“Cymbal” featured in final Music on the Porch

     An enthusiastic audience of about 35 people enjoyed Music on the Porch and on the lawn Sept. 16, on what was a beautiful Sunday at the Joseph F. Glidden Homestead & Historical Center.
     The women’s quartet “Cymbal” performed for about one hour in the final of this season's free "Music on the Porch" series at the Homestead.
     Because the program has been such a success, plans are already underway to schedule entertainers for the 2008 season.
     The Homestead is the site where Joseph Glidden invented and manufactured “The Winner” barbed wire, for which he received a patent on Nov. 24, 1874. The house and barn built in the 1860s still stand on their original site at 921 W. Lincoln Hwy., DeKalb (between Copy Service and Burger King).
     “Cymbal” has been making music together since 2001.  While each member of the group has years of musical experience, the women joined together in order to stir listeners to consider new ways of thinking about the world. Skillfully weaving humorous songs with songs that evoke tears, “Cymbal,” in performance, strives to do much more than entertain.
     The genres of music in Cymbal's repertoire include folk, South African, Native American, traditional Appalachian, spirituals and original compositions. The group demonstrates vocal dexterity in its a cappella pieces. Quartet members also play a variety of instruments including guitar, piano, dulcimer, mandolin, harmonica, percussion instruments and jug.
     The four members of "Cymbal" are Dr. Diane Johns, an editor, counselor and fiber artist who embraces the arts, especially quilting, dancing and music; Rev. Linda Slabon, a clinical social worker, gardener and minister serving in DeKalb; Dr. Toni Tollerud, director of music at the Unitarian Universalist Church in DeKalb, and a professor at NIU; and Dr. Lynn Fisher McCanne, who has found a "second life" in music after living most of her adult life as a psychologist, and who enjoys creating a more beautiful world and being an active member and musician at Unitarian Universalist congregation in Geneva.