Wednesday, October 6th, 2010

Eagle Hill chorus to sing for suffrage

http://www.fmschools.org/news.cfm?story=1147&school=0

Members of the Eagle Hill Women’s Chorus are stepping back in time, dressing and singing like 19th-century suffragists in two performances sure to be seen by thousands this week.

The group will travel to WCNY studios Thursday morning to record a performance to be broadcast by the public television station at 9 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 7.

The group will also perform at 7 p.m. Saturday at the Wellwood Middle School Auditorium. That event, part of the Grand opening weekend of the Matilda Joslyn Gage Center, Grand Opening Weekend of the Matilda Joslyn Gage Center, will include performances by other musicians as well.

Matilda Joslyn Gage, whose house in Fayetteville has been recently refurbished, was one of the leaders of the women’s and abolitionist movements in the late 19th Century. In her honor, the eighth-grade girls will sing songs written more than a century ago to spread the message that women deserved the right to vote and that slaves should be freed.

“If I was a woman back then, it would have meant so much to me,” chorus member Erin Ford said of singing the suffragist songs. “Right now, it still means a lot because you’re bringing back history.”

Eagle Hill music teacher Catherine Koch, who also leads the chorus, arranged the six songs the girls will perform.

The songs are considered “protest songs,” with lyrics written to well-known tunes, such as “America” and “Old Dan Tucker,” Ms. Koch said. One of the songs the Eagle Hill Chorus will sing is “Battle Hymn of the Suffragists,” an a cappella song set to the tune of “The Battle Hymn of the Republic.”

Ms. Koch assembled the 11-voice chorus last year after she was approached by Sally Roesch Wagner, the executive director of the Matilda Joslyn Gage Center.

“I have expressly put them together to sing suffragist and abolitionist songs,” said Ms. Koch, who also led a suffragist singalong during a Gage Center train trip to Seneca Falls this summer.

Chorus members praised teacher aid Loretta Benman for designing and making their period clothing, including yellow hats and sashes which say  “VOTES FOR WOMEN.” The girls also thanked Ms. Koch for her work in helping the girls sing their best.

“Ms. Koch has done so much with us,” said Libby Herlihy, who said she aspires to a professional singing career. “She worked so hard to put this together.”

Members of the girls chorus are: Shannon Fullam, Madison Sidwell, Bridget Dugan, Sabrina Nabinger, Christabel Ezidiegwu, Natalie Rott, Jasmine Martin, Elizabeth Herlihy, Hanna Santanam, Erin Ford and MacKenzie Pierie.

Tickets for Saturday’s concert are $25 for adults and $5 for students. They can be purchased four ways: online; by calling the Gage Foundation at 637-9511; by sending an e-mail to foundation@matildajoslyngage.org; or at the door.