Priscilla Rigg was just a little girl when she discovered her love of music – and that love has stayed with her and shaped most of the nearly ninety years she has spent learning about, teaching and loving music.
And on Mondays, at the Ocean View Retirement community, you will find Priscilla Rigg leading a chorus that she has pulled together, a chorus made up of eager Ocean View residents. On this day, she puts them through their paces, and it is a day that none of these choristers would miss.
“Music is very powerful, “says Rigg. “It builds community.”
At the age of four, music struck a chord with Priscilla Rigg – when she stumbled upon a pump organ in a little cottage on a farm where she lived. “I discovered it. I used to go in and stand and pump and pump and I could just reach the keys and I would spend hours doing that.”
Her love affair with music was instant, and lifelong. Now, she’s almost 90. She has spent her life studying music, teaching students, and leading choirs. She moved here, to the Ocean View Retirement community in Falmouth a few years ago, and her plan was to retire. But once the staff and residents discovered a bit more about her background, they had other ideas in mind for Priscilla!
Despite never having worked with a choir where the vocalists would all be over the age of 70, Priscilla put out the call to gauge the interest, and immediately folks started signing up. Priscilla had no intention of leading a sing-a-long, or something informal, but rather a real choir – with sopranos, altos, and tenors – and rigorous practice. The choir has doubled in size since its inception, and the group shows no signs of slowing down.
The Ocean View Chorus will be performing their Holiday concert on Wednesday, December 12th and Friday, December 14th at 3pm at Ocean View Retirement Community on Blueberry Lane in Falmouth. For more information, you can visit their website at http://www.oceanviewrc.com/ or call them at 781-4460.