Harmonies at the Harrison Festival of the Arts 2017

After spending the May long weekend in Harrison Hot Springs, we decided to return there for the last couple of days of the Harrison Festival of the Arts in July. After we got our things into the room in the resort, we strolled along the esplanade to take in the performances and artisan market. It was pleasantly busy and there were many cheerful faces shopping, listening and appreciating the event.

My main goal was to participate in a harmony workshop with a duo called The Small Glories. Cara Luft (formerly of Juno Award winning trio The Wailin' Jennys, and a co-founding member) and JD Edwards are a pair of singer/songwriters that create a melodic, yet powerful fusion of folk, rock, country and blues.

The workshop boasted 40 participants by the time everyone arrived. Cara and JD are good-natured, laid back people, with a great sense of humour. After a brief warm up, we got right into the song 'Oh My Love', splitting the circle of singers in two; JD's side and Cara's side. They walked back and forth in their sections, making sure we heard the parts clearly, Cara with her banjo and JD with his six string. At the end of an hour, we had our harmonies down for two songs. I could have sung harmonies all afternoon with them!

Just before we left, Cara and JD invited us to sing with them for the last song at their next gig on the beach. I was not going to miss this opportunity.

Their latest CD - produced by 54-40 frontman Neil Osborne = was highlighted in the afternoon concert and well-received by the festival audience. Cara and JD are both good story tellers, deftly weaving the music together with anecdotes and stories of the road. I didn't want their music to end but I was really looking forward to getting on stage. Finally, it was our turn. About ten of the workshop participants made their way to the stage and when we started to sing, it was magic! Singing harmonies in performance is definitely one of my happy places. The Small Glories were very generous to allow us to share the stage with them. On the other hand, we must have mastered our harmonies well enough in order to be invited to perform with them. This is a vocal experience that I will not soon forget!