Adventures of Beth and Dan: My Favorite Musical 🎵 Barn

v Some of you know that music has been one of my greatest loves since I was a young child. I remember hearing my mother play a few times on an old beat upright in our basement. I was enthralled with the sound and I wanted so much to play like that. I used to go downstairs and just pretend I was playing astonishing musical scores and would run my small fingers all over the keys up and down making no music at all but having the best time. When my parents divorced I begged for a piano but I knew my mother had little money, no car and got no alimony. Those were the days when women really got nothing and the man got it all. But we did get the house and the worst part was we could afford to be there one month…..we had to sell within that month because as an RN she didn’t make enough to make the house payment. So with the little money she got she went to Columbus Ohio to the music store and bought a brand new Baldwin spinet for me!!!!! Then she put a down payment on a new Mustang and had enough for a few pieces of furniture. We moved into the house meant for the Methodist minister which had an apartment with two bedrooms and one bath. I was ecstatic and then wanted lessons. A local divorced piano teacher took sympathy on me and offered her services at a greatly reduced price. I lived on that piano playing everything I could get my hands on. Over the years I found my safe haven in the piano which eventually got moved to a small room where I could shut the door. My social life was my piano. I could spend hours in that small room and never get tired or playing as time went by unnoticed. When I moved west to go to school my mother made sure at one point that I had that piano. Then I married and was talked into giving piano lessons. By that time I was playing at church on Sunday’s and playing for funerals. I decided if I could give piano lessons I could contribute to our earnings even if it wasn’t much. At one time I had 33 students. I taught every night after school and had a few adults who came during the day. Too much babbling on????? Ok, well I used my musical skills then to direct a community nondenominational choir which performed twice a year and sometimes three. We even traveled a few times to other communities. Sometimes we had up to 50 singers. So now you know I love music of all kinds. I miss music in my life. But my good friend Ruth Macy in Sequim told us about Concerts in the Barn! She invited us to go with her and offered a picnic too! How could we turn that down. Anyway the experience was inspiring and thoroughly enjoyable. The history around the barn and location is bittersweet. A Japanese American family owned the property, the Iseri’s. They built the farmhouse, barn and milking parlor. For decades they provided dairy products to locals along with berries and cattle. When we entered WWII they were sent to a concentration camp and after the war were unable to regain ownership of their farm. The property passed from owner to owner but was never the same. Alan Iglitzin and his wife Leigh Heston both professional musicians bought the property in 1976. They bought the neglected property looking for a venue to showcase world class musicians. It’s a long story but basically they transformed it to a beautiful location/destination where musicians from all over the globe could come and offer free concerts to the patrons locally. In 2018 Alan retired from management and deeded the farm to his wife. It is now in a land trust where it can only be used for cultural and educational activities for perpetuity.

Another astonishing thing we realized when we read the program was that the front cover was created by Midori Vance. She attended an iconography class at St Gertrude’s Monastery in Cottonwood, Idaho. This class spoke to her and gave her confidence to pursue her artistic side. We know this monastery well. It has played a deep and passionate part of our lives along with many of the sisters. How wonderful for us to see this influence touched Midori’s life and reached out to us to appreciate and affirm. Thank you Ruth for the fun and delicious picnic and the the experience of hearing inspiring music in such a barn full of history, love and joy .

The program cover by Midori Vance

Perpetuity…..

Picnic tables spread out across the mowed areas with beautiful flowers

Entrance to the Barn along with the opportunity to donate to the Concerts in the Barn foundation

The back side of the barn which has speakers outside!

When you enter there is a snack bar and they do have intermission

There is a foyer type before you actually enter the barn. Sone sit here if all the seats are taken. All concerts are free.

The old barn not really changed too much from the original barn except for wiring for lights and of course speakers. Old church pews are used along with chairs. Nothing fancy at all. A beautiful grand piano takes center stage.