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Chicago Music Behind Closed Doors

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Practice Makes for Perfect Lunchtime Concert Idea

Curiosity about what was going on “behind closed doors" was the inspiration for Saturdays free “Hidden Talent" concert at Chicago's Harold Washington Library.

Turns out, since it opened in 1991, the library has offered six practice rooms and a chamber room -- free of charge -- to musicians seeking to hone their skills.

The rooms, furnished with pianos, are available on a first-come, first-served basis during library hours. Musicians are limited to one hour of practice time if there's a waiting list, and must have some form of identification to use the rooms (call 312-747-4850 for information).

The practice rooms are “a very popular service," says librarian Christopher Popa, who works in the eighth floor music information center. He estimates that several hundred people a week use the rooms.

Popa says he often wondered about the talent of the musicians who use the rooms. So did his colleagues.

“They [the musicians] check in at the desk and then you don't see them or hear them," he says, except for occasional notes that escape from behind closed doors.

Popa thought it would be a good idea to put together a “music showcase in the auditorium to give them a break. Otherwise, they come and practice for an hour and leave and no one hears what they're playing."

After determining that the musicians liked the idea, the library staff chose six musicians with a diversity of experience and styles. The program in the Cindy Pritzker Auditorium covers classical, opera, gospel, jazz and pop. Performers range in age from 17 to 79.

Aspiring opera soprano Pamela Spann opens the program with arias from Wagner's “Tannhauser" and Puccini's “Tosca."

“I wanted to do music I really, really love," she says of her choices.

Spann has been singing professionally for 10 years, mostly in churches and at the Fine Arts Building, where she studies. She temps for her day job. She's been using the library practice rooms for a couple of years, several times a week.

Along with free-of-charge use, the appeal of the rooms, Spann says, is “the fact that they are wonderfully convenient and I can come before a lesson and warm up and come after and review it."

HIDDEN TALENTS
Saturday Noon
Harold Washington Library
400 S. State Chicago
Free
(312) 747-4050

MORE ONLINE: Watch video of the musicians rehearsing at suntimes.com

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