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FAIRBANKS - "Sing violas, sing!"

It is a typical Saturday morning in Music Room 301 of the University of Alaska Fairbanks Fine Arts building. Beth O'Brien is leading a group of 10 string players - one bass and a mixture of violins and violas - through a rendition of the folk classic "Home on the Range."

"It'll be pretty if we make the audience strain to hear the violin part," she advised the group.

While things seemed serious at first, the rehearsal quickly turned to fun as O'Brien stopped the music and the room erupted in laughter.

"You can't keep a good viola down," joked one of the violin players, referring to how the violins had overpowered the outnumbered violas.

It is a fun crowd, a light-hearted atmosphere, which is the case at all weekly rehearsals, conductor O'Brien pointed out. It is serious "in a way," but mostly it is "just so enjoyable."

"For a lot of us it is as much of a social aspect as anything else. It is a place to make music together and have fun together," she said. "And we've been doing it for 29 years now."

The adult string group is known as the Northstar Strings, and it operates under the umbrella of the Fairbanks Symphony Orchestra. Currently about 14 members strong, give or take, O'Brien said, it is a welcoming group that insists there are no auditions and invites any player of any experience level to participate.

"We're just glad you're here. If you can play one note in every measure you are adding to the group," she said. "And if you just want to come and listen first and practice on your own until you catch up, that is OK too."

A visit to a rehearsal confirmed her claim, as new players and veterans played side-by-side, each helping each other and everyone offering friendly input.

"There was this spot where I think we got lost. Can we go to (measure) 19 and play through (measure) 27? Go over that part?" violinist Claudia French asked after a rendition of "Ghost Riders in the Sky."

After some laughing and a few comments about who was playing "timidly," who "got lost" and who didn't, O'Brien announced: "Oh, let's play the whole darn thing again!"

I WISH WE HAD AN ADULT GROUP

In the mid-1970s, Nancy Hallinan's daughter, Susie, started taking viola lessons through the Fairbanks Youth Orchestra. Susie was in the Suzuki program, Hallinan recalled, and her teacher mentioned that mothers could learn to play the instruments along with their children. It was an idea that had not occurred to Hallinan before, but she found it intriguing.

"I had never even seen a viola up close before that. I didn't know where to get one," she said.

But get one she did, and she learned to play it. She took lessons for a few years, and then her daughter joined the String Orchestra through FYO. Watching her daughter play with the group, she thought it looked like fun.

"I wished we had an adult group like that, so I wrote to the teacher and asked if the Fairbanks Symphony board of directors would consider funding an adult string orchestra, and they did," she said.

That was the beginning of the Northstar Strings group, although it did not begin to operate under that name until a few years later. With the help of the Fairbanks Symphony Association, the group found a meeting place and was officially formed. It remained under control of the Fairbanks Youth Orchestra until 2003 but is now its own entity operated under the umbrella of the FSA. The group is open to any adult musician who plays, or is learning to play, a string instrument. O'Brien said the experience level varies and many members, including herself, joined after a considerable hiatus from playing.

"I hadn't played in more than 20 years. My daughter was signing up for Fairbanks Youth Orchestra and, when she did, her teacher asked if I had heard of Northstar Strings. I hadn't," she recalled. "I didn't even have a violin anymore."

O'Brien joined the group in 1996 and the decision made a notable difference in her life: It returned her to her calling, which was music. O'Brien had played violin in high school and went on to major in music in college. But, as can happen, plans changed.

"I ended up getting married, moving, and it all got shoved to the side," she explained.

The group has seen many players come and go through the years - military families come to town and seek out music performance opportunities, or some people play for a while and move on to other groups such as the Fairbanks Symphony Orchestra - and some players, like Hallinan, have been with the group since its beginning. Some people still have a violin stuck way back in the closet, and some don't own an instrument anymore. But, O'Brien said, all are welcome with the group.

Northstar Strings advertises itself as a group for adults who enjoy playing Broadway show tunes, light classics, pops, Celtic and fiddle music. Generally they play 8-10 performances a year at such venues as the Summer and Winter Folk Fests, Summer and Winter Solstice events, summer parades, the Pioneer Home, and weddings. They've even performed at a Renaissance Faire in costume. O'Brien said they keep "a repertoire of performance-ready songs" for such occasions and "continually enlarge the things we do and can do" for future shows.

Hallinan and O'Brien admitted, however, the group is not for everyone. While they strive to produce enjoyable, quality shows, they are in it for the fun and are not overly serious.

"If people decide they want a group with a different atmosphere, we can steer them in the right direction," Hallinan said.