Hi,

This message is not about a group or event but a location.

A small group of shape note singers now
have the use of a room in a church basement
on Thursday nights in Culver City.

Small group means 3 people sometimes 5.

Small room, concrete acoustics.
(One voice effortlessly goes to 90-94 dB)
(using Radio Shack $50 decibelmeter)
(Almost like singing in a stairwell)

Our method of using this space is still being formed.

Generally we are following a "Sacred Harp model";
of non-performance amateurs taking turns,
choosing songs from an established tunebook,

and a "barbershop model"
of coming whenever we feel like it...

Someone might drop in for 10 minutes,
we'll sing a couple of her favorite songs,
then she'll leave.

In other words, that small-town model
where there's a "cracker barrel" or general store
or church basement, and people gather there,
as part of doing other errands.

Everybody lives close by.
Some of us walk.

So, if you live close to Culver City,
and you just want to drop in before or after having
coffee at The Spot or The Conservatory,
or on your way to the library...

Detailed directions are here:
<www.hosorembo.com>
or phone me.

So, we're going to have an organized singing
once a month. But these informal things
have happened every week since we got the room.

"barbershop model"
not as in "barbershop quartet"
but as in the village barbershop
where "folks" hung out,
some of whom liked to sing,
some of whom discovered that crazy seventh,
among other things...

David Olson
Culver City
(310) 410-9033