Lyre Concert in Detroit

by Nancy Carpenter, Detroit, Michigan

On April 30, 2017, twenty-two children from the kinderharp and lyre classes at the Detroit Waldorf School (DWS) joined the Greater Detroit Lyre Ensemble in a concert for parents and friends at the Christian Community. The concert began with a piece Michael Brewer wrote for his mother entitled For Natalie, A Ragtime Waltz, performed by Michael Brewer, Mary Lynn Channer and Nancy Carpenter. 

Sixteen of the first-grade children then played and sang a few of their favorite kinderharp songs by Mary Lynn Channer and Channa Seidenberg. The second graders displayed their further developments on the kinderharp and then, joined by a third grader, sang with the DWS Lyre Choir in performing Everyman by Colin Tanser. Mary Lynn and Michael played as a support to my three seventh and eighth grade Lyre Choir students. The Lyre Choir girls all started with me in first grade making it a fitting way for the parents of the younger children to see what is possible in their children's musical futures. It was a lovely day, the church was filled with lilacs and enthusiastic parents and friends; a happy way to welcome Spring.