Voices from the Flats – A Joyful Noise

By Pati Crofut This year the violin section in the Hiland Mountain Correctional Center Women’s String Orchestra was hit hard by attrition, good news for the inmates but bad news for the orchestra.  Cathleen was released and relocated to California.  Pam was released to a halfway house.  Angela is out.   Cassandra is at the Clitheroe Center. Intermediate players moved up to fill the vacated advanced slots but musically, the group slid back to accommodate this less experienced section.  Prison orchestras are only as good as the members with the lengthier sentences so a prisoner’s release is bitter sweet. Our conductor,…