Eurythmy-Lyre Workshop in Witten-Annen, Germany

Saeko Shibayama Cohn, Spring Valley, NY, reports on participating in the Eurythmy-Lyre Workshop in Witten-Annen, Germany

On February 18 and 19 of this year, I attended the Eurythmy and Lyre Workshop at the Waldorf Institut in Witten Annen in Germany. Begun in September 2021, this was the fourth annual workshop of this exciting initiative hosted by lyrist Martin Tobiassen and eurythmist Nicola Anasch, and it was my third time attending from across the Atlantic. This time, under the theme of “Carrying and Being Carried,” seven eurythmists and four lyrists worked on three uniquely different musical pieces: one piano piece arranged for 5 lyres by Martin ((Olivier Messiaen’s Prelude, “La Columbe), one piano piece arranged for the lyre by the composer (Pervez Mirza, “Bagatelle III”) and one lyre original piece (Lothar Reubke’s “e-f”).        

According to the organizers, this theme of “Carrying and Being Carried” was conceived by reflecting upon the feedback provided by the eurythmists who attended the earlier workshops. Their concern was that they did not feel sufficiently “carried” by the lyre sound. In Martin’s words, “Sounds are the clothing of music, which it wears as naturally as we wear ours. It can be that you feel carried by what you are wearing…” We examined such “carrying capacity” of the lyre sound specifically by comparing all these three pieces played by the lyre ensemble as well as by the pianist Hiroko Hashizume on the piano. 

For me, it is always worth attending Martin’s workshops simply because I enjoy playing such a variety of music in a lyre ensemble. However, this year in particular, I marveled at the way Martin encouraged and guided the eurythmists (most of whom had never played the lyre before) in playing all three of these musical selections as well as Cabezón’s “Pavane” with us. It was magical to observe how he actually enabled this impromptu lyre orchestra to happen. Martin’s teaching is based on his careful analysis of each piece. He identified one or two tones that structured each piece, and then he instructed the eurythmists to play only those tones, while we played our own parts. Such an approach was refreshing and eye-opening, deepening my musical understanding of these pieces. Last, but not least, the best part for me was the experience of both seasoned and beginning lyrists resounding together. There is always something powerfully moving when many lyres sound together, and I feel that it is one of the most humbling and wonderful secrets of the modern lyre – that it invites people to play music. Surely, the carrying capacity of a lyre orchestra is immense!