Lyre Association of North America
All funds raised in the auction will go to help LANA members who wish to attend the next international or regional conference.
To donate an auction item* (or service such as an online lyre lesson or healing session), please fill out the DONATION FORM here by February 15th.
*Note: All items will be shipped within the continental USA only.
We are excited to offer Anna Prokhovnik Cooper’s most recent collection of music for lyre groups. An Irish Collection for the Lyre contains arrangements of 16 traditional Irish tunes as well as melodies by Turlough O’Carolan and a beautiful nocturne by 19th-century Irish composer, John Field. The pieces are set for different combinations of lyres: some for solo lyre, some for duos, and some for two soprano lyres and an alto. Notably, the collection contains a group of tunes entitled “Three Pieces for Lyre Teacher and Pupil” (“Kerry Slide,” “Buttered Peas,” and “South Wind”) that are duos arranged simply so that early players can join in with confidence.
The composer says: “… I find that Irish music speaks to us all in a special way. It expresses fun, sadness, joy and pain in a way we can all relate to.” This collection truly taps into the range of human experiences and emotions that Irish music so vividly embodies. From the haunting “She Moved Through the Fair” to the joyous, energetic “John O’Connor,” Anna Cooper has artfully set pieces that are moving and resonant, suiting the lyre perfectly. And because the arrangements accommodate so many different groupings, there is something for everyone.
With St. Patrick’s Day just around the corner, we highly recommend this beautiful collection of Irish music!
Julia Elliott, for LANA Music Sales
Veronika Roemer made the 500th sale in our Music Sales store! To honor this achievement, we are giving Veronika a tote bag from the Detroit 2015 Lyre Conference. Congratulations, Veronika!
Veronika Roemer is the prize-winner of a LYRE 2015 bag!
Veronika’s student, Mckenna Von Gleich, with “Come with me to the West”
And what did the “500 sales” consist of? We established the store online in May, 2018, and have printed books, music, and accessories for sale. We also use the store for various online conference registrations and other donations. Most recently, we have been offering free downloads of music for our members and friends.
A Guide to Playing the Pentatonic Children's Lyre, by Beilharz and Laier
How To Play Lyre: A Beginner's Guide, by Cooper, Anna
Meeting the Lyre: Introduction for Adult Beginners Beilharz, Gerhard
Please review the breakdowns of the transactions below. It is notable that, although we are an association in North America, we also had book and music sales to 10 countries outside the US and Canada, comprising 20 percent of the total. And look at our almost $9K in revenue – nearly half came from books and music. That’s over 400 total books from 37 composers and 130+ titles!
Our work with the “Kerry Lee Collection” is just beginning, and we expect the sales that benefit Kerry’s family to increase over the course of the year. And we prepared a special chart to show the “miscellaneous” item breakdown.
We consider our Music Sales store to be a ringing success (pardon the pun!) and are receiving new items or replenishing with regularity. Maybe we’ll hit 1000 in less than the 2 ½ years it took to reach 500.
All funds raised in the auction will go into our Financial Aid Fund to help those who want to attend Lyre 2021 in Český Krumlov, Czech Republic.
To donate an auction item* (or service such as an online lyre lesson), please fill out the DONATION FORM here by February 15th. (The link will take you to LANA’s new “Donate” page.)
*All items will be shipped within the continental USA only.
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The “Twelve Fifth-Tone Tuning” method was developed by a concert violinist Maria Renold (1917-2003) in 1962. It is a non-tempered system of tuning by perfect 5ths and 4ths at A432. Laura Lanford Schnur studied with Mrs. Renold in Dornach, Switzerland and elsewhere, giving numerous demonstrations (often in collaboration with lyrist Kerry Lee) and wrote essays on the subject over the last twenty years, several of which were published in LANA newsletters. Elegantly written and based on her own study and long-time observations, Laura has documented the efficacy and therapeutic nature of the Maria Renold tuning, vis-à-vis conventional or “equal tempered” tuning on the lyre. These articles will be re-published in upcoming issues of LANA’s annual journal Soundings.
Maria Renold on Twelve 5th Tone Tuning
A longtime member of the Lyre Association and graduate of the Dorian School of Music Therapy, Laura is known in her community as an enthusiastic promoter of this Twelve-Fifth-Tone Tuning, and as a musician, she has tirelessly contributed to the enrichment of musical life at the Threefold Community in Chestnut Ridge, New York. People there still fondly recall the annual performances of Rudolf Steiner's mystery dramas during 2009-14, for which Laura acted as music director and composed music.
We invite you to click the titles below to read more about Laura and her contribution to the work of the Lyre Association of North America through her articles and presentations on this important approach to tuning. In addition, please look for reprints of one or two of these articles in an upcoming edition of our Soundings journal.
Maria Renold Obituary, from Vol. 45 of The Lyre Newsletter, Ascension 2003
“The 12–5th Tones Scale and Developing the Tuning Ear”, from Vol. 37 of The Lyre Newsletter, January 2000
“The World of Tunings”, from Vol. 41 of The Lyre Newsletter, from Vol. 41 of The Lyre Newsletter, May 2001
Dear Friends of the Lyre,
In case you missed it, here is a link to our recent edition of Lyre Notes. Enjoy!
There are just 3 days left this year and what better way to say goodbye to 2020 than by giving a tax-deductible gift of support for the work of the Lyre Association of North America!
You can make your end-of-year donation via PayPal (click link) or send a check to:
The Lyre Association of North America
2237 Kimberton Road
Phoenixville, PA 19460
(Attn: Annual Fund 2020)
On behalf of our community of lyrists, we thank you for your generosity in this year of extraordinary challenges.
Enjoy a free download for 2021 – “We Each Live in the Other” by Channa Seidenberg.
“We Each Live in the Other,"“ by Channa Seidenberg
Kerry Lee, our beloved lyre colleague, crossed the threshold on September 8, 2020. A lifelong student and committed teacher, Kerry acquired many books on education, teaching, and self-development over the years. The collection she left behind includes books on curative music therapy, music education and pedagogy, science, religion, health and healing, the natural world, and anthroposophy as well as volumes of music. Books have always been highly valued in the Lee family, so most are in good condition and some are like new.
To browse and select items in our store, click the button above and go to “KL Collection” (A-M & N-Z). You can also view The Kerry Lee Collection catalog here.
All proceeds will go to the Lee family.
Kerry Virginia Lee (6/26/47 - 9/8/20)
This year especially we are in need of music to cheer us, to nourish us, and to light our path through the lengthening days. If you are looking for seasonal music to support your Advent or Christmas festivals, be sure check out LANA’s music store. We have lyre and choral music as well as beautiful notecards, CD’s and accessories. For this month, we particularly recommend Colin Tanser’s Madonna Healing Sequence, Beatrijs Gradenwitz’ setting of Olaf Asteson, and Christof-Andreas Lindenberg’s In Praise of the Seasons (plus the Child’s Praise of the Seasons for ages 7 to 14). We also have beautiful Madonna cards and Olaf Asteson notecards which make lovely gifts.
And for the lyrists in your life who are eager to expand their repertoire, we have new music by John Billing, John Clark, Anna Cooper, Thomas Pedroli and Colin Tanser. For soloists or ensembles, pentatonic or chromatic lyres, and even for recorders, gongs, and voices…. you will find music for everyone who needs it right now.
Click here to see our catalog.
Our store features music books and journals, PDF downloads, and accessories. For a current list of featured book reviews click here. Be sure to check the LANA blog for monthly reviews!
We welcome news, stories, short articles, photos, and announcements of lyre happenings in your region, reviews about any item in our music sales store, and ads from our members ... also your favorite songs to play at your region’s Advent Gardens.
The copy deadline is November 29th.
We look forward to hearing from you!! Contributions may be sent to wendypolich@hotmail.com.
From the Kimberton Ensemble’s list….
Learn more about LANA membership, or renew.
See back issues of Lyre Notes.
Our online store (click here) features music books and journals, PDF downloads, and accessories.
See a current list of featured book reviews.
Be sure to check the LANA blog for monthly reviews!
[Reviewed by Christian Giersch, Germany]
It is always very fortunate for the lyre and its development when compositions arise that are inspired entirely by the lyre itself and how it is played, rather than by imaginations of different instruments. Regarding the preludes by John Billing one can say that they are sounding forth straight out of the heart of the instrument. And no explanations are necessary in order for them to be understood by the human soul.
Each piece is given a clear key signature which, in most cases, is never veered from (there are hardly any accidentals). In this way the composer achieves a very deep in-breathing of the respective tonal sphere in major or minor. Equally clear and approachable are the rhythmical motifs, which give each piece it's individual character. Here has come about a wonderful unity between imagination (in the invention) and consequence (in keeping with a motif). And while practicing, the player will be richly rewarded, although the pieces are not for beginners. They come out of a musical realm of thirds, which we think we know from the classical and romantic periods. But these pieces present this realm as if in a new, clear and unsentimental light, as is the case with so many other pieces by John Billing.
I wish the preludes many industrious players — thank you, John!
A “Second Book of 8 Preludes for Soprano Lyre” is available in our web store as a printed booklet (click here), or as a PDF download (click here). Our store features music books and journals, PDF downloads, and accessories. For a current list of featured book reviews click here. Be sure to check the LANA blog for monthly reviews!
Arranged by Veronika Roemer for the Lyre Mantle Project
“I found this delightful little piece in a volume of piano arrangements of music Haydn wrote for musical clocks. I'm always hunting for classical music suitable for lyre arrangement, and this one seems to fit the bill quite well!” -Veronika Roemer, Quakertown, PA
Reviewed by Debbie Barford, Chicago, IL
By itself, the title of this gathering of musical offerings portends already the excitement of moving from one to the many. A ‘round’ in music, also referred to as a ‘perpetual canon’ is a single line of music written in such a way that it can be sung with different voices coming in at separate times, layering the sound (and harmony) from one to a second and third, and in the case of this collection, as many as five, or more. Imagine that Brien Masters then, after living many years with Rudolf Steiner’s 52 Soul Calendar verses, which follow the soul’s changing relation with the moods of the earth and nature through the round of the year, was inspired to compose these little rounds and accompanying verses, out of his experience of Nature in his own country.
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Dear Lyre Association and colleagues of our loving mother,
We would like to ask whether there are any instruments belonging to Kerry out there; likewise, whether Kerry had borrowed any instruments from someone who hasn’t gotten them returned. If so, please email lyrists@gmail.com.
We would also like to use this opportunity to extend our deepest gratitude for the help, support, and love shown to our mother over the past six months during her illness. It was a wonderful display of compassion and solidarity. Thank you.
Best wishes,
Cameron, Heather, and Jennifer
Note from LANA: Coming soon we will be offering a page in our web store containing music books from Kerry Lee's personal collection. All proceeds will go to Kerry's family.
(from Herbert Hahn: Rudolf Steiner)
Now Rudolf Steiner spoke about death, of the experience which the soul has immediately after the moment of leaving this earthly life. He reminded us how the soul experiences its whole earthly life like an immense panorama.
But, Rudolf Steiner continued, the most grandiose of all is the fact that this whole picture-world is at the same time a sounding, musical experience. And like a gigantic symphony, the whole cosmos is floating toward these 'sounding' pictures and absorbs them. In the midst of this symphony, the listening soul suddenly hears one sound—one tone that rises above all other sounds.
Read MoreWith gratitude to the composer, we share with you John Clark’s beautiful round, “Michaelmas.” This round (or canon) was written for two to twelve voices and can be sung in various groupings, including a two-part canon or a four-part round. Perfect for the season!
Read MoreIt has been five months since we began to weave the Lyre Mantle. Surely it has become the most beautiful and stunning fabric, woven from the sounds of many different lyres, varying in size, range, structure, wood, and being played by people from many different cultural backgrounds.
In March, I imagined that we would work on this mantle for a few months. Now, however, it seems that the world needs it as much, if not more, than ever before.
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