Help: Helen Schneyer!..Tell me about her

Subject: RE: Help: Helen Schneyer!..Tell me about her
From: Bill D
Date: 30 Oct 02 - 08:35 PM

Ma Schenyer was a treasure....her rendition of "Moonlight" (Gonna layyyyyy, this body down!) sends chills up my spine....and then she'd do some bouncy little gospel number and allow us to breathe again.

She was one of the first FSGW people I met...(serving sandwiches to performers at the National Folk Festival about 1974-5)..and she treated me as if I had been there forever. I was fortunate to know her..

Subject: RE: Help: Helen Schneyer!..Tell me about her
From: Nancy King
Date: 30 Oct 02 - 08:46 PM

Bill, she still IS a treasure!

Subject: RE: Help: Helen Schneyer!..Tell me about her
From: mmb
Date: 30 Oct 02 - 11:09 PM

It is so heartwarming to see so many others still singing Helen's praises, both literally and figuratively!

Kendall, I think it was during Fox Hollow '75 that one of the a capella workshops was held just sitting in a circle in the meadow. I had just learned Lonesome Robin that year and sang it during the workshop. My mother had passed away that same year, and the line "You're wonderin' what Marian's found to do that's better than comin' to see you . . ." was especially powerful for me. Imagine my feeling to look across the circle as I finished and see Helen in tears!

Pete, I think that garment-tossing was at least a couple years later than '70. I wasn't introduced to the Eighth Step until 71-72, and from thence to Fox Hollow and Indian Neck. I was one of the co-conspirators who cooked up that whole scheme. And Helen still talks about being pelted with our "garments that (were) stainedd with sin" !

Nancy, I'll check with Helen about sharing the actual tapes. My little recorder is far from professional, and she may not be comfortable with indiscriminate distribution.

Not Helen-related, Speaking of areas where people do and don't sing along: Steve Gillette and Cindy Mangsen make a stop in my part of FL every winter (wise folk, they!). A couple years ago, two Albany-area friends were sailing down the Gulf Coast and happened to hit the area at the same time as Steve and Cindy's performance. The three of us surprised them by sitting right up front at their concert, and did our usual PSG-style singing-along . . . to the frowns and turned heads of audience members who had paid to hear the performers, thank you very much! After the break, when one of the other paying customers asked us to please tone down our enthusiasm, we restrained ourselves, which was immensely frustrating - - and distracting.

Subject: RE: Help: Helen Schneyer!..Tell me about her
From: Nancy King
Date: 31 Oct 02 - 11:03 AM

mmb, sorry, I didn't really mean to suggest "indiscriminaate distribution" of your tapes. It's just some of the songs may not have been on her albums, and it would be a shame if they were lost! I hope your daughter gets to hear Helen in person if she hasn't already.

Cheers, Nancy

Subject: RE: Help: Helen Schneyer!..Tell me about her
From: KathWestra
Date: 31 Oct 02 - 03:01 PM

Well, Helen called just this morning, and she's in fine fettle, enthusiastic (at nearly 82) about singing with daughter Riki (an incredible artist-painter as well as singer) and son Josh (who has become an opera singer, among other accomplishments), planning dinner/singing parties at her home in Vermont, and making (lovingly)rude remarks about Kendall and other friends.

My first glimpse of Helen was at a very rainy Fox Hollow weekend in upstate New York. She was wearing one of her "uniforms" of pure white -- flowing skirt, elegant blouse -- accented with 47 pounds of silver and turquose jewelry. I commented to her that I couldn't believe how elegant and clean she looked next to the muddy, grubby rest of us. She replied that she was just as dirty as anyone, but that wearing white made her LOOK cleaner. I thought at the time that this was an approach worth trying.

I was permanently changed (for the good, by the way) by spending 9 months as a resident of Helen's upstairs back room when I first came to DC in February of 1976. The music was wonderful--I'll never forget the monthly singarounds anchored by the powerful singing of Helen, Riki, Andy Wallace, and Jonathan Eberhart. The humorous incidents will keep me smiling for a lifetime (like the time John Cage called repeatedly to ask her to perform in his special bicentennial composition and Helen simply wouldn't believe that he had really called -- thought we were playing a joke on her. Once she finally called him back, she ended up performing with him and major symphony orchestras all over the U.S. and Europe). And many folks I first met in Helen's livingroom when they came through that summer for the Smithsonian Folklife Festival are now dear friends (Roy Harris, the first of that parade, is in DC this week and we were reminiscing about Helen just last night).

Helen has always been my role model -- for grabbing life and living it to the fullest, for showing what it's like to sing from the heart, for showing that one can get older with great panache and humor, and for being a steadfast friend to her friends. We're all lucky to have her in our world. Kathy

Subject: RE: Help: Helen Schneyer!..Tell me about her
From: mmb
Date: 31 Oct 02 - 08:29 PM

Thanks, Nancy.
    Turns out my reservations about "indiscriminate distribution" were very much at odds with Helen's personal philosophy of keeping the music alive! I know because I just got off the phone with her.
    She and I have agreed that when I've cataloged the tapes I will post the list, and will indicate those I am permitted to send to those who request them. The exceptions will be songs she has already recorded, so as not to violate any copyright agreements, and a few that she has not recorded, but does not own the rights to record, and therefore does not want them distributed. I hope this makes sense.
    BIG CAVEAT: The recording was done on an itsy-bitsy Panasonic walkman-type recorder with an internal microphone. It used to produce fairly acceptable recordings, but there is a lot of "noise" on these tapes. I've managed to listen through it, but it may be torture for anyone else with half an ear to listen to.   I was telling this to Helen, and in her incredible humility, she said "I wouldn't want to pass along a bad recording of a song." I hastened to reassure her that any criticism would be of my recorder's sound quality, and not the quality of her singing.
    She was delighted to know that this thread is re-activated, and I told her I will print the thread from my first posting and send it off to her tomorrow. So if anyone sees this tonight and wants to add a note directly to Helen, or email your friends to do so, here's your chance! I will print at approximately 8:30 AM so it goes out before Noon, and she should have it by Tuesday. Right (Write) On!!!

Subject: RE: Help: Helen Schneyer!..Tell me about her
From: Bill D
Date: 28 Jun 03 - 01:25 PM

...so?...what has transpired with this? Enquiring (and greedy) minds want to know..

Subject: RE: Help: Helen Schneyer!..Tell me about her
From: Stewart
Date: 28 Jun 03 - 04:15 PM

Thanks for re-activating this interesting thread. I enjoyed listening to her years ago on Garrison Keilor's PHC. As Garrison used to say... "When Helen sings a song, it stays sung!"

Cheers, S. in Seattle

Subject: RE: Help: Helen Schneyer!..Tell me about her
From: harpgirl
Date: 17 Jul 05 - 09:05 PM

Subject: RE: Help: Helen Schneyer!..Tell me about her
From: dick greenhaus
Date: 17 Jul 05 - 11:02 PM

She left big, empty shoes.

Subject: RE: Help: Helen Schneyer!..Tell me about her
From: kendall
Date: 18 Jul 05 - 01:04 PM

I told a couple of stories about Helen on the obit thread for anyone interested.