Review of Music in the Mountains
November  3-6, 2022
By  Janice Gelencser

This year’s Music in the Mountains at deBenniville Pines was a big success.  Though the attendance was smaller than usual, there was a coziness to being together in the crisp autumn air.  Snow had fallen the day before and remained on the ground for the weekend which added to the beauty of the camp and its surroundings.  There were plenty of opportunities for impromptu jamming, relaxing by the large hearth in the lodge and catching up with old friends while meeting new ones.  The food was delicious and the cabins were warm and comfortable.

Our headliner, Larry Wilder, opened for both the Friday and Saturday evening concerts.  His vibrant and friendly personality is contagious which made the attendees happy they came.  Larry also gave two workshops which were well received.  His songs and stories session, told of how Americana music tied into events in our history.  His yodeling workshop gave the attendees some basics of how to yodel.    

left: Headliner Larry Wilder on guitar

 

A big thank you is in order to the Songmaker workshop leaders who volunteered their time and talents to make this another memorable weekend.  Louise Dobbs led an all purpose sing-along and provided songbooks for the singers.   Carol Burton gave us interesting stories about Leonard Cohen and his songs.  Bob DeVillle (pictured at left) led a workshop about Bob Dylan and his music. Joan Greenwald, although not a Songmaker, is a regular attendee at MITM who led a basic sight reading workshop.  Oram Miller, another regular attendee at MITM, led a choral workshop (pictured at right) and performed the song at the evening concert.  

There were two evening concerts.  Friday’s concert featured the workshop leaders and committee members with the Julia Collins as our emcee.   Saturday’s concert featured the attendees with Ron Bloom taking the role as emcee.  The Songmaker’s sound system was used for both concerts.  Thank you to Andy Gelencser for housing our sound system and transporting the equipment to deBenniville. 

 

    

Above l-r: Janice Gelenscer, Ron Bloom and Carol Schryver and Karl Lisovsky

 

Sunday morning brought two simultaneous “Songs of Meanings” sessions which allowed time for attendees to have more than one turn to share their songs.

 

Committee members who planned this year’s Music in the Mountains are Janice Gelencser, Doug Kerr, Linda Szitkar, Mary Hendricks, Bob DeVille, Carol Burton, Julia Collins and Steve Berman, our Songmakers President.

.