Oysterville Church –  A Perfect ‘Sound Box’

I can never decide if the music in the Oysterville Church sounds best when I’m standing in the middle of it or if I’m outside ‘listening in.’ It’s almost a toss-up, but participating (such as I was able) in yesterday’s Vesper service with Cate and Starla Gable would really be hard to beat. They had the entire congregation singing and the church seemed to rock in perfect harmony and rhythm. No electricity needed!

Our little historic (1892) church is known, of course, for its superb acoustics. Dozens of musicians have told us how wonderful the sound is there and several have even recorded albums surrounded by its peace and quiet. I don’t know, though, if those recordings can completely capture the magic of hearing the music in person. Perhaps “magic” is the wrong word in the context of the building… maybe “spirit” as in “spiritual” would be a better descriptor.

Cate and Starla Gable, July 26,2015

As part of their program yesterday (and with two designated helpers, Betty Lu Krause and my Kuzzin Kris Jones) Cate and Starla had us all singing two different rounds – “Let Us Sing Together” and “All Things Shall Perish.”  The second was a four-part round and Cate encouraged us to “be sure to listen to the harmonies” as we were singing.

Kris Jones Leads Part Four of “All Things shall Perish”

How do you do that, I wonder? I think that must be the difference between true musicians and us lay people. I really have to stop singing in order to listen. Of course, I totally get that if we all did that, there’d be no harmonies to hear… but I stopped anyway for a moment. Fabulous!

I left the church thinking again that acoustic music is THE best. How fortunate we are to have that fabulous little structure right in our own backyard, so to speak. Not only does it provide the perfect ‘acoustical environment’ for all the talented musicians who perform there, it makes the rest of us sound good. Really good!