By Maria Montecristo
The Castle Inn has had many lives since it was built in 1906. Perhaps one of the most important was the part it played in the shaping of music history. Those who appreciate music will be fascinated by the past of the castle inn by hosting The Waring Music Workshops for 20 years. It moved to Penn State.
Fred Waring was a household name, one of the most critical figures in choral music production and composition, and he was called "the man who taught Americans how to sing." At that time, his arrangements changed the audience's perceptions of choral singing forever.
He hosted a musical variety show called "The Fred Waring Show," which featured the Waring's Pennsylvanians. The weekly show was jammed packed with one excellent performance after another, allowing viewers to appreciate Waring's passion for music. According to Waring's biography, he often asked, "Why do we sing?" and he would answer, "We sing to make what we say more beautiful, more poignant, and more meaningful. It's that simple."
In the summer of 1947, Waring organized the Waring Music Workshops. In these workshops, Fred introduced fresh teaching methods and ideas that were innovative at the time. When the workshops outgrew the Shawnee Inn, they moved to the Castle Inn to expand their facilities in 1952 in Delaware Water Gap.
The workshops grew to a thousand participants each summer. In a rare 1982 interview, he said, "We continued to have the workshops in the summers at Shawnee. Three or Four hundred, the fact we had a thousand every summer for about 20 summers." At first, Waring held workshops for music educators, but Waring soon grew tired of "trying to impress music teachers with new ideas which were not in textbooks" He found them hard to instruct and not open to new concepts. So, after many years, Waring decided to invite high school choirs to the workshops. He enjoyed teaching young students who picked up the material like sponges. Throughout his lifetime, Waring had a profound impact on thousands of musicians. He ran the workshops until he passed away in 1984.
Your enthusiastic host, Scott Fabian, will invite you to learn about the many lives of the Castle Inn. The tour is full of fun stories, facts about bygone hotels, and information that will leave you wanting to learn more. This is just a snippet about one of the characters in the Castle Inn.
Discover the impressive history of the Delaware Water Gap and Castle Inn on the Castle Inn's tours every Sunday. It costs $12 for adults $10 for Seniors & $8 for children 12-17 and under 12 is free. You can also schedule your private tour today to avoid the crowds for $20 a person. Contact Scott at 570-730-0547. Visit TourTheCastle.com for more details.
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