Exploring the Belmont Mansion

In anticipation of playing/singing for a lodge installation of officers next week, I wanted to see the meeting venue and play the instrument(s) in question before showing up. This particular ceremony is going to take place in the Belmont Mansion, now the international headquarters building of the Order of the Eastern Star, a Masonic-affiliated group for women.

The ceremony will be in the ballroom, and I'll be playing a gold-covered 1911 Steinway B. I'd also considered playing the organ, but it's actually a huge thing for the space, and not at all subtle—the pipe chambers open into the grand staircase, and the instrument blasts the entire house.

The international secretary and her husband actually live in the house as resident caretakers. I'd made an appointment with them to look around and play last night. After I'd played a little and sang a bit to note the acoustic, they revealed that the Most Worthy Grand Matron (think "international president") was downstairs, and, since she coincidentally is also from Oklahoma, they wanted me to meet her. So, I acquiesced. But, then, the husband got on a loudspeaker and told everyone in the house to come up to the ballroom immediately! It turns out they were having some kind of international officers meeting, and there were quite a few people downstairs.

Well, the Most Worthy Grand Matron and I had actually met once before, years ago. When I was International DeMolay of the Year, I made an official visitation to the Grand Chapter meeting of the Oklahoma Eastern Stars, and she was just then starting the progressive grand line (state offices) in Oklahoma.

She happens to be Indian, and one of her little things she likes to do at Star meetings is the Lord's Prayer in Indian sign language. I had to play and sing for her while she did that for the group. Then, they wanted me to sing something else, so I had to find a little Mozart aria in what little music I had with me. Keep in mind, I'd only gone up there to test the piano, not play/sing a concert!

After all that was over, Ryan (who no doubt was probably bored to death by this point) and I had to chat with people, and then they gave us a brief tour of the public rooms of the building. It's quite a nice place, and hard to believe that people actually built and used it for a private residence a century ago.

Here are a few pictures of the building. Above, I'm at the piano in the end of the ballroom. We forgot to get a pic of the ballroom and its big dome and skylight. The other rooms are pretty, too, though.

The entry and grand staircase:



The music room and the butler's pantry:



The state dining room:



The gold room: