Bath County, Va.: Singing Despite the Rain

The Garth Newel Music Center, ex-horse farm and Girl Scout camp, now hosts about 50 performances a year. (By F-stop Photography)

It's like a mini-course in music appreciation. She warns of the two loud notes at the beginning of the piece that the composer used to get everyone's attention. As it turns out, they are not that loud.

The second offering is a trio by Schumann. And, in the same way that flowers smell sweeter in the wild, the music sounds lovelier amid the countrified silence.

After the music, people mingle for a bit before picking spots at large round tables. Ed Edelsack and his wife, Charlotte, have come from Washington for the weekend. They heard about Garth Newel last year when Ling played at the Corcoran. The Edelsacks say they were tired of dealing with rats in their Glover Park yard -- not politicians, real rats -- so they hightailed it to this spot in western Virginia, about four hours from Washington. They are a font of recommendations: a local gem store for polished fossils, Sam Snead's Tavern in Hot Springs for drinks, the Water Wheel restaurant in Warm Springs for tournedos.

Finally, everyone is seated. They applaud again when the betoqued chef, Randy Wyche, emerges from the kitchen. He describes the meal he is about to serve. The first course, he says, is minted pea soup with scallop mousseline.

"What's mousseline?" someone shouts.

It's a sauce, Wyche explains. And the mint comes from the garden of viola player Evelyn Grau. People clap for Grau, who is sitting next to me.

Local resident Beth Eley, also at our table, says she probably wouldn't use mint in pea soup. "I like it in mint juleps," she says.

The meal is served. Conversation turns to politics, summer camps, music, art, literature, life decisions, fine food, good wine, dreams, desires and on and on.

"I always figured, as a musician, I would end up in a city," says Grau, who grew up in Huntsville, Ala.

Instead, she's making music in a county without stop lights. Life can take strange turns.