The Durango Choral Society and its youthful minions will spin a kaleidoscope of American music on Sunday afternoon at Christ the King Church.
“’America, We Sing’ is a vibrant celebration of our nation’s musical heritage,” said Artistic Director and Conductor Rhonda Muckerman. “This concert is largely about the Durango Children’s and Youth choirs, with Farmington’s Caliente Choir, directed by Virginia Nickels.”
If you go
WHAT: “America, We Sing,” presented by the Durango Children’s Chorale, Durango Youth Chorus and the Durango Choral Society, with special guests, the Caliente Children’s Choir.
WHEN: 3 p.m. Sunday
WHERE: Christ the King Church, 495 Florida Road
TICKETS: $15 adults, $5 teens and students, children 12 and younger free
MORE INFORMATION: Visit https://durangochoralsociety.org
The April concert is part of a yearlong celebration of the 250th anniversary of the United States and the 150th anniversary of Colorado, Muckerman said: “both our shared history and the next generation of singers.”
To launch the afternoon concert, the Durango Choral Society will open with two folk songs: “Will the Circle Be Unbroken,” a familiar standard, and “Oh, Durango,” and a new work and world premiere by area songwriter Jerry Harris.
The bulk of the concert will feature youthful voices from the Durango and Farmington groups singing a variety of American music. The program adds a second world premiere composed by former St. Mark’s Episcopal Church Music Director C. Scott Hagler and Fort Lewis College professor emerita Rochelle Mann.
“We will debut ‘Rockin’ Mountain High,’” Amy Barrett said. Director of both Durango youth choirs, she said the piece was specifically written for the Durango Children’s Chorale – “a fun mashup of two well-known children’s songs.”
“We’ll open with ‘Song for Mother Earth,’ a lovely tune honoring the Indigenous people who lived on this continent before us,” she said. “It is about taking care of the earth and, if we do, she will take care of us.”
In addition, the singers will perform “Banjo Sam,” with Camp Brown on banjo; “There’s a Hole in the Bucket”; “Route 66,” a jazz standard; “The Peanut Butter Song,” by Coloradan Jean Berger; and “You’re Never Fully Dressed Without a Smile,” a nod to Broadway. Barrett said she has added a verse about some well-known Durango styles as a bonus.
All the singers, adult and young, will unite to close the concert with “We are a People.”
“’Oh, Durango’ is a jolly song about the charms of Durango,” Muckerman said. She decided to incorporate the new piece into the April program, she said, after hearing it from local songwriter Jerry Harris. The work, sung by the adult singers of the Durango Choral Society, will set a jubilant tone for the afternoon concert. “It speaks of the train, the Animas River, the sunny skies, Music in the Mountains, etc.”
The rolling, singable song rises out of the American folk music tradition with five verses, three choruses and a bridge that functions as a land acknowledgment. It honors the Ancient Ones and challenges the current stewards of Mother Earth.
Harris is a retired government engineer with a Ph.D. in electrical engineering from The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. Before retiring to Durango with his wife Linda, he had a distinguished career in ultrasound technology and continues to do volunteer international work.
“Music has been as much a part of my life,” he said, as engineering. Ironically or not, the fields moved on parallel tracks throughout his life. “For most of my career, I worked in a government lab responsible for testing medical ultrasound equipment.”
Throughout his 47-year career, Harris became a Fellow of the Acoustical Society of America, American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine, the American institute for Medical and Biological Engineering, and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. In 1993, he was named the Department of Health and Human Services Engineer of the Year, about the time he and Linda began making regular trips to the Southwest thinking about retirement. In 2010, the Harrises bought a town house here, dividing their time between Colorado and the Maryland/District of Columbia area. In 2014, they moved here permanently.
Music has been part of Harris’ life since childhood.
“My mom was a college music major, played piano and organ, directed choirs, and taught piano, so there was always music of all kinds in our home,” he said. “I didn’t inherit her performance skills, but I did enjoy trying, taking piano lessons, singing in choirs, and playing trumpet and French horn in school bands.”
As an engineering student at Georgia Tech, Harris said he picked up a guitar and started writing songs, a “hobby” he has continued throughout his life. He’s composed quantities of songs about topics or whimsies that interest him.
Harris writes all his own lyrics and music, inspired by a lifetime of listening to folk, rock and classical music. As a lyricist, he prefers old-school rhyming schemes, inner rhymes, and likes to be melodically and rhythmically creative.
“I have always written songs for baritone voice,” he said, and continues to work out ideas, tunes and text by playing the guitar. “Oh, Durango” started as a baritone solo with guitar, but he transformed it into four-part, soprano-alto-tenor-bass harmony with piano accompaniment for the Choral Society.
For lyrics, Harris said he often starts with a simple list – places, images, thoughts and/or experiences.
“From a long list of things I liked about Durango, I then looked for rhyme,” he said. “After that, I could build a coherent set of verses. Each verse is different as each chorus is different. The sequence tells the story.”
“Oh, Durango” holds a special place in all his music, he said. From their first trip to the area, Harris singled out the area’s natural beauty and cultural opportunities.
“Our trips, along with now living here, inspired this song,” he said.
Judith Reynolds is an arts journalist and member of the American Theatre Critics Association.
