By Diane Barnes, Hillsdale, New York: The Music for Musical Renewal Conference this past summer was very special. Veronika Roemer brought us many valuable musical games and activities for all ages, and especially for working with children.

By Melanie Eberhard, King of Prussia, Pennsylvania: The 2019 Lyre Conference for Musical Renewal brought to my awareness new opportunities to expand and deepen my listening and observing skills, as well as creating opportunities for children and colleagues to do the same in a Camphill School setting.

By Margo Ketchum, Kimberton, Pennsylvania

For the past few years, LANA has been getting inquiries from parents wanting to help their young sons find a lyre! They say they’re reading books on Greek mythology and Apollo…. Could we direct them to where to find a lyre and a lyre teacher?

By Holly Richardson, Carbondale, Colorado

My dear friend, Hartmut Schiffer, continues to encourage the work of the lyre in the little mountain town of Carbondale, CO on the western side of the Continental Divide. Stay tuned for details of a future event that would help to plant more lyre seeds here in our community!

By Julia Elliott, Boxford, Massachusetts

In late July, a group of six Resonare faculty members and students brought an evening of lyre music and song to the House of Peace in Ipswich, MA.

We are excited to share a new initiative with our members! The Lyre Connection offers an opportunity for experienced lyrists to support and nurture a growing community of beginners. As we move the lyre forward in the 21st century, we are enthusiastic about sharing our instrument with a new generation of players.

By Saeko Cohn, Nyack, New York

Resonare’s convivial learning atmosphere allowed me to turn-off temporarily my judging-self and immerse myself while enjoying the phenomenon that we call music in a meaningful way.

By Kayoko Matsubara, Hong Kong

Since the ancient lyre also plays an important part in Greek mythology, the chairman of Japan Panflute Association (JPA), Mr. Atsushi Nakamura, invited me to play together with him in Greece. We played two musical tunes, old and new, which are well explained in the this YouTube video.

by Veronika Roemer, Quakertown, PA: This past July I had the great fortune to attend the second lyre academy in Germany, with Christian Giersch and Martin Tobiassen as the organizers and teachers.

and by Saeko Cohn, Nyack, New York: This one-week lyre “boot camp” in Germany provided everything that I needed after my Resonare course: to improve my lyre playing skill and play more music in ensembles.

Here in Brazil our work with the Kântele musical instruments with parents and teachers has grown in the last year.

By Kerry Lee, Spring City, PA

With the help of friends and the angels, I was able to attend the conference celebrating Julius Knierim’s 100th birthday and the Independent Music School.

By Kerry Lee, Spring City, PA, USA

Finland: I had the great privilege to take part in the meeting of two great teachers in Finland, Christiaan Boele and Thomas Adam.

Lyre Connections . . . (Contact lyrists@gmail.com to see if there’s a lyre buddy in your region.)

We are excited to be able to offer two new books of Colin Tanser’s music through our music sales service. The two collections, The Eight-fold Path, Days and Planets and More Songs by Colin Tanser (both published by Upper Esk Music), remind us of why we love Colin Tanser’s music so much.

In July 2019 seventeen students completed the 2nd East Coast School of Uncovering the Voice Foundational Training taught by master teacher Christiaan Boele and another 24 new students attended the annual summer East Coast Singing Retreat.

The Board of LANA is recommending an increase to an additional $25 for our Supporting Membership category, which would mean an annual contribution of $65 instead of $50. We warmly invite you to consider making this increased tax-deductible contribution as a Supporting Member of the Lyre Association of North America.

(Special note: These books have been marked down
to half price in our online music sales store!)

During this trip, I gave a course to adults in how to play the children's lyre. We met daily for 11 two-hour sessions over six days. Each participant, 12 ladies, had her own lyre, most of which were Chinese models. I used the newly published book "How to play the Children's Lyre by Gerhard Beilharz," but I also added my own improvisation and group games.

Now is the time to start planning for the summer! Whether you are interested in voice, lyre, music education, or all of the above, there is something for everyone and every level. Explore these national and international retreats, conferences, symposiums and academies on our events page (click here to go to Events).

I have been volunteering for six months in a hospice environment. A friend of mine recently loaned me a pentatonic children’s lyre which has seven strings and is quite small.