Barbara Lawlor, Nederland

Sunday's rain was a soaker. Not a lot of thunderclaps and lightning; just cold water streaming from the sky. Kind of gloomy.

Inside the Nederland Community Presbyterian Church, it felt warm and cozy, friendly, as a crowd enjoyed a potluck dinner and then took their places in the pews to listen to the June performance of the Nederland Concert Series. One never knows what to expect. The concert was promoted as a piano performance by Dan Herman, a classically trained pianist.

What happened in the church on Sunday was as powerful as if a bolt of lightning had struck the building and lit it with the energy of the stunning music that evoked joy, anguish, soaring hope, peace, and  relief.

Series promoter and organizer Jan Tofoya welcomed the audience and was close to tears as she thanked them for coming out and supporting music in the mountains. It was a full house.

Before Dan Herman came to the piano, three talented, high-spirited women took their turns at the keyboard. Emily Shreve's clear vocal notes blended and then rose above the chords of the piano, building to a crescendo of emotion and intensity, a yearning of the soul. She sang of love and change, letting go, and all the feelings in between.

Danit Yeshaya had the audience in the palms of her hands when she stopped, saying she was panicking and started over a few times. Few had noticed whatever flaw she felt, but the moment brought chuckles of understanding. She exchanged the piano for the electronic keyboard and carried on where she left off, everyone feeling a little closer to the performer.

Elana Brody took her seat, red tails and all, and within seconds the church became a meadow with a hawk circling above, shrieking. Yellow light danced in the aspen grove and the clacking of squirrels came from Elana's throat. As she played, her body moved in rhythm to the music. You are the sun, she rejoiced. This was her song to Colorado, to the galaxy.

She moved seamlessly between keyboard and piano, setting vocal rhythms as played while dancing. In her last song, The River, her voice became a trumpet, a trombone, a lark; she let out a doodooodooodle with a lightness of spirit that brought hands together and grins to faces. A fun, multi-tasking talent.

Dan Herman sat down at the piano, adjusted a laptop computer and suddenly the sound of soft steady rain on a roof sifted through the church—but no one looked out the window. The raindrops increased, the drumming becoming more insistent. The notes of the piano eased into the commotion and a huge roll of bass keys met a crash of thunder and the music was all there was. Herman was playing the storm and he played it through the peak, the pelting hail, down into the passing of the clouds, the dripping, the sun, the drying breezes. You could almost hear the drops evaporate.

And then, the blackbird came through loud and clear. Then Ray Charles. Then Folsom Prison Blues. The music flowed through Herman's fingers. An amazing performance, distilling his years of classical practice with his individual intensity and technology. To end the performance he mixed some sounds on stage, adding, inventing, tuning, and coming up with an orchestra to play with.

Herman plays every Sunday at the NCPC and has been seen playing at the Candy Man piano on Thursdays. He has the ability to take any piece of music and build on it, creating a place to visit. .

The next Music in the Mountains concert will take place on July 20, featuring Lough Key, an Irish/Celtic Band with storyteller Bailey Phelps. On August 17, Dale Sherrod & Friends features Dixieland piano and vocals. Concert time is 4 p.m.