times article on collective folk singing (using Rise Up Singing). It's not what we do in our official sessions, but the article describes how we want to run our sing-alongs.

WFCR Public Radio in Amherst had an interview late last year with Annie Patterson and Peter Blood (authors of Rise Up) about the origins of their book and folksinging in general. It's an audio piece of just over 6 minutes.