Becky Graber is a versatile musician and storyteller.
She is playful and encouraging, creating a spirit of fun and a strong sense of community as she leads others in the joyful pursuit of expressive language and music. Becky has crafted compositions and arrangements for women’s voices, many of which are now available online through her company, Chimsee Music Publishing. Becky offers lessons, workshops, and performances in singing and storytelling.
Publishing works for women’s chorus by Becky Graber
Chimsee Music Publishing, founded in 2018, is a press that specializes in works for female voices. Currently the Chimsee (pronounced “Kim-zee”) catalogue is music composed or arranged by Becky (Rebecca) Graber. Much of the music in the Chimsee catalogue was premiered by the Brattleboro (Vermont) Women’s Chorus, an ensemble Becky founded in 1996, and still directs. Many songs were performed in our Spring 2016 concert at Next Stage Arts in Putney.
Chimsee was my first dog, a gentle and devoted German shepherd who was named after Lake Chiemsee in Germany. (I’ve spelled his name wrong all my life and at this point I’m going to stick with my mis-spelling.) Chimsee left our family in 1960, at about the same time my parents bought a piano to replace our pump organ, and I began learning how to notate my compositions. -Becky
Good pals: Chimsee and Baby Becky, circa 1955.
Ready for action in Avon Lake, Iowa
Latest News
This winter, Becky has spent a wonderful three weeks in Summerville, South Carolina at the South Porch Artists Residency.
Hosts Brad Erickson and Brian Protheroe have created a beautiful retreat center. Becky and five marvelous colleagues (Allyssa Van Cuyk, Ashley Silverman, Elizabeth Stockton, Trapper Robbins, and Walter Holland) enjoyed time and space to create and experiment. Also time to talk and share and get acquainted over delicious dinners!
Becky has begun some new settings of choral music and some digging into her own language and stories with a future performance and/or workshop in mind!
ALSO: Brattleboro Women’s Chorus registration deadline approaches! Our spring session begins on February 29 – Leap Day! –
This spring we are focusing on music by composers, known and unknown, from the African diaspora. Registration details are here. https://brattleborowomenschorus.org/join-us/
Our concert will feature Samirah Evans, and will be held on Mother’s Day,
May 12, at the Latchis Theatre.
See and hear Becky’s composition “Everyone Sang”, a work for string quartet and women’s chorus, with words by Siegfried Sasson and music by Becky. HERE
On Sunday, September 13, 2020, community song leaders Dr. Kathy Bullock, Becky Graber, Peggo Horstmann Hodes, and Jane Lowey virtually united for Women Sing 100. Together, they recounted the complex, rich, and diverse history of the Women’s Suffrage Movement through powerful songs and compelling stories. This musical journey vividly shows the many challenges women faced along the way, and more importantly, highlights how racism and white supremacy shaped the outcome. The virtual program is still available for viewing. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pqx1ERBbQU0
On December 30, 2020, Becky was featured in an interview on Teresa Healy’s radio show We’re All In This Together, on WVEW, “Brattleboro’s Community Radio Station.” Teresa spent the year interviewing Brattleboro community leaders “exploring practices of solidarity as they are lived and made real by people in the Brattleboro area and within the radio station’s listening range.” Her interview with Becky concludes her year of interviews. The interview includes two tracks of music: the first is “Japanese Bowl” by Peter Mayer, from Becky’s one-woman cabaret from October 2018, “Clearing” (words by Martha Postlethwaite, music by Becky) from the BWC concert in 2016, and finally two of Becky’s compositions – “Oh the Comfort” and “Eat What’s On Your Plate” – that can be found on the BWC recording, “A Garden of Our Own”. You can purchase the CD, “A Garden of Our Own” HERE, at the Brattleboro Women’s Chorus site.
Brattleboro Women’s Chorus registration deadline approaches! Our spring session begins on February 29 – Leap Day! –
Women’s Suffrage Movement through powerful songs and compelling stories. This musical journey vividly shows the many challenges women faced along the way, and more importantly, highlights how racism and white supremacy shaped the outcome. The virtual program is still available for viewing.
