Early Bird deadline May 31!

Registration open! Summer Musical Renewal Conference, July 5-9, Hadley, MA

Go to: http://p0.vresp.com/wGQBsj #vr4smallbiz

Barbara Patterson, Ghent, NY

Every morning at 8 am, I sit in the hall of our independent living home in Ghent, NY with my lyre and play the tone of the day and the mirrored scale.  This also includes the fifth of the tone played up and down the octaves of my lyre.   Usually some residents of our house gather at 8 o’ clock to hear the sounding of the lyre.  The "activities in the life of the soul”– from Guidance in Esoteric Training, as well as the words of the Eightfold Path – are also brought for all of us to be aware of during the unfolding of our day.  Thus another day begins in Magnolia House at Camphill Ghent.

Twice a month, two friends come and join me in playing lyre together.  These friends have each owned lyres for a long time, but recently they had not been playing them very often. Now we are enjoying learning and playing together.  

I am also using my soprano lyre as part of an educational support class with a student from the Hawthorne Valley Waldorf School who has been diagnosed with autism.  He responds to music, and, particularly when listening to the lyre, this boy becomes very calm and ready to go on with his lesson.  Again and again, I experience the healing effects of the sounding of the lyre.

Diane Barnes, Connecticut

Activities with the Lyre:
The lyre continues to be active at the Housatonic Valley Waldorf School in Newtown, Connecticut, with the lower grades learning the kinderharp, and upper grades students playing the bordun lyres. The children use  the Bleffert iron rods and gongs, as well.  We were very grateful to have John Billing come and play for the students and parents last September. I play the lyre for the Madonna Series presented each year to the students during Advent, and I also make an extra trip down to play for the school's Advent Garden.  The lyre truly helps all who hear it to listen in a new way.

There are several lyre players in the Hudson, Harlemville, Valatie, and Hillsdale areas of New York.  Some of us take turns playing at the Christian Community on Sundays, as do other instrumentalists.  In my corner I have played my alto lyre and sung at the Pumpkin Festival.  I have now played and sung at two Nursing/Adult homes in the area thus far in 2016, and am looking for other such opportunities.  On January 30th, I gave a metal instrument workshop, which included playing bordun lyres.  We saw and heard how the threefold human being is represented and nurtured by these instruments.  The feedback has been very positive. My hope is for more people to learn to play them and sound them out, drawing more people into our work.
With wishes for lyrists working more often together – Diane

Children's Camp in China

By Veronika Roemer, Lehighton, PA - vbrtnstn@gmail.com

Music With Young Children – Last autumn, I was part of a homeschooling initiative, a group of six families with a total of twelve children aged 18 months to 12 years old. The group met one day a week for eight weeks.  There was strong interest in Waldorf education and related topics among the mothers.  They met at the end of each school day for a session with the main teacher to discuss child raising questions. I had the great fortune to make music with them all. This was a unique and new learning experience for me.  I had never before taught music to preschool children or to mixed age groups.  The school-aged children were a familiar age group from teaching instrumental lessons.  We did a lot of singing and instrumental playing, like the youth group at the lyre conference last summer in Detroit.

But little ones – that was something completely new.  It was a small group, seven children including the 18 month-old.  All the mothers and the Kindergarten teacher participated, too, which was wonderful, as one or more children were often missing.  I used pentatonic and mood of the fifth songs, pentatonic and bordun lyres, iron and copper rods, gongs, triangle and cymbals, drums, and my solo lyre. I attempted to adjust to this particular age group the games I had learned from Par Ahlbom, and also new ideas I gained from a fantastic book by Reinhild Brass: “Discovering Ways/Paths of Listening.” (This book is only in German, as far as I know, and needs to be translated).  

The children enjoyed the instruments (and so did the mothers, I think, even more so than the children). Sometimes they could hardly wait to play them!  Every child had opportunities to play every instrument, and some made a strong connection with the one or the other. Towards the end of the eight sessions, I noticed a big difference in one child who initially didn’t have enough inner quiet to listen to the resounding of a rod or gong and never lasted until the end of the session (about 20 minutes), but walked away or declared she was hungry.  Now she had become much quieter, participated with the group, and stayed to the end.  But the biggest gift was to hear her sing strongly and confidently with a clear, pure, high voice.  

Channa A. Seidenberg, Philmont, New York

Honoring Colin Tanser

In late February, the Camphill Village Ensemble will pay tribute to Colin Tanser, who has been ill for some time. He is one of our most beloved composers of music for the lyre, and we will honor him by presenting Colin’s "Everyman."  This piece was originally written for the International Lyre Conference in Belfast in 2006.

As part of the tribute, we will sing the "Thornbury Days" songs, selections from "Circle of Songs" and "Star-wished Night." Colin's wife, Jennie, wrote many of the words to Colin's vocal music. In addition, there will be lyre pieces from the "Heart's Reply." A member of our Camphill Village Lyre Group will speak about Colin and his many contributions over the years.

Thank you, Colin, for your gifts to us!

Andrea Lyman: Waldorf Music Teacher Training in China

After many months of planning, I had the opportunity in January to travel to Shenzhen, China to present the first session of a full Waldorf music teacher training.   This 3-year program will meet twice a year with sessions running for ten consecutive days in January and October, totaling 360 hours of class time. This comprehensive program will include an in-depth study of anthroposophy, child development, self-transformation of the individual, eurythmy, the arts, movement, the full music curriculum and pedagogy, and more!  As director of this program, I taught the entire first session, but as it continues in the future, the program will include other faculty.

Our first group of students consisted of 23 teachers, musicians, and parents who were eager to learn and know more about Waldorf music education. Students came from all over China, including the northern provinces and Hong Kong. Shenzhen is right on the tip of south China, across Victoria Harbor from Hong Kong, so it has easy access to transportation and cosmopolitan businesses and trade. It is a modern city that is only 30 years old and was created and developed as a high-tech, ‘Silicon Valley’ type of city with industries such as Apple iPhone manufacturing and other large high-tech companies. Surrounded by the water on one side and green hills on the other, the air quality in Shenzhen is quite good for China, and even though it is a young city, it already has 20 million inhabitants!

After only ten years, Waldorf education is growing in China at a wildfire rate!  There are currently 300 kindergartens, ten grade schools, and one high school in China. While technically not legal, these independent schools are being allowed to exist and are being ‘watched’ by the government to see the results. Those involved in the creation of these schools strongly recognize that in order for Waldorf education to flourish and survive into the future, there must be a deep foundation in the understanding of what stands behind this educational approach. There is a high demand for Waldorf schools in China, but because it is so new, it has been a challenge to find enough trained teachers; therefore, teacher-training possibilities are crucial. This is the first comprehensive Waldorf music teacher training in China and one of very few in the world at this time.

Included in our first 10-day session in Shenzhen was an introduction to the 7-string pentatonic children’s lyre. I had carefully packed my Choroi kinderharp in my suitcase, which led to some interesting customs experiences on my journey to Asia.  Several of the security personnel insisted I open the case and play this strange little instrument that they could not identify with the x-ray machines! I would have loved to have had a photo of the agents looking, listening, touching, and smiling at this fascinating, musical oddity! This was my first but not last experience of how eager the people of Asia are to learn about ‘all things Waldorf’ and receive it with full hearts and minds.

At the end of the course in Shenzhen, I flew directly to Manila/Quezon City in the Philippines. While not new in the Philippines, Waldorf education has only been supported by occasional presenters coming to give workshops or short courses. There have been mentions of music in the Waldorf curriculum in other workshops but never any kind of dedicated course such as this. I had been invited to give a five-day (two module) Waldorf music course – the first ever in the Philippines. The first module of two days was a general overview of what music is, why it is important to the human being, how it meets the developing child, and the basic spectrum of the music curriculum in Waldorf education. Many parents and mainstream music teachers were in attendance. The second module went more deeply into the curriculum and pedagogy and included many experiential activities. In all, there were 35 participants from all over the Philippine islands in addition to an anthroposophical doctor from India and a new Waldorf music teacher from Singapore.

The day before I began the course in Manila, I was able to visit one of the Waldorf schools in the local area, and I met a woodwork teacher who showed me a pentatonic lyre that he had made. We had some discussion about certain characteristics and qualities of a well made, pedagogically sound lyre – a conversation I know will continue and hopefully support healthy lyre work with Waldorf students in this country. There is great interest in the lyre in this part of the world, and I look forward to seeing it develop and grow.

In July, I will be traveling to another part of China to bring music education to an existing Waldorf teacher-training program there. How wonderful it is to see such enthusiasm and earnest striving to nurture and support an educational model that meets children so beautifully.  It is also inspiring to observe how the devoted parents everywhere are willing to do whatever it takes to bring what they feel is right and good for their beloved children – even if it means going against the social and political contexts in which they live. No matter where in the world I have traveled and visited Waldorf schools, the essence of reverence and beauty permeates every school with the same sense of conscious commitment and steadfast striving that will carry the light of Waldorf education into the future. What a privilege and joy it is to be a part of this worthy contribution to the evolution of humanity!

Pan Kai: China Pictures and Story

This is an update on some lyre activities in China. [SEE SLIDE SHOW]
In November 2015, Susanne Heinz and I gave six lyre concerts throughout China, from northern to southern parts of the country.  My friend Dina played cello with us in South China. After the concert I started teaching children and adults again in Beijing. We had much happiness and love during the course.

In 2016, we will study the kinder lyre and then study chromatic lyre to use after 4th grade.  In August of 2016, Channa Seidenberg from the U.S. and Reinhild Brass from Germany will join us to support this work in Shenyang. 

Akiyo Lambert-Kai: "Peaceful Lyre" Workshops

At the 2015 International Conference., I met many people from around the world, and through those encounters I recognized again how joyful and wonderful it is to interact with different people.

I facilitated two workshops:  In my morning workshop, the participants came from various countries. I always kept in mind the conference title, ‘Peaceful Lyre.’ We created a group with strong unity, where advanced players waited until beginners could play with ease. Everyone had the power to enjoy and the heart to help each other, instead of fearing mistakes. We started with body movements, and then we had sound communications with lyre. I told about the history and the basso continuo in the music pieces.

In the afternoon workshop, some participants were from the youth group. I brought more powerful content. The workshop title was ‘Renaissance Music,’ and I prepared a French piece for lyre. I also added some choreography, mixing the renaissance dance and the eurythmy. Each one showed an expression for one word by the eurythmy movements: Hope, Soul, Heart, Music, Lyre, Love.

The conference in Detroit was a wonderful experience... it allowed me to discover a new me. To the team and to the participants, I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude.  -Akiyo

Anouncements from North America

Resonare:
Foundation Studies in Music Out of Anthroposophy

A new cycle is beginning in September 2016. This course is open to all who have an interest in exploring the elements of music. The primary focus is on developing one’s capacities for listening and investigating the qualities of tone. For this exploration, we turn to the lyre with its unique ability to release musical tone from the physicality of the instrument. In addition to our work with the lyre, course content includes singing, music theory, and the study of Rudolf Steiner’s lectures on the nature of music. Participants explore the relationship to intervals and are given the opportunity to apply this understanding to improvisation. Movement sessions, including Spacial Dynamics and eurythmy, form an important aspect of each weekend. Working in a small group, the structure is designed to provide ample time for experiential learning in a supportive environment.

The schedule for the Resonare Music Foundation course consists of five long weekends from September 2016 through May 2017. We begin with a supper each Thursday evening and end by mid-day Sunday. We meet at the Harmonia Center for Instrumental and Vocal Music Therapy, based in Philmont, NY.  Applications are now being accepted for September. For more information, please contact Channa Seidenberg at (518) 672-4389. E-mail: channaseidenberg@gmail.com.

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AWME invites you to
The 17th Annual Waldorf Summer Music Conference!

In its 17th year, the 2016 Waldorf Summer Music Conference will offer a journey through the grades, looking more closely at what stands behind the music curriculum. Bringing ‘the right thing at the right time’ is the hallmark of Waldorf education, and the music curriculum reflects this profound pedagogy.

WHEN: July 10, 2016 @ 5:30 pm – July 15, 2016 @ 1:00 pm
WHERE: Cedarwood Waldorf School, 3030 SW 2nd Ave, Portland, OR 97201 USA
COST: $455 for AWME members; $495 for non-members
CONTACT: Diana Bright – 503-863-9112 -  dbright@cedarwoodschool.org 

Click here to see more registration details!

___________________________

Announcing the start of the second
East Coast Foundational Singing Training with Christiaan Boele

This part-time training meets twice a year beginning Summer 2016 in Spring Valley, NY at The Threefold Educational Foundation. Contact Shannon Boyce at shannonaliciaboyce@gmail.com for more details and to register.

Invitation from our German Friends

From Gerhard Beilharz

Dear friends of the lyre and future lyrists –

What follows is a whole series of concerts, conferences, and events coming up in the next weeks and months. Details (if already known) to all events are available on www.leier-forum.com.   

MEETINGS

The 3rd Langenberg lyre festival takes place from April 29 (evening) to May 1st (noon) 2016 in Windrather Talschule in Velbert-Langenberg. Further details will be announced shortly.  Requests, suggestions, offers, please contact Nele Christiane Roth, nelechristiane@gmx.de.

The 3-lyre youth conference at Ascension will take place from 4 to 8 May 2016 again in Bliestorf (Lübeck), led by Joachim Lentz and Martin Tobiassen.

Hartmut Reuter will hold a lyre day for all on April 23 in Mainleus-Veitlahm, with workshops and concerts, under the sign of the 400th death year of William Shakespeare and Miguel de Cervantes.

There is also a whole series of CONCERTS in southern Germany and Switzerland:

Art of Fugue - and more

Workshop Concert with Gerhard Beilharz, Wolfgang Friebe, Nobuko Izumoto, Thomas Leins
February 28, 2016, 20 am, Rudolf Steiner Seminar Bad Boll

Music for Two Lyres

Wolfgang Friebe and Thomas Leins
Works by Maurice Ravel, Alois Kuenstler, Lothar Reubke et al
Works by Ravel, artists, et al Reubke

• May 4, 2016, 20 am, Jacob Boehme branch Basel
• May 5, 2016 (Ascension Day) at 11:30 am, Christian Community Schopfheim
• May 7, 2016, 19.30, Ita Wegman Klinik Arlesheim, Switzerland
• July 3, 2016, 19 am, Rudolf Steiner House Heidenheim

Summer Concert

Lyre ensemble Ueberlingen, headed by Susanne Heinz and Susanne Hackenberg
July 3, 2016, expected to 16:00, House Rengold, Ueberlingen

This is a preview. If you would like your own event listed, then please let us know!

Friendly greetings from Bad Boll, Gerhard Beilharz

___________________________

From Hartmut Reuter

A lyre workshop will take place on Saturday, April 23, 2016 at Adam Schneider Hall, Father Bergweg 5, 95336 Mainleus-Veitlahm, Germany, from 9 am-6 pm. This day we will be commemorating 400 years of Shakespeare and 400 years of Miguel de Cervantes. We will be introduced to music spanning four centuries.

All lyre playing levels are welcome! If you don't own an instrument, you will be able to borrow one. For more information, please contact Silvia & Hartmut Reuter at info@klangbus.de.  [READ the FLYER]

Lyre 2015 - Looking Back

A Note from Sheila Johns for the Lyre Board

As I reflect back on our time in Detroit, the feeling quality of the experience becomes ever stronger for me as the 2 weeks after the conference have passed.  I feel that it is truly amazing what was allowed to come to pass during our days together.  On reflection, it seems almost like all of our hard work, each of us in our own areas of assumed responsibility, was orchestrated like a symphony, from airport rides, to registration, to browsing for music, to considering the shapes and sounds of our instrument itself, to putting programs together, to teaching and participating in both small and large groups, to experiencing the amazing potential of the next generation of lyrists, to deepening old friendships and making important new ones, to socializing down the hallways and in the kitchen to jamming in the conference room, to the merging of our different spoken languages into our common musical one - playing together, listening together, sharing together on every level and finally with the general public – a week of pure magic, both similar and utterly different from any international gathering we have ever had.  A distinctly new sense of real community has emerged – that which some of us had envisioned already in 2003 but which only now, 12 years later, seems truly destined to finally come about.  

I just want to express my gratitude to each one of you who labored so diligently to do your part to make this all happen.  I truly marvel at the beautiful way in which everyone devoted their full efforts to creating a whole that, looking back, ended up being so very much greater than the sum of all of its parts – greater, I think, than any of us imagined could be.

Sheila P. Johns

For the LANA Board

Lyre 2015: Youth Lyre Workshop

 

An important part of our international lyre gathering in Detroit, Michigan this August, is our Youth Lyre Workshop, which will run simultaneously with our general adult conference. As of this week, we have received ten registrations from young people ages 11 through 19 who will participate in this special program for youth as well as registrations from five older adolescents who, we are excited to report, will be full participants with us in the adult conference! 

The Youth Workshop will begin with an afternoon registration at 5:30 pm on Monday, August 3rd followed by supper together, where young people will meet the other participants and their teachers, Veronika Roemer and Christina Porkert, who will be leading the workshop.  After supper, the youth will join the adults for our opening evening, which will include a general welcome and orientation, remarks on the conference theme, and several artistic offerings to include lyre playing, singing, and poetry from members of the Lyre Association of North America.

The schedule for the Youth Lyre Workshop will begin with singing together at 8:30 am each morning from Tuesday through Friday. The next hour will be dedicated to playing lyre together. After a morning break, students will explore musical possibilities with new instruments, including metal and stringed instruments, and will then have an opportunity to combine their lyres with some of the new instruments to create a piece of music together! 

Following lunch together, some exciting activities have been planned for the youth to explore the beautiful city of Detroit on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday afternoons. The students will visit the Pewabic Pottery and will be able to create a ceramic tile of their very own. They will also visit the Michigan Science Center, which features hundreds of hands-on exhibits, and finally, they will visit the renowned Greenfield Village for an authentic exploration of early American history and culture. More details and links for these unique local adventures are provided below! 

The youth will return from their outings before supper and will then be released to the care of their parents or guardians for supper and the remainder of the evening. Youth Workshop participants and their families are warmly invited to join the adult conference participants for our evenings of Artistic Offerings on both Tuesday and Wednesday. 

On Friday, following lunch, the youth will stay together to rehearse in preparation for their contribution to our final evening Public Concert, which will be the official close of the dedicated Youth Lyre Workshop. All youth are warmly invited to join the adults for our closing on Saturday morning, which will feature sharing from the various adult workshops as well as a closing plenum and farewell lunch. 

We still have space available for a few more young people who would like to spend an exciting week exploring music making together with others their age from both the US and several other countries. Remember that no previous musical experience is necessary. This will be a very special week of sharing music, culture, new friends, and lots of fun! Please pass the word to any young people in your communities who might still wish to join us for this unique opportunity in conjunction with Lyre 2015 in Detroit, Michigan this August!

-Sheila Johns

June 20, 2015

Youth Activities – August 4th through 6th, 2015

We have some wonderful adventures planned for the youth on the afternoons of the Conference! Look for a lot of interactive activities and plenty of diversity in different parts of Detroit. 

1) Pewabic Pottery

We thought our youth would like to create a ceramic tile as a keepsake of their trip. A drive about 5 miles east of Wayne State close to the river brings us to this 1903 National Historic Landmark. 

Founded by Mary Stratton and Horace Caulkins of the Arts and Crafts movement, Pewabic is renowned for its iridescent glazes used to tile Detroit’s prestigious buildings and residences, as well as Chicago’s Shedd Aquarium and the Nebraska State Capitol. Children will tour the fabrication studio, the extensive ware shop, then attend a workshop allowing them to hone their pottery skills in an intimate setting with ceramic artists. The youth leaders will return to the studio later to pick up the artwork after they have fired them for us.  Go to http://www.pewabic.org and find out more.

2) Michigan Science Center

We’ll walk three blocks East of the WSU campus along Midtown’s Putnam Street to the 10th largest science museum in the country. Greatly expanded since its opening in 1970, this modern center features hundreds of hands-on exhibits with special attention to youth groups. Depending on the time, we’ll experience whales on the biggest IMAX screen in the state, a theater for examining electromagnetism, and/or the planetarium. Science is not too dry and abstract here! 

Visit http://www.mi-sci.org to see more.

3) Greenfield Village

We’ll drive about ten miles west to one of the most exciting places in the country. On 80 acres surrounding the famous Henry Ford Museum, we’ll have a chance to visit almost 100 historic structures that have been moved to this location, including the Wright Brothers’ bicycle shop, Lincoln’s courthouse, Ford’s garage, Noah Webster’s home, and many others. There are Model T’s, 19th century baseball games, a 19th century steam engine, an antique carousel and paddle boat, artisans at work, a working farm, and hundreds of historical re-enactors showing us cooking, crafts, telling stories, and giving the youth a look at many American historical events. Who knows what will sidetrack us? And there’s no way to see everything in one afternoon! 

Visit http://www.thehenryford.org/village/index.aspx for more details.

- Joel Bartlett

Conference Links

Main Conference Schedule

Youth Workshop Schedule 

Registration Form

VisitDetroit.com

Lyre 2015 Pedagogy Conference

Lyre 2015 Pedagogy Conference

This week’s Lyre 2015 update will focus on our Third International Lyre Pedagogy Conference.  During informal lunchtime meetings at Lyre 2006 in Northern Ireland, many lyre teachers expressed a strong desire to create a forum for teachers of the lyre where experience and methodology could be shared and deepened, and where it might be possible to establish personal relationships with other colleagues involved with lyre pedagogy.  Anna Prokovnick Cooper and Sarah Boyd, organizers of Lyre 2006, along with Channa Seidenberg and Sheila Johns from the US, heard this call as a mandate, and we began working toward such a future possibility even before we departed from Belfast!  The result was our first-ever Lyre Pedagogy Conference in Sweden in 2009, attended by over 40 teachers and other interested lyrists.  Teachers from a number of countries shared with the full group their personal pedagogical experience, and we agreed enthusiastically to do more of this kind of work together.  In 2012 in Überlingen, Germany, a similarly large group assembled to take up this work once again.  For this Second Lyre Pedagogy Conference, we held breakout sessions distinguished by various types of lyre teaching, surrounding these focus sessions with full group singing, improvising, and meaningful dialogue.

 This summer, for Lyre 2015, we are pleased to report that so far we have 33 teachers and friends registered for our Third International Pedagogy Conference, and we are hoping and expecting to be joined by others!  We will begin on Saturday evening, August 1st, with registration beginning at 4:30 pm, supper at 6:00 pm, and a 7:30 pm opening session where we will meet each other as well as sing and play together.  For our full day on Sunday, following a brief opening, all participants will have the opportunity to choose 2 of 6 areas of lyre teaching focus as shown below – one from the three Youth Groups, and one from the three Adult Groups:

 ·         Kinder Harp/Early Childhood

·         Lower School Age

·         Adolescents 

·         Beginning Adults

·         Intermediate Adults

·         Older Adults/Special Needs Adults

During the morning hours on Sunday, the groups will focus on approach and teaching methodology for the various ages and stages.  Following our lunch break, the same groups will deepen their focus on the application of teaching methods to include repertoire and practical matters.  On Sunday evening, we will come together in the full group to share conclusions and repertoire from the three Youth Groups.   

On Monday morning, we will share together what came out of the three Adult Groups, concluding with directed conversation of the whole group, which may well extend into our final lunch together!  There will then be time for a nice afternoon break before the opening of our Main Conference that night. 

We are eager to take our pedagogy focus to another level for Lyre 2015 and are confident that the widespread experience and enthusiasm of this special gathering of teachers will create a rich and inspiring event for all who attend!  If you have not already registered, please consider joining us, and if you know of anyone who would be interested in understanding more about learning to play the lyre, this unique gathering will have something for everyone who loves the lyre and wishes to see it develop and thrive in the world! 

To complement the music we will share informally at our Pedagogy Conference, don’t forget our official lyre music store that will be up and running during our Main Conference, carrying volumes of music from many countries!  Please see the following note from Music Sales coordinator, Samantha Embrey. 

Sheila Johns, May 30, 2015     

Detroit, Michigan – “City of Heart and Soul”

Detroit, Michigan – “City of Heart and Soul”

 Witnessing spring, we are amazed at how bountiful plants grow out of rocky, seemingly lifeless soil. This fact of metamorphosis can also be seen as the forces of growth of individuals and even whole communities. Just as tender seedlings emerge from apparently barren ground, so too can societies be reborn out of disorganization. Over the course of time, a number of urban areas have re-emerged from a place of darkness. One example is Detroit, Michigan, once a bustling, vital economic center, which experienced a plunge into less favorable times. Yet this mid-western city, perched between Lake Erie and Lake St. Clair, is showing clear signs of regeneration. Detroit is re-defining itself and reforming in new and positive ways.

 It is a place of great opportunity. The enthusiasm to revitalize the area was recently likened to the California Gold Rush, as demonstrated by the people who have flocked to Detroit to take advantage of the low housing prices and favorable investment prospects.*  Many have come to start businesses and take part in the rebuilding process. These people, dedicated to realizing Detroit’s potential, have arrived with creative ideas to remake this urban setting. 

It is both the charm and the challenges that draw people to Detroit. The list of new initiatives continues to grow. There are those who have bought up dilapidated structures and are refurbishing them; others who have opened restaurants, sporting goods stores, and coffee shops. One man used his own money to purchase vacant lots and gather volunteers to plant 15,000 trees.*  The transformation of broken down neighborhoods into attractive areas is on the rise.

It is this community spirit that inspires LANA to embrace this region of our country during the upcoming International Lyre conference. This deed of consciously carrying the torch of human dignity into places that have been affected by abandonment can be of great spiritual significance for all of us.   

 It is our sincere hope to bring the healing aspects of the lyre and singing to an area that can benefit meaningfully.  By offering the musical element it is our wish to engender camaraderie and give voice to hope for new beginnings. In this way, we will spread the music of the lyre and our voices over a land that will most appreciate these gestures of good will. 

Catherine Decker, May 18, 2015    

      *Excerpted from Susan Ager’s article “Tough, Cheap, Real – Detroit is Cool Again,” in National Geographic, April 2015.

 For more information about the remaking of Detroit, see: http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/why-business-owners-are-setting-shop-michigan

Music Sales at Lyre 2015 in Detroit!

Music Sales at Lyre 2015 in Detroit!

 One of the benefits of an international lyre conference is that it is a special opportunity to view and purchase lyre music published all over the world.  We expect to have many tables of music and other related items available for sale in Detroit.  As in Überlingen in 2012, the sale of music, etc., will be centralized so that it will be easier to examine items and pay for them.

It’s not too late to register….. See the Lyre 2015 Registration Form and payment information (email: lyrists@gmail.com).

If you want to sell music publications at Lyre 2015 in Detroit, please contact Samantha Embrey as soon as possible—samantha@sembrey.net—and she will give you more information, including an address for mailing the music.

Lyre 2015 News – May 2015

Lyre 2015 News – May 2015

  Dear friends of the lyre,

  Spring is greeting us here inthe USA with its beautiful blossoms, warming air, and increasing light, which is lifting our spirits with the vision of new possibilities and enthusiasm for our upcoming endeavors!  It is our sincere hope that each of you is experiencing a similar mood of expectation and renewed forces in your various regions of the world as we move confidently toward the approaching summer and Lyre 2015.

  We have a very important reminder for everyone on this 14th of May that signals only ONE MORE DAY before the Early Bird deadline to register for our upcoming international conference.  Today and tomorrow until midnight Eastern Daylight Time in the USA, our conference fee will remain at $350.  Beginning on Saturday, May 16th,the cost will increase to $400.  If you have the intention to join us for the conference and have just not had time toregister, NOW is the time to save $50! The most important thing is for you to submit your registration form as soon as possible!  Here again is the link to all the forms: http://lyreassociation.org/lyre2015.  If you are not sure about your finances, need more time to organize your personal affairs, or if you have any other extenuating circumstances that may be delaying your registration, please contact us immediately at lyrists@gmail.com so that we know your situation and can work with you.  As long as you have simply submitted your registration information by midnight on Friday, we will still honor the Early Bird discount!

  Important note to lyre builders, workshop leaders, or other conference carriers who have waivers or discounts on the conference fee: We also need to have your registration forms in hand by the 15th in order to avoid the additional $50 charge.

  Because we are holding our conference at a university, we must comply with certain deadlines in order to meet their requirements.  This is the reason that we have to be firm about our dates for registration.  We thank everyone for giving prompt attention to this request in order to support the necessary process leading up to a successful conference this summer!

We continue to receive exciting and new workshop offerings, and we are including here our most recent list of workshops for both the morning and afternoon.  We are still hoping for more workshop offerings and will continue to send regular updates with details on all workshops as well as the lyre groups.  If you are thinking about offering a workshop and wish to have your conference fee waived, NOW IS THE TIME to register and let us know of your intention!

  We do have complete programs in place for both of our adjunct conferences for the youth and the teachers.   We will be sending out full schedules over the next several weeks, but we want to share a few more details with you now.

  The Pedagogy Conference will open with a full group session for the opening evening of Saturday, August 1st, and then we will spend the next full day in various focus groups according to areas of interest.  We will also sing together and share experiences and music from ALL of the focus groups by the time we conclude on Monday morning. Please note that both lunch meals are included in your low registration fee for the Pedagogy Conference!

Early Registration for the 2015 International Lyre Conference ends 4/30/15

THE LYRE AS 
INSTRUMENT FOR PEACE

Monday, August 3 - Saturday, August 8, 2015

Information page is here:

http://hosted.verticalresponse.com/1164957/697602fd95/543465281/73aad1dc8b/

Inviting Lyre Friends from Around the World . . .

The Lyre as Instrument for Peace:  
Giving Ear Toward Understanding and Reconciliation

2015 International Lyre Conference - 3-8 August, 2015
2015 Lyre Pedagogy Conference - 1-3 August, 2015

DETROIT, MICHIGAN, USA

  What is the task of the lyre in our time? What is the full reality of the lyre tone? Is it possible that there is more to this instrument than we, in our richly varied endeavors, have so far managed to bring about? 

  Contemplating a thematic focus for the next International Lyre Conference, the Board of the Lyre Association of North America, inspired by the suggestions of Channa Seidenberg, has felt compelled to ponder these questions in the context of our present global situation and to consider whether the lyre may have something particularly important to offer in our time. 

  We have found it of interest to remember that during each of the regencies of the Archangel Michael* throughout history, there has actually been a lyre on the earth. We wonder if the existence of the lyre in our contemporary world may suggest that this instrument, with its unique tone, has the capacity to elicit new thoughts about how we might learn to work together. How could this be so? The sounding of even a single lyre tone evokes a listening response – not just the usual “listening to,” but a deeper “listening into.” The tone of the lyre creates a space for silence.  In that silence, we are thrown back onto ourselves and into a state of inner listening. Could we consider the possibility that the deteriorating social conditions in our world may be asking us to look within ourselves? Could the cultivating of peace and reconciliation within our own souls have an impact in our families, in our communities, and even beyond? Is the courage to “look within” part of the signature of Michael in our time, and can our work with the lyre bring us closer to the realization of that possibility? 

  We feel that this is indeed a key aspect of the task of the lyre in our time: to learn how to “listen in,” so that we may begin to experience the reflection that arises from the lyre tone. Such a gesture of “listening in” can then allow for a consciously penetrated “sounding out.” This kind of inner activity has the potential to reconnect us with the life forces that are always in and around us – life forces that can inspire out cognition of who we really are as human beings, and a sense for the responsibility that such a realization entails. This process may well guide us to a deeper understanding and reconciliation within ourselves. 

  The Lyre as Instrument of Peace has been conceived in the spirit of the theme of Healing with the Lyre from Lyre 2006 in Belfast, Northern Ireland. For Lyre 2015 in Detroit, Michigan, we propose to take this theme to the next step – that of healing ourselves by playing, listening, and exploring together through our work with the lyre, toward the possibility of furthering understanding and reconciliation in the world. We warmly invite the world lyre community to join us in this worthy, mutual endeavor. 

~ Sheila P. Johns, for the LANA Board

  *The archangel Michael is a spiritual warrior in the battle of good versus evil, whose reign began at the end of the 19th century. His previous reign occurred in Greek times, about 200 BC. He is considered a champion of justice, a healer of the sick, and a guardian. In art, Michael, whose earthly counterpart is St. George, is depicted with a sword, a banner, or scales, and is often shown vanquishing Satan in the form of a dragon.

Conference News

As we announced in our last edition of LyreNotes, the Lyre Association of North America will be hosting the next International Lyre Conference from August 3-8, 2015. We are quite excited about the prospect of inviting our lyre friends worldwide to come to North America once again! This time, we will be gathering in the middle of our country in an American city that is making an impressive cultural resurgence. With echoes of our 2009 conference in Belfast, we envision a task for our world lyre community to support and add our voice to the healing and rebuilding that is springing up in so many ways at the present time in Detroit, Michigan. 

  Founded in 1701 by Antoine de Cadillac, Detroit has a rich, diverse history. In the past century, Detroit has gone from the great heights of the automobile industry to the depths of bankruptcy. The city is now growing into a vibrant new era of rebuilding its community through embracing the cultural diversity of its citizens. Among many other things, the area boasts historical museums and churches, art and cultural centers, a riverwalk, riverboat cruises to the great lakes, and nature walks on Belle Isle. 

  Our host for the conference will be Wayne State University, which is well-experienced in hosting conferences and workshops and will provide for us all the advantages of a seasoned infrastructure. The Wayne State University campus is in the center of the city, located just two blocks from the magnificent Detroit Institute of Arts and a short bus ride from the Detroit River and the new five-mile river walk. If you can stay for a few days after the conference, you may wish to travel to Northern Michigan to see the Mackinac Bridge or take the ferry to Mackinac Island where no cars are allowed and everyone travels by foot, horse-drawn carriage, or bicycle. 

  For our conference, the Lyre 2015 Planning Group has designed a varied program around our theme of "The Lyre As Instrument for Peace: Giving Ear Toward Understanding and Reconciliation."  In addition to a morning musical plenum, afternoon lyre groups, and evening concerts, we will have two different types of workshops: morning workshops related to our conference theme and afternoon workshops on more wide-ranging topics of general interest to our lyre community. You can view the entire schedule here: 

  Lyre 2015 Schedule                    Leier 2015 Zeitplan (in German)

  Additionally, we are looking forward to our Third Lyre Pedagogy Conference for teachers or others interested in exploring the many approaches to teaching the lyre. This conference is scheduled immediately before our general conference, from the afternoon of August 1st through the morning of August 3rd. We hope that many conference attendees will plan to come a few days early in order to participate in this important event. 

  We are also very pleased to be able to host a Youth Lyre Workshop, which will take place concurrently with our general conference. Details about this can be found below. 

  With so many opportunities to greet old and new friends from around the world, to make music together, and to participate in exploring new ways to work with the lyre in our time, we are hopeful that many friends throughout the world will seriously consider joining us for Lyre2015 in North America. It is important to add that we do recognize the individual financial requirement for such an undertaking. LANA is engaged in fundraising efforts of our own so that we can offer as much support as possible to those who need financial help; however, we urge all friends of the lyre to work within your local lyre communities or as individuals to brainstorm fundraising ideas in your own regions in order to make it more possible to consider attending the conference. 

  Please be watching for the official Lyre 2015 Online Conference Registration forms which will be made available within the next two weeks! In the meantime, further information about conference costs and arrangements can be found elsewhere in these pages. 

  With the year 2015 now underway, our approaching conference is beginning to feel much closer. Knowing that we have friends and colleagues throughout the world who are standing behind this effort will continue to provide us with the moral support and courage we need to carrythis world conference to its full realization in August! 

  Sheila Johns, for the Lyre 2015 Planning Group

Youth Lyre Workshop

  As part of Lyre 2015, we are happy to be able to offer a workshop for young people from age 9 through adolescence. No previous experience or particular musical skills are required to participate in this workshop. 

  The lyre will be introduced and worked with as the primary musical experience; other new instruments, such as gongs and other metal instruments, bordun lyres, and bowed instruments will also be used. All of these new instruments, especially the lyre, offer original and creative possibilities for making music together. 

  In comparison with traditional classical instruments, these new instruments pose fewer technical “hurdles” for beginners. The smaller lyres and the majority of the other instruments even allow for movement while playing. Much original music has been written for these new instruments, and there are also many arrangements of classical, folk,and pop music, particularly for the lyre. 

  Our morning schedule will include improvisingand playing together as well as practicing a selected piece of music to be presented at the concluding concert of the conference. In the afternoons, other activities will be offered, such as crafts and outings to the surrounding area. 

  The workshop will be led by Christina Porkert and Veronika Roemer, with additional adult leadersfor the afternoon activities. Christina and Veronika are both professional musicians with many years of experience with these new instruments and enlivening ways of making music. Please pass the word and encourage your children or students to join us for this special youth supplement to our international lyre conference!

  For more information, please contact VeronikaRoemer, email: vbrtnstn@gmail.com.