Interview with The Sugar Strings

One of the wonders of the activities at the Congregational church of Park Manor on Tea Sunday was the concert by the Sugar Strings.

Whether you got to the concert are not, you'll enjoy Reading about their extraordinary successes at http://sugarstrings.com. Enter their site, and amongst other things, you can see a segment from Harry Porterfield's TV series “Someone You Should Know”. Learn something about how they got started, and hear a little about how their mothers, who are sisters, help balance their success with their lifetime goals.

After the concert, I e-mailed the Sugar Strings these interview questions:

How is performing in a church different from performing in an auditorium?
Who are performers you admire?
Do you have any advice about how to encourage young performers?
Did you have a good time at Park Manor?  Could we have improved anything?

Here is their response:

“SugarStrings had the pleasure of performing for Park Manor on Sunday, May 16, 2010 for the Young Artist Series. We thoroughly enjoyed sharing our music with the audience. They were encouraging and seemed to enjoy the pieces we performed a lot. In fact, one woman told us after the performance that she cried (tears of joy!).

“Performing in a church is different from performing in an auditorium in that we must never forget that our music is not just entertainment. It is a ministry. Music has the power to touch the spirit and heal the soul, and we are thankful that God allows us to minister to others in such a joyful way.

“We admire classical, gospel, and jazz musicians and composers, and we try to reflect that diversity in our repertoire. Min. George Cooper has been a great mentor to us and has supported us every step of the way. We admire his ability to play classical, jazz, and gospel pieces. We're striving to be well rounded musicians as well.

“Before the performance, Park Manor allowed us to practice in the main sanctuary, and this really helped us prepare for the concert. Also, Mr. Cooper practiced with us and accompanied our solo pieces, which we really appreciated. We were treated kindly by ev eryone. Thank you for the opportunity!”