Barnstable 5K, The Musical

“Music produces a kind of pleasure which human nature cannot do without”- Confucius.

Everyone at The Barnstable 5K, the Musical I’m sure agrees with this! Sunday Nov 11, 2012, at 9am the race began. The weather was perfect- sunny, cool, no wind. 39 runners ran, while 14 musicians played. Kate Naples played harmonica, getting the runners off to a great start. Then at the half-mile mark, a gorilla played his concertina and sang operatic songs. We still don’t know who he was! The music kept the runners going. At the mile mark, the runners were treated to the music of Laird Boles on bass, Ben Kushigian and Jackson Crockett on guitars. What a trio! The runners continued on to the 2 mile mark where Connor Naples played classical music on the keyboard. Who would expect classical music at a race? It worked for the runners! And the whole time during the race, the runners could hear the Irish band of 8 musicians playing at the finish line, waiting for the runners to cross. The band members played fiddles, guitar, accordion, flute, whistles, and recorder. The band was: Dinah Mellin, Victor Warren, Debra Murphy, Terry
Cetto, Sean Murphy, Patrick O’Brien, David Macadam, and Wonderful John on guitar. We had several signs along the course about the value of music and of music education. One of
them was a quote from George Scharr, trombonist, CC Symphony: “Students who study music, score higher on the SATs”; another, from Billy Joel: “Music is in itself, healing.”

 

Joanne Corsano arrived with her camera to take photos. She has shared them with us on her website, http://www.nicepace.net/running/2012. You can tell from the photos that everyone was having a great time.

Home-made apple-cranberry pies were awarded to the first, second, and third place men and women runners. Everyone commented on how much fun they had, that it was a unique experience for runners and musicians alike. We’re still getting emails from happy runners!

The winners’ times were posted in the CC Times sports section on Tuesday, Nov.13. We raised $450 for the BHS Music program.

Thank you to supporters of Music Education
Nothing like this event can “just happen”. There are people who helped us do this. Here’s who they are: Ray Glaser, Michael Dunford, Patrick Clark, Steve Francis, Elaine Grace, David Schroeter, Liz Hodgkins, Alex Wells, Pete Stringer, Kim Riley, Mike Riley, Dinah Mellin, all of the musicians mentioned above, Lenore Lyons, Donna Blackman, George Scharr, Hanlon’s, Larry Cole and the Cape Cod Athletic Club, Cape Cod Ultra Society, Fiona Jensen, Bob Edwards, Martha Edwards, Gareth Lindwall, Geof Newton, Bill Naples, Fiona Naples, Susan Eastman, Joanne Corsano, Pat L’Heureux. A big thank you to all of you!

And most of all, a thank you to the co-director, Kate Naples. Kate has a wonderful energy. All through the planning, she made me think that this crazy idea was very possible and a worthy one to pursue. At the race, the runners really appreciated her expertise in organizing the race. She not only directed the race, but she learned how to play a song on the harmonica just for us! Thank you Kate!

Jane Hattemer-Stringer