Joyful Lyre Gatherings in Colorado!

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by Wendy Polich, Littleton, Colorado

The Rocky Mountain Lyre Choir: Holly Richardson (Carbondale, CO), Lorraine Curry (Glenwood Springs, CO), and Wendy Polich, (Littleton, CO)

The Rocky Mountain Lyre Choir: Holly Richardson (Carbondale, CO), Lorraine Curry (Glenwood Springs, CO), and Wendy Polich, (Littleton, CO)

We few lyrists of the Rocky Mountain region gathered over a July weekend as part of LANA’s regional summer-into-fall gatherings. For me, living on the Front Range near Denver, I always relish the opportunity to see my mountain lyre sisters, Holly and Lorraine. Each time I visit them it’s a breathtaking journey through pine and aspen forests and incredible mountain views, my little car chugging its way over not one, but two 11,000-foot mountain passes of the Continental Divide. The final 12-mile stretch of my 3-hour odyssey traverses through rugged Glenwood Canyon, equally breathtaking as you wind through its high mountain walls and tunnels along the Colorado River, a seemingly impossible place to put a railroad or an interstate, yet both are there, the interstate divided into an upper and lower highway, one above the other, in order to fit.

Both Glenwood Springs and nearby Carbondale, where Lorraine and Holly live, are charming, gorgeous, warmly hospitable places, just like these lyre sisters! It’s a magical nourishing place of natural beauty and sisterhood where my heart wells up with joy. And if that weren’t enough, the cherry on top is our communion with our lyre playing. After a year’s absence, we met where we left off, our lyres getting reacquainted with each other after reading the Calendar of the Soul verse, then streaming, improvising, singing; “Dona Nobis Pacem” and Colin Tanser’s “Sea Mist” among our favorites. And always there with us in spirit, listening intently or making mischief, was dear Hartmut, and, I imagine, Channa and Kerry, too.

Of course, I would be remiss not to acknowledge the darker side... that this was the first time I ever travelled that entire mountain corridor through veils of smoky haze coming from all across the West. Travelling through Glenwood Canyon was the first time since a year ago when the fires closed it for weeks. I was witness to the burn scar—the charred, barren canyonland annihilated by the fire—and after returning home, the canyon was again damaged and closed because of mighty mudslides.

I am so grateful that I have my lyre sisters and community to bring healing beauty, with intention, into the world.

Wendy Polich (Littleton, CO), Marianne Dietzel (Minnesota), and Virginia Anderson (Denver, CO)

Wendy Polich (Littleton, CO), Marianne Dietzel (Minnesota), and Virginia Anderson (Denver, CO)

And finally, I was pleasantly surprised when Marianne Dietzel, from Minnesota, contacted me recently because she was visiting Colorado and wanted to play lyre together! I contacted Virginia Anderson (who only lives 15 minutes from me yet we had never met) and we all got together to play this last Sunday. What a joy to play and sing for the first time ever together! It was as if we had always been playing together. After playing the tone of the day planetary scale and improvising on it, we played Colin Tanser’s “Sun Glimpse”, Thomas Pedroli’s “Prayer” arrangement, Channa Seidenberg’s “Though in Noon’s Heaven” round (while singing) and Christof-Andrea Lindenberg’s “Weaving Threads of Gold and Silver”. As we sent up prayerful tones and voices, we were nourished and grateful, since each of us are used to having to play alone.

I’m happy to report that Virginia and I will be playing together on a regular basis, and that Marianne and I are committed to going to the Czech Republic next year! Holly, Lorraine and I have committed to meeting at least once every quarter, and, I can’t wait to introduce them to Virginia and welcome her into the Rocky Mountain Lyre Choir. She will be a wonderful addition!

I look forward to reading about other regional gatherings!

LANA's 2020-2021 Annual Report

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Dear LANA members and friends of the lyre,

We are excited to share with each of you our 2020-2021 Annual Report of the Lyre Association of North America. You will hear the voices of almost all of our Board members in the various committee summaries. The compilation of reports included in this edition provide an exciting picture of the diverse programs and activities that have characterized this last year for our Association!

We have dedicated this Annual Report to our dear colleague and friend, Kerry Lee, who crossed the Threshold of Death last September 2020. We wished to take the opportunity this publication has provided for us to share with you a description of Kerry's life and the important role she played in the development of our lyre work in North America.

Please enjoy this once-a-year special issue of our Lyre Notes!

The LANA Board

To see the 2020-21 Annual Report, please click here.

Open the above link to read the Annual Report. Once there, click on the icon in the lower right hand corner to get an Index of each article so that you can choose to read them in any order you wish.

The LANA Board

Our Mission

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The Lyre Association of North America is a non-profit organization whose mission is to initiate, to inspire, and to support the sounding of the modern lyre as a musical instrument in artistic, pedagogical, and therapeutic activities in North America and throughout the world.

Our aims are:

  • To foster the experience and recognition of the freed tone as well as the rediscovery and deepening of our capacity to listen.

  • To cultivate our community of members and friends through the following services:

    • Sponsoring conferences, concerts, and regional workshops for adults and children

    • Publishing a newsletter (Lyre Notes) and journal (Soundings), and to support the publishing of other materials relevant to our work

    • Providing the opportunity for members to rent or purchase LANA-owned lyres and to advertise used lyres for sale

    • Offering a music sales service for printed music, books, and journals in paper and digital format, along with lyre accessories

    • Helping to connect new lyrists with partners or mentors.

  • To promote lyre builders whose work aligns with LANA’s mission.

  • To collaborate with national and international colleagues to further support the development of our worldwide Movement for Musical Renewal in all of its manifestations, including innovations in anthroposophically-inspired instruments as well as the human voice.

http://www.lyreassociation.org

Donate to Manfred Bleffert’s Emergency Aid Fund

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The house and the workshop where Manfred Bleffert lived were completely destroyed by the devastating floods in the Ahr Valley, which is located in the Eifel, in western Germany.

In addition to all of his personal belongings, the workshop studio with instruments from his instrument and musical research, the entire compositional work, the painterly and graphic works as well as all sculptural works succumbed to the violence of the flood. The extensive writings from 50 years of research are destroyed or lost as well.

To read a letter from Manfred Bleffert’s wife, Ulrike, go to our blog post.

We welcome you to use LANA's website for your donation. If you wish to donate directly to the German fund for Manfred (in euros), use the information in this link.

LANA is receiving donations in all currencies toward the emergency aid fund set up for Manfred. Funds contributed via the Donate button below will be sent to that account in Germany by LANA.

News from Cântaro Belo Horizonte

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by Karla Polanczyk, Belo Horizonte, Brazil, cantaro.com.br

In May we had one more Cântaro “birthday”...

We went through strong changes, when (unfortunately!) Flávia returned to São Paulo, in 2019. After that we had a new singing teacher who stayed a year and left. And then came Covid-19.

Our group is now a much smaller group than it was five years ago. We are now around 18 lyres in Belo Horizonte, among very beginners and advanced lyres. We remain always strong and aware of the importance of the lyre and kantele sounds in our world, especially nowadays. I (Karla) am now the only one responsible for the kantele, lyre and singing groups at Cântaro Belo Horizonte.

Whenever possible, as has been the case since April 2021, we have in-person classes, always according to covid-19 security protocols. Unfortunately, in Brazil, we don't know how long we will be able to keep classroom lessons. But even when classes need to be online, all students continue with classes, as best as they can, until the city is back up and running.

We had a very rich meeting with some lyre players from different classes, in a beautiful and opened place. We could play and sing together the pieces that everyone and every small group play, each in their class. It was a “meeting of groups", a small lyre workshop with Cântaro´s students.

Here are some photos of this meeting:

Pictured below: In the warmth of St. John´s festivities, united in singing and lyre, we renew our strength and rekindle our light, which we carry forward like our lanterns that show us the way each day, every day!

We always appreciate, after each class and each meeting, the possibility of having such wonderful lyres and kanteles to nourish our souls and our hearts!

I hope I was able to tell and show to you how important it is to us to continue this work playing the lyres, even in such difficult and, in so many different aspects, challenging times!

Karla Polanczyk

Karla Polanczyk

Warm greetings from Brazil!

Lyre 2021 Regional Workshops

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Thank you all for completing the LANA survey regarding regional workshops.

The following people are willing to host or facilitate workshops in their areas. Please contact them for more information.

We were hoping to have workshops in all the regions, from sea to shining sea.

We also have requests from other lyrists in Texas, Eastern Ohio, Colorado and California (Los Angeles and San Francisco). We would love for them to have an opportunity to play with a group. If you would be able to host or facilitate an event for these lyrists this summer, please let us know, and we’ll be happy to send their information to you.

We are looking forward to seeing the pictures and reading the reports after your gatherings!

Nancy Carpenter and Debra Barford,
for the Lyre Board (lyrists@gmail.com)

Dear all who are connected in any way with Manfred Bleffert from Germany,

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German musician, composer, visual artist, and instrument maker Manfred Bleffert

German musician, composer, visual artist, and instrument maker Manfred Bleffert

A letter from Manfred Bleffert’s wife Ulrike
Date: 7/18/21
Subject: Greetings from the heart to everyone

Dear friends and people close to Manfred near and far!

We send you all warmth and comforting thoughts and big thanks for your deep sympathy, which gives us light and strength!

Yes, it is an unimaginable event that struck with full force and almost robbed Manfred of his life twice in a row. He had many helping good spirits with him when he stood alone in the top attic chamber on the night of July 14th to 15th and listened to the unleashed violence, which raged with unbelievable thunder and roar over the valley – 8-10m high! It had been raining extremely hard for many hours.

At midnight the rising water suddenly stood still, just a little under the roof ridge, the sky tore open and a bright starry sky appeared! Manfred had seen trees, houses, cars swim away and heard how the water tore away two whole walls of our house and the balconies. He stood at the window all night, sometimes singing, and experienced the dramatic rage of violence, which only gradually calmed down towards morning.

Johannes was in another house nearby; they couldn't talk to each other anymore. I myself was still in Freiburg; we wanted to go on vacation to the North Sea in a few days. Manfred had been able to call me again in the evening before all lines and the cellular network broke down, saying it was the end of the world.

I wasn't able to drive off until the next afternoon, only when the catastrophic weather and traffic conditions allowed it again. Bettina Westphal accompanied me with loving support. I wanted to pick up Manfred, who had been saved with Johannes in the meantime.

Towards the morning of the next day we both woke up very early at the same time. Manfred suddenly said the sentence: "Now the events are just reaching me," completely horrified.

Shortly afterwards, he suffered a heart attack.

He's doing reasonably well now, I'm allowed to visit him, but he's still in the intensive care unit. With our friends as well as volunteers from Bonn who are available here, we have meanwhile been able to rescue individual items from the house. The help is overwhelming and fills us with great gratitude!

Everything was under water. Nevertheless – we hope that it dries up. Individual sound tubes and cymbals lay on the completely destroyed ground, individual small sculptural works made of soapstone ... We keep looking ... many friends and our children have offered their help!

Large parts of the house and the whole studio workshop, all musical instruments and the whole household have disappeared in the floods and with it all of Manfred's artistic work from 50 years. It is incomprehensible and still needs to be understood. Irreparable destruction that cannot be physically rebuilt.

Due to my work as a eurythmist in the south, which will end at the end of January with my retirement, there is a small household available for us, including some of Manfred's work, of course. Manfred will join me in Freiburg after his extensive recovery. From there we will look for our "place to live in old age" and trust that we will find it! A place where we can continue our artistic work together. ....

I greet you all near and far in the world in Manfred's name with the light of the heart and great joy over this almost stolen but newly given life for him, the life that gives us so much to work, to learn, to understand – something full of light and pain to the same extent. We do not want to give up our gratitude and hope, bearing Rudolf Steiner's words within us:

Light divine,
Christ-Sun,
Warm our hearts;
Enlighten our heads;
That good may become
What from our hearts we are founding,
What from our heads we direct,
With focused will.

With heartfelt thoughts and in Manfred's name and will,
Ulrike (ulrikebleffert@posteo.de)

Read the article Travels with Manfred about David Adams’ 2014 visit to Manfred and his home and studio in Heiligenberg, Germany, which includes various photos of his paintings, sculptures, furniture, and unusual musical instruments. From the Art Section Newsletter, No. 42, Autumn-Winter 2014, pp. 35-39.

The Beings of Silence: An Introduction to the Musical Work of Manfred Bleffert – From Soundings 3, 2 (Spring 2011): 5-14, published by the Lyre Association of North America.

Read a report on Workshops with Manfred Bleffert in a 2010 article by David Adams, published in Being Human: https://www.rudolfsteiner.org/fileadmin/user_upload/being_human/bh-articles/adams/Bleffert-Adams2.pdf

Field of Strings

Field of Strings

"Field of Strings" was one of Manfred’s one-of-a-kind original instruments, consisting of 12 rectangular "Lyres" linked together on a stand in a half circle. Lots of fun to play (but now probably destroyed).

In Memory of Colin Tanser

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(Jan 5, 1943 – June 26, 2021)
Biography by Jennie Tanser

Colin Tanser was born on January 5th, 1943, five days later than his wife Jennie! Throughout his life he sustained a deep love for music, which manifested in many diverse directions, and we were most fortunate in that we could often work together artistically, recognizing that this was an important part of our life together.

His first instrument was piano, then the organ. He played flute, all the recorders, French horn, tuba, accordion, banjo, double bass, classical guitar, harp, also the lyre, which he was always enthusiastic to promote. He studied music in college, then taught in schools, becoming Head of Department. He played all kinds of music in the ‘O.K. Band’ in Sheffield and played music for stage performances, helping children in his class in the Steiner School to make and play their own pipes.

In Stroud he taught private lessons in several instruments and took a class in Cotswold Chine School, where he began to work therapeutically with music based on the ‘Image of Man’ in accordance with anthroposophical principles. This was developed further in the Camphill schools for pupils with special needs, and he pioneered a three-year training course in music therapy for students of Curative Education.

Colin was very involved with color-light therapy for which he played the lyre, working with the planetary scales and the tone for the day. He also created songs for the festivals of the year and for various events and occasions, and these have been sung in many different countries.

His lyre music has been very much appreciated and admired. It has been played all over the world, including a work commissioned for the international lyre concert in Belfast in 2006, played by two hundred lyres. This piece, ‘Everyman’, included a children’s choir and hand bells and was a huge triumph.

Colin has inspired many people through his modest nature and his love of music. (Listen to ‘Everyman’ on LANA’s website.)

Jennie Tanser / Upper Esk Music

Andrew Dyer, of Upper Esk Music, has prepared this song so that it can be printed out and distributed freely. Andrew has printed all of Colin's music, and it's wonderful that it is now all easily available through the Upper Esk website as well as through the Lyre Association of North America.

The lyre world does not have too many composers of the caliber and diversity of Colin and his wonderful music, so we can all pay tribute to him, and the gifts he has left us.

With thanks, and humility, Anna Cooper

Summer 2021 Lyre Opportunities

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Dear LANA members and friends in North America,

Since our much-anticipated 2021 World Lyre Conference in the Czech Republic has been postponed until next year, LANA has stepped in to provide our members and friends in North America with another opportunity that we feel could bridge the gap this summer.

The LANA Board would like to encourage and support some in-person regional lyre gatherings this summer and into the fall. In our last Annual Report, we included a map that divided our membership into regions so that lyrists could be aware of the geographic locations of other lyre enthusiasts in their local areas. For your interest, we have included this map along with the link to a brief survey to kick off this process in order to provide us with information we can use in helping to support as many gatherings as possible. Of course, each person could choose to host or participate freely with whatever group anyone would like to gather or invite.

In the survey, we ask about your personal interest to participate in such a gathering and what parameters (location, dates, timing, etc.) would work best for you. We also ask if you might be willing to host such a gathering in your local area. Importantly, we ask if you imagine that a group in your area might wish to be joined by an experienced lyre teacher to guide or facilitate such a gathering. Finally, we ask for volunteers who might be willing to serve as such traveling teachers.

Your Lyre Association has made the decision to cover travel expenses of volunteer teachers up to $500 per teacher, if the local group is willing to host them and perhaps collect a modest gratuity for them. All details would be decided by the general consensus of the local participants with our support as needed.

So we are beginning this process by gathering information to see how LANA can best support our members and friends in this opportunity to start making music together again. Your responses to our questions will allow us to do this, and we hope that everyone who even has a remote possibility to participate in such a gathering will please respond to this brief survey. We have already heard from one international colleague that he will take this into consideration in planning a personal trip to the States this summer so that he might be able to participate in one of our regional events!

Over the last 14 months, we have all had to become very creative in seeking for soul-nourishing ways to support our music-making and lyre-playing in the absence of being able to gather as we normally would. This summer, the LANA Board would like to work with our members and friends to take advantage of new possibilities that exist for us now to move in the direction of playing together again in anticipation of our World Lyre Conference in 2022. Please help us to do this by taking a moment to respond to this survey so that we can support each other in these efforts!

Go to: https://fs3.formsite.com/lyrists/form7/index.html

Sincerely,
Sheila Johns, for LANA

Looking for Mentors for The Lyre Connection

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Most of us were fortunate to be introduced to the lyre by a teacher or friend who deftly guided and supported our relationship with the instrument. The influence of our early mentors played a role in our successful mastering of skills and the passion we feel for the lyre. The nature of the instrument was enlivened by the social context in which we learned and the relationships nurtured as we played.

To create an opportunity for LANA members to keep the cycle of mentoring alive, The Lyre Connection program offers a forum for experienced lyrists to support and encourage 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.

The Lyre Connection connects volunteer mentors with students who have questions. Often we are contacted by new lyrists who need some help getting oriented to the instrument. They need a few coaching sessions: perhaps some suggestions on best beginner books, tips on how to hold the instrument, and basic tuning guidance. Sometimes there are more advanced players with specific questions particular to the lyre: choices of repertoire, the relevance of 432 tuning, or how to work with the planetary scales (to name just a few possibilities!). Whatever your level of lyre-playing experience, your skills are needed!

If you can volunteer a few hours of your time in support of the lyre community, we encourage you to consider becoming a volunteer mentor through our Lyre Connection program. The relationship between the mentor and the new student will be defined based on your time, interests, and abilities. We encourage mentors to be available as a resource for a month or two if matched with a beginner. Once the student is more confident, the mentor may opt to transition into a traditional (paid) teacher role, or a new teacher may be found for the student.

Please fill out the mentor questionnaire (here), which will help us match you with a student seeking a mentor. We will offer tips and suggestions to mentors, and we will work toward pairing them with students by region.

Please contact Diane Barnes at dianeibarnes1@gmail.com if you would like to learn more about this initiative and become a mentor. Thank you!

NEW: Choroi Pentatonic Children’s Lyre

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We have just added a new 7-string Choroi pentatonic children’s lyre to our inventory of rental lyres. This beautiful little children’s lyre is brand new and comes in its own wooden case. It is perfect for children and adults alike and is at home in the classroom or therapeutic settings. It is a very adaptable instrument with a lovely sound.

The Choroi pentatonic children’s lyre can be rented from the Lyre Association of North America for $20 a month and is also available through our rent-to-buy program.

For a complete list of available instruments, see: http://lyreassociation.org/lyre-rentals

LANA’s Auction – a Ringing Success!

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Thanks to all of you, LANA’s Auction brought in $3,882.00 – exceeding our goal by $382! We SO appreciate the many donations and bids that made for a successful auction!!!

We’ve sent emails to all the winning bidders to connect them to the donors, so expect to be hearing from them soon. (And please let us know if the email did not make it all the way to your inbox!)

–Wendy Polich, for the Auction Committee

International Lyre Conference Postponed Until 2022

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Dear Friends,

We received the following message from our friends in the Czech Republic. In the meantime, the LANA Board will be discussing other possibilities for lyre gatherings this summer. Stay tuned!

Unfortunately, due to the pandemic situation, we will have to postpone the conference until next year at approximately the same time (hopefully from the 7th to the 14th of August, 2022).

I am so sorry for this complication, but I hope that next year the conference can be held without the restrictions, and with people from all countries who wish to attend.

With warm regards,
Helena Hlaváčková

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IN MEMORIAM – Channa Andriesse Seidenberg

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July 20, 1939 – March 14, 2020

Channa Seidenberg

Channa Seidenberg

      The Board of the Lyre Association of North America wishes to remember our dear friend and LANA Board colleague, Channa Seidenberg on the first anniversary of her passing.

Channa was introduced to the lyre in 1971, and in 1982, she was among the group of five founding members of the Association for Promoting the Lyre as a New Instrument (APLANI), which led to the establishment of the Lyre Association of North America in 1991. Channa played a decisive role in the development of the lyre work in North America, and she served continuously on our Association board for 37 years until the time of her passing in March.

      As an active member of LANA, Channa helped to plan and organize conferences with a focus on teaching youth as well as building networks among lyre builders. She taught lyre students from all around the globe, and in her later years, she traveled to China to lead workshops on the lyre, singing, and listening. Her networking skills proved invaluable in supporting the creation and development of the international lyre community over the last 20 years.

      Channa promoted and taught the lyre to adults and children for over three decades. She developed a two-handed approach to the 7-string pentatonic lyre and created a pedagogical path of lyre development for children. One of her areas of specialty with the chromatic lyre was the mirrored or planetary scales. She delighted in introducing these unique scales to adults using a phenomenological approach through listening.

      Channa’s great gift as a lyrist was her ability to improvise. She both composed and improvised for many plays as well as for fairy tale and puppet performances, and she worked extensively on the development of lyre music for the sequence of Raphael Madonna paintings, improvised out of her study of the circle of fifths and the accompanying eurythmy gestures and presented during every Advent and Holy Nights’ season. 

      Channa was one of the founding members of the Resonare Foundation Course in Music out of Anthroposophy, where for 12 years, she led singing, lyre, improvisation, and dedicated listening sessions with the musical intervals.  Channa’s professional training was in voice, and she was a teacher of the Werbeck School for Uncovering the Voice for over three decades. She was a prolific composer who penned volumes of beloved rounds and choral pieces as well as instrumental and incidental music for many occasions, including festivals and in celebration of personal milestones, such as christenings and weddings. In addition, she was a teacher of the Werbeck-based therapeutic singing work, and she also trained and practiced as an anthroposophic music therapist.

      Again and again, Channa’s biography demonstrates her strength and resiliency – in the death of her father at the hand of Nazis, in her “adoption” by a Christian family in Holland during World War II, in the testing of her Orthodox Jewish background, in her recognition of anthroposophy, and in her care of those with developmental differences as her life’s path as well as through her life-long passion for music. Channa knew that the traditional path she was born into was not her individual path, and she searched for her teachers with resolve. If she was convinced that someone was a teacher who could help her along her path, she didn’t let “no” dissuade her.

      Music was the soul of Channa’s life in singing, playing, composing, directing, and music therapy. When the “red threads” of her life – music and anthroposophy – joined together, Channa recognized her work, and her devotion to her path was consuming. She was the creator and director of the Camphill Village Ensemble in Copake, NY, which played in many venues, including Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall, and she collaborated over the years with many renowned musicians. After her return to Copake in 2017 following her leg injury in China, she remained actively engaged in the Camphill life rhythms, contributing to the social aspect of the community through leading singing and continuing to teach lyre and offer music therapeutically.

      After three separate struggles with cancer, Channa passed on March 14, 2020, joining her husband Leon, who died in 2005, and her half-brother Jonathan, who died in 2018. In addition to her colleagues in the international lyre community, Channa leaves behind much-loved sons Andreas and Julian, their families, and two sisters, one in New York and the other in Israel.

Help our Community Flourish by Bidding on an Auction Item!

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Spring is in the air! New growth ... new beginnings. Let’s all flourish!

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Have you bid yet?  Each bid adds up, strengthens our community, and helps us towards our financial goal. 

Funds raised in our online auction go towards our Financial Aid Fund to help our members attend regional, national, and/or the next international conference in the Czech Republic.  The Phoenixville Area Time Bank (PATB) is donating 60% of proceeds from their items while 40% will help PATB members. 

Auction Specialty Services:

Did you know that in addition to musical instruments, books, art, crafts, and unique gifts, our online auction features specialty services from our very own community members and friends?  Get to know them (and yourself) by bidding on an online service item and learning something new! 

Lyre Playing

Are you ready to go to the next level with your lyre playing, or perhaps take your very first lesson with an experienced lyre teacher?  Perhaps you wish to explore new ways of listening to the lyre with an experienced travel guide in the land of sound?  Are you ready to learn a pedagogical approach with lyre playing and young children?  Would you like to learn more about the planetary scales as a daily practice? 

Singing and Music Making

Perhaps you have always wanted to uncover your voice with Werbeck singing, but never had the opportunity to travel to a class?  Do you want to be introduced to therapeutic singing? Or maybe you wish to learn songs in the mood of the fifth to play and sing to your child or grandchild?  Do you have fun singing with the ukelele but are ready to learn new rhythms and finger pickings and really breathe life into songs? 

Movement

Is your body wanting to explore therapeutic ways to move or new streams of movement? 

Know Thyself

Could you use a life interview session to review the outlines and direction of your life story, past, present, and future? Do you have a dream that needs tending or a difficulty that is calling to you for more discernment or understanding or a different way of seeing?  Have you ever wondered what your birth chart might reveal through astrosophy? 

Take the leap and find out!  And while you do, know that you are helping your community with each session and each bid. 

In order to bid you will need to create an account, which is easy to do. Just go to https://www.32auctions.com/LANA and follow the instructions. All items will be shipped in the continental U.S. only. Online specialty services may be bid on by our international community. You can also simply donate by clicking on the green donate button!

LANA's Auction - March 5–15, 2021

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The Lyre Association of North America (LANA), partnering with the Phoenixville Area Time Bank (PATB) will hold an online charity auction from March 5th through March 15th to help people in need. The 135+ auction items include paintings, books, musical instruments, and many treasures. Auction opens at 12 p.m. EST on March 5th.

Proceeds will sponsor LANA members who need financial aid to attend the 8th World Lyre Conference in the Czech Republic in August 2021.

PATB will provide scholarships to designated constituents who need assistance paying their membership fees. For PATB items, the proceeds will be split 60 (LANA) / 40 (PATB). "PATB is excited to partner with LANA for this online auction. Funding community members allows them to participate in our service exchange system, and thus strengthen further the bonding among community members," said Diana Baldi, President of PATB.

Both organizations hope to raise $2,000+ for these worthy causes. The auction can be accessed via this link – www.32auctions.com/LANA.

The Phoenixville Area Time Bank (www.patimebank.org) was founded in 2004 to provide and foster an effective alternative to the market economy by using service hours as currency. (One hour of a member’s time equals one “Time Dollar.”) The vision is to build an online network of neighbors who generously share their talents, skills, and time with each other, including local non-profits and businesses.

The Lyre Association of North America (www.lyreassociation.org), founded in 1984, continues to support its Mission: To initiate, to inspire, and to support the sounding of the modern lyre through artistic, pedagogical, and therapeutic activities in North America and throughout the world.

John Billing CD’s

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A Special Addition to our Auction Offerings

By Julia Elliott

Thanks to a generous donation by the amazing lyrist and composer, John Billing, we have CD’s of exceptionally beautiful lyre music for sale. The CD’s will be available through our auction site on March 5th and can also be found in our music store for $10.00. All proceeds from the CD sales will go directly to our financial aid fund in support of LANA members’ travel to the upcoming international conference. Purchase of these CD’s will give you hours of listening bliss as well as the good feeling you get from helping an important cause!

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There are four CD titles of John Billing’s music available: Gentillesses, Stream, Turlough O’Carolan, and Pale Blue Rock. Each features Billing’s very special lyre-playing and compositions, and each CD has a unique flavor all its own. Gentillesses includes recorders and is a collection from Billing’s music book of the same name. Songs include “A Shady Grove,” “The Sun Rising,” and “The Silent Isle.” If you love these pieces, you can also find the book HERE.

Turlough O’Carolan contains Billing’s gorgeous settings of the 18th century Irish harpist’s music. Included on this CD are “The South Wind and Planxty Irwin,” “Eleanor Plunkett,” and “Carolan’s Farewell to Music.” This CD will surely get you in the mood for March 17th and it will give you joy all year round.

On the CD Stream, many of Billing’s best loved compositions appear, including many of his lyre preludes as well as favorites like “Light on the Lake” and “Love Song Without Words.” Pale Blue Rock, however, is something fresh and new. This CD features improvisations and arrangements for lyre that reminds us of how versatile this instrument is. Here you will find settings of such pieces as “House of the Rising Sun,” “Hotel California,” and “Chan Chan.”

We encourage you to gift yourself or a friend one (or all!) of these wonderful CD’s. You will be so glad you did! (And we will be, too!)

With our heartfelt thanks to John Billing for his generosity!

Thank you!

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An update on Crowd-funding to help replace a lyre lost by fire ...

Thank you so much for those who kindly supported Laura Langford Schnur. She is truly touched by the generosity of her lyre colleagues around the world. As of today, we have raised $1740 for her to buy a new lyre. In good health and spirit, Laura is looking forward to purchasing a Derscheid Legacy soprano lyre, which the Pennsylvania-based lyre builder Alan Thewless will complete soon. Laura is thrilled to serve LANA and the international lyre community again, and she has already helped us to find a supplier of Maria Renold’s twelve-fifth tuning forks, which will soon become available in LANA’s online store.

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On behalf of Laura, we would like to thank you again for supporting her so generously. For those of you who still wish to support her, the GoFundMe website will remain open until March 3.

We wish you all happy and healthy mid-winter weeks, until the spring comes again. -Saeko Cohn, for the Lyre Association of North America