Festival Stories: Cara Ellen Modisett
Music in the Valley: Journeys through Time
I grew up in the Shenandoah Valley, in Harrisonburg, and so the mountains and the farmland were the landscape of my childhood – and the landscape of my early years in music as well - my family traveled on Sundays to Page County, Va., to go to our family’s small country church, and that was where I had my first experiences as a collaborative pianist, accompanying services and hymn singing and playing duets with my mother, who was the organist.
Much later, I ended up graduating from James Madison University with a degree in piano performance/accompanying – inspired in no small part by those early years playing hymns for that church in the valley – including a few written by J.S. Bach!
One of the things I love especially about the mountains and valleys of Virginia is the way that the past and the present commingle, and we see and hear that in the valley’s art and music as much as in its architecture and geography. Experiencing music in the Shenandoah Valley is a way of journeying through time – from old hymns and shape note singing to bluegrass and old time jams to classical concerts keeping alive the music of centuries-old heritage.
One of my favorite memories of this commingling is from a visit to a friend’s family one weekend, years ago. They were a family of old-time and bluegrass players, and they had an electronic piano and invited me to jam with them. I protested that I didn’t know the music, and was better at reading from a page than improvising. One asked, “do you know Pachelbel’s Canon?” (that (in)famous D-major composition heard often in weddings.) So I began the repeated bass progression, and musicians joined in – some combination of guitar, banjo, fiddle. Soon we were improvising to Pachelbel, creating new counterpoint and harmony for old music.
Music, I’m reminded, is its own language, and often needs no translating. The rhythms, melodies and instruments of Bach’s day can be heard echoing through Irish folk music and mountain reels and old-time. The Shenandoah Valley Bach Festival, in bringing together communities to celebrate our musical past and present, takes us on these unexpected journeys of connection and inspiration. I love being a part of the great, visionary work its artists are creating and re-creating!
–Rev. Cara Ellen Modisett
Associate Rector, Trinity Episcopal Church, Staunton
Former collaborative pianist, Radford University, and producer/reporter, WVTF public radio
