Rockingham: CANDLELIGHT HOLIDAY TOURS

Posted on December 3, 2019 by John & Donovan

Sunday, December 8th, 11 am – 4 pm

RESERVATIONS REQUIRED

Have you heard of Martha Washington or Abigail Adams, maybe Phyllis Wheatley or Patience Wright? What about Mumbet, Nanye’hi or Sarah Bradlee Fulton? Rockingham will be presenting its annual Candlelight Holiday Tours on Sunday, December 8th from 11 am to 4 pm. This year’s theme-tour will celebrate women of the 18th century, from diverse walks of life, well-known and not so well-known. It may include the women mentioned above and many in-between. Poetess, sculptor, enslaved woman, morale-booster, soldier, spy, farm woman, Native American leader, camp follower and many others.

The Live Historians Club of Montgomery Township High School will be presenting the distaff-side history lesson in period dress as visitors are touring from room to room of the historic house, which will be enhanced in the restrained 18th-century style of holiday decoration. The candlelight tours will also feature period music by John Burkhalter of the Practitioners of Musick. Partake of holiday goodies and warm drinks in the Dutch barn and visit our Museum Store to shop for items such as period toys, our own honey, books, our Rockingham DVD, quills and tricorn hats.

Tour space is limited, so advance RESERVATIONS ARE REQUIRED

To guarantee admission and must be made by calling 609-683-7136. There is a suggested donation of $5 per person or $10 per family. Tours will be offered at least every half-hour with 3:30 being the last tour. This program is made possible by the Montgomery High School Live Historians, the Rockingham Association, Stony Brook Garden Club and the NJ Division of Parks & Forestry.

Rockingham Historic Site | 609-683-7132 | rockingham1783@yahoo.com | www.rockingham.net

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The Practitioners of Musick present “Caledonia – A Scots Musical Entertainment” to honor the 300th Anniversary of the William Trent House 1719-2019

Posted on December 3, 2019 by John & Donovan
TrentHouse

William Trent House

The Trent House Association presented The Practitioners of Musick in a performance honoring the Scottish heritage of William Trent and celebrating the 300th anniversary of the house he built at the Falls of the Delaware in 1719. The program, “Caledonia,” included music for recorder and harpsichord composed by Bremner, Oswald, and Ramsey, among other Scottish masters, and was performed in the historic house.

Born in Inverness, Scotland, William Trent immigrated to Philadelphia and established himself as a very successful shipping merchant. In 1714 he acquired much of the land that now is the city of Trenton and in 1719 built his Georgian style mansion on his plantation there. Entertainments he hosted would likely have included music by 18th Century Scottish composers, which will be performed in the same rooms that Trent and his guests would have heard them.

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Highlights of Fall 2019

Posted on July 24, 2019 by John & Donovan

For September 13th, 2019  John Burkhalter of The Practitioners of Musick performs  English Country Dance music for TAVERN NIGHT at The Old Barracks in Trenton

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 http://www.barracks.org/tavern-night.html

 September 28th , 2019 The Practitioners perform at John Witherspoon’s house  TUSCULUM in a benefit program for the Crossroads of the American Revolution.  Please Note: This is a Private Event.

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 It was originally built in 1773 by Reverend John Witherspoon, a signer of the Declaration of Independence and sixth president of Princeton University. Witherspoon named his house, Tusculum, after Cicero’s villa near Rome. The main residence was completely restored and enlarged in 1998, under the direction of Princeton architect, T. Jefferey Clarke.

 https://revolutionarynj.org/about-crossroads-of-the-american-revolution/

October 11th, 2019 (private)
October 12th, 2019 (public)
The Society for Colonial Wars and The Old Barracks Museum present…

The Practitioners of Musick in a performance entitled
     “Loyal Song, or Music of the French and Indian War”
7:00 PM followed by a reception.  http://www.barracks.org/loyalsong.html

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 OCTOBER 20th, 2019   – JANE AUSTEN PROGRAM

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 The Practitioners of Musick present an overview of the musical world of Jane Austen and the musical characters in her novels.  The program takes place at the Plainsboro Public Library at 2PM

 https://www.librarything.com/venue/82437/Central-New-Jersey-chapter-of-the-Jane-Austen-Society-of-North-America-CNJ-JASNA-

 OCTOBER 26, 2019  at Historic Morven Museum and Gardens

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Practitioner of Musick John Burkhalter performs English Country Dance music with dance mistress Sue Dupre at historic Morven

1 to 4 PM as part of “The Harvest Festival

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John Burkhalter with the Old Barracks Fife and Drum Corps

Posted on July 21, 2019 by John & Donovan

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The Museum of the American Revolution in Philadelphia – Saturday, July 20th 2019.  The corps performed marches and other military music drawn from original 18th century printed music in John’s extensive collection.

About the Fifes & Drums of the Old Barracks

The Fifes & Drums of the Old Barracks are a group of musicians who perform late 18th-century music that would have been performed by a military corps of music during the Revolutionary War. Beyond their well-researched repertoire of colonial music, their uniforms are those that would have been worn by the musicians of the 2nd New Jersey Regiment. Four of the eight companies of this regiment were raised at the Trenton barracks in December of 1775. Comprised of middle and high school students and professional musicians from the Trenton area, they have been organized and trained under the direction of Stephen Hudak, Andrew Wierzbowski, John Lane, James Fultz, and Timothy Ross.

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Channel Crossings – Featured at Little Church Around the Corner, NYC

Posted on July 13, 2019 by John & Donovan

img_0077.jpgOn June 4th, 2019, The Practitioners of Musick were again invited to repeat their program of English and Dutch music entitled “Channel Crossings”.  The keyboard/continuo parts were performed using a recently-acquired two-manual Sutherland harpsichord, as well as with the church’s Fisk pipe organ.

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Rockingham: Annual Holiday Candlelight Tour

Posted on January 19, 2019 by John & Donovan

December 9th, 2018: John Burkhalter of The Practitioners of Musick in the fancy parlour of Historic Rockingham for the annual Holiday Candlelight Tour.

The theme: “Animals Domestic and Otherwise as well as Pets” that were known in the Washington Household at Mount Vernon…

Among the family pets were Parrots and a Cockatoo. Accordingly, John played 18th century English melodies associated with birds including the Parrot.

It was at Rockingham that Genl. George Washington heard the news of the 1783 Treaty of  Paris that effectively ended the Revolutionary War.E37CDD11-E8AB-4E7B-9712-B4CBAF6D6075

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CHANNEL CROSSINGS The Dutch / English Connection

Posted on September 29, 2018 by John & Donovan

IMG_1867-e1563053354742-768x1024The Practitioners of Musick created a special program entitled Channel Crossings: The Dutch/English Connection for presentation at the beautiful  gothic chapel at Princeton University.  It was exceeding appropriate that we were able to use this elegant chamber organ which was built in Holland by the Klop firm.  In addition, we utilized the main (Skinner-Mander) pipe organ as well as recorders by famous Dutch makers such as Hans Coolsma in Utrecht and Kanji & Sorel in the Hague.

The program included works by Henry Purcell, Godfrey Finger, John Blow, Servaas de Koninck, as well as Dutch country dance melodies and the music from a collection by Antony Pointel.  The program concluded with the Dutch national anthem, Wilhelmus van Nassouwe.

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At Washington’s Crossing Historic Park

Posted on April 29, 2018 by John & Donovan

Musick Washington's Knew

The Practitioners of Musick  presented a program at Washington’s Crossing, PA, which featured period dance with the Germantown Colonial Assembly as well as vocals by Rebecca Mariman who sang political broadsides and theater songs.

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The Historic Cranbury Inn

Posted on April 19, 2018 by John & Donovan

IMG_1489-editOn April 14th, 2018, a program was offered to the Francis Hopkinson Chapter of the DAR (Daughters of the American Revolution) at the famous Cranbury Inn.  The program focused on musician and composer, Francis Hopkinson, who was very active politically as well as being a signer of  the Declaration of Independence.

Notably, Hopkinson wrote Seven Songs which he published in 1788 and dedicated to George Washington.

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Jacobus Vanderveer House

Posted on November 2, 2017 by John & Donovan

VanderveerHouseThe Practitioners of Musick will appear at the Jacobus Vanderveer house on December 1st, 2017.  This will be part of the 15th Annual Colonial Christmas celebratory activity.

The Jacobus Vanderveer House interprets Dutch colonial life in America as well as the stay by General Knox and his family during the 1778-79 encampment.

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