Tea is a chance to chat and learn

By KELLY MCKINNEY
kmckinney@amnews.com

The Chautauqua Tea held every year as part of the Great American Brass Band Festival continues a trend started more than a century ago. After tea, participants learn and are entertained at the same time.

Chautauquas began in Chautauqua, N.Y., in 1873. They were eight-week long summer programs offering adult courses in sciences, humanities and the arts. Around 1912, other communities formed local Chautauquas, providing popular education combined with entertainment in the form of lectures, concerts and plays.

Tea

It was tea for two times 48 Thursday at Chateau du Vieux Corbeau Winery. In all, 96 people enjoyed tea, cakes and music during the Chautauqua Tea, a part of the Great American Brass Band Festival. 

The first 48 people filled the winery's dining hall at 2 p.m. From the constant buzz in the room, it was evident that the tea was as much about conversation as it was about the refreshments. 

Red and purple dominated the room. At least eight ladies, all sitting together, were wearing red wide-brimmed hats and purple clothes. 

They are the "Dazzling Dames of Danville," a local chapter of the Red Hat Society. The Red Hat Society is for women who want to "greet middle age with verve, humor and lan," according to its Web site, Redhatsociety.com. It was started by Sue Ellen Cooper, who bought a bright red fedora and loved it. She then read the poem "Warning" by Jenny Joseph, which depicts an older woman wearing purple clothes with a red hat. 

There are now chapters of the society all over the world, brightening tea rooms with their vivid red headpieces, much like the "Dazzling Dames of Danville" did Thursday. The Dames love teas. Dame Jean Morgan said they also love to eat, travel, shop and talk. 

"All at once," added Dame Beverly Cochran. 

Education

After the tea, the Dames made their way outside with the others, the ones already full of tea and cakes and the ones still waiting to have theirs at 4 p.m.

They filed into chairs set up under a tent, waiting for the scheduled program, "Elite Syncopations and Fascinating Rhythms: America's Ragtime," to begin. 

Richard Domek, a music professor at the University of Kentucky, greeted his audience with a long piano piece, "Maple Leaf Rag" by Scott Joplin. 

He also played the Joplin tunes "The Entertainer" and "The Easy Winners." He then explained that ragtime started sometime between the Civil War and 1890, before music was written, meaning it was transmitted by ear. It started in the Midwest, not in New Orleans.

It gets its sound from the way it takes marches and "rags" them and from its syncopated melodies, he said. He broke it down, showing how his right hand played the syncopated melody while his left played the ragged march on the keyboard. 

He ragged "Stars and Stripes." 

"This is really almost unrehearsed," he said. "If I did it right in a saloon, you'd have to buy me a drink." 

He didn't get a drink, but he did get loud applause. 

This story ran in the Advocate on June 9, 2006.

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