Part one, officially, of the story of Whispering Roses!
We grew up playing music together. We started lessons at Harmony Road Music at young ages. Our dad found an experienced folk musician (Terry Prohaska) to coach us along. In 2005, Terry referred a wedding to us – the Bisceglia sisters – and we played our first wedding professionally. Yes, I was paid to play. I had just had my 11th birthday.
we played for three weddings that year
Bisceglia is an incredibly hard name to pronounce, unless you are from the Apulia region of Italy (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apulia). So, we knew we needed to name for our foursome. We had brainstorming sessions in the begging of 2006, and Janna kept a list of possiblilities. This list included titles like Elegant Heirs, Vivacious Violets, and Saucy Serenaders. Noah voted for the last title. Nothing seemed to fit. Then, Janna, somehow inspired, came up with Whispering Roses. It felt right. We anxiously called our aunt and uncle (actors/writers in LA) for an opinon, and they loved it. I still remember my aunt’s voice over the phone “It’s perfect! I love it!”.
It stuck.
People refer to us as the Roses and we fully identify with that title. Noah joined us and we kept the name, joking about whether to add something (like thistle!) to include him. Honestly, though, just because the title includes something floral, it doesn’t need to signify that it’s a feminine, sister-only band.
A few years, ago, while strolling through a farmers’ market, someone came up to me and said, “Are you one of Whispering Roses?”. “Yes!!”, I replied. To myself, I celebrated how this title has stayed with us. People know us by it. We’re remember and known by it. It’s pronounceable. And it’s a big part of our band’s identity.
Whispering Roses Blog 