LANA SUMMER LYRE CONFERENCE 2023

Sunday, July 30th (3 pm) – Thursday, August 3rd (12:30 pm)
Hawthorne Valley School, 330 County Road 21C, Ghent, NY 12075

Celebrating the Lives and Musical Contributions of Two Anthroposophic Music Therapists:
Maria Schüppel and Channa Seidenberg

Composers, educators, performers, and anthroposophic music therapists who lived and worked actively on either side of the Atlantic throughout decades of the 20th and early 21st centuries into their 80’s, Maria Schüppel and Channa Andriesse Seidenberg were pioneers in their work with the lyre and the music therapeutic impulse born out of anthroposophy. 

After three years of being unable to hold our summer lyre conferences in the US, members and friends of the Lyre Association of North America will gather this summer in Harlemville, New York, on the campus of Hawthorne Valley Waldorf School to celebrate the lives and work of these two important anthroposophic music therapists.  Both women were performers, Maria as a pianist and lyrist, and Channa as a vocalist and lyrist.  Both were innovative teachers, who created their own courses and trained students in various aspects of music out of anthroposophy. And both women were versatile composers, whose beloved works have been appreciated and taken up both in Europe and in the North America. Each wrote particularly for the lyre and voice and, through these two separate and combined mediums, made important contributions to the understanding of how music affects the healing processes in the human being.   

Presenting at this summer’s conference will be two musicians who have worked particularly with the music of Maria Schüppel and two musicians who have worked extensively with the music of Channa Seidenberg. 

• Christina Porkert was a student of Maria Schüppel at the Musiktherapeutische Arbeitsstätte (Center for Music Therapy) in Berlin and later being the co-founder with Christof-Andreas Lindenberg of the first English-speaking anthroposophic music therapy trainings, the Dorion School of Music Therapy.

• Marcella Paz Moreno became an enthusiast and performer of some of Maria Schüppel’s music in Europe after her own traditional music training. Part of the music that we will take up together at our conference is a work called the Children of Lir with which both Christina and Marcella has extensive experience.

• Diane Ingraham Barnes is a fellow singer and was a colleague of Channa Seidenberg over many years, who worked particularly with Channa’s vocal music and songs composed for children in the Mood of the Fifth.  

• Sheila Phelps Johns was a student as well as a colleague of Channa’s for several decades, co-creating a foundational course in music out of anthroposophy, which they taught together for over 12 years, working with both composed music and improvisational techniques for artistic and therapeutic purposes.

 During our days together, we will explore both vocal and instrumental music composed by Maria Schüppel and Channa Seidenberg, exploring the artistic as well as the music therapeutic contributions of each composer that have left such a rich musical heritage to be further developed by those of us who appreciate the extraordinary musical legacies of Maria Schüppel and Channa Andriesse Seidenberg.  

Please save these dates and plan to join us in Harlemville, NY at the end of July for this special celebration of the lives and musical contributions of these two important visionaries of anthroposophic music therapy!

Book Review and 15% Discount

Book Review:

Offerings to the Land of the Rising Sun
Kira and Billing (compilers)

May is showering us with another 15% discount, this time for the beautiful lyre music book, “Offerings to the Land of the Rising Sun” – Compositions by various composers, compiled by Hajime Kira and John Billing and published in November, 2011. Use the code “MAY15” at checkout.

As Anna Prokhovnik Cooper’s dedication informs us that this unique musical offering was published in support of those effected by the catastrophic tsunami that hit the East coast of Japan on March 11, 2011. Having befriended the many Japanese lyrists who have attended our lyre conferences over the years, a group of composers collaborated in putting together a collection of lyre music that could acknowledge the difficulty and pain of this tragic event as well as offer hope, strength, and love to support the process of rebuilding what had been lost. 

The collection includes pieces by an international group of composers: Sachiko Ogura, Murray Wright, Dominic Poole, John Billing, Rob Van Asch, Margaret Collins, Christof-Andreas Lindenberg, Gerhard Beilharz, Flavia Betti, Ruud Quax, Anna P. Cooper, Petra Rosenberg, Mechthild Laier, Pervez Mirza, Peter Rebbe, Kayak Matsubara, and Bernhard Lindour.   

Several pieces were especially composed for this collection, including A Place to Rest by Murray Wright for soprano and alto lyre.  River Flowing Into, by Nami Miyashita, is a piece for voice(s) and lyre accompaniment with arpeggiated accompaniment flowing beneath picturesque lyrics: “River flows swing slowly and reflect cherry blossoms on the bank….”  John Billing composed a special piece for soprano and alto lyres or solo concert lyre entitled Tanabata Wish for Tohoku.  There are two book-end pieces by R. Van Asch, the first called Evening, for soprano, alto lyre, and voice(s), is based on the Prologue to the Gospel of John.  In the second, Morning, Rudolf Steiner’s words are sung between 2 lyre voices: “In thine I, in the heart of thy being, may there live the word….”.   Christof Andreas Lindenberg’s contribution presents a soundscape of the experience of the earthquake played on chime bars and drums, followed by an “ether surround; three vowels, music to eurythmic movement.” 

The collection also includes a lyre trio, Air Printanier by Rudolf Quax, as well as his Sarabande for 2 lyres and violin. From Petra Rosenberg is Little Suite in Six Parts, a piece for solo lyre.  Additionally, there is an arrangement by Kayak Matsubara of Chopin’s Etude Op. 10, No. 3.  The collection ends with an arrangement of Sakura for lyre and voice by Bernhard Lindour. 

Overall, this is a collection of beautiful pieces of varying musical textures and moods, with scoring ranging from solo lyre, to lyre and voice, to trios and ensembles.  On average, the music would be appropriate for intermediate to advanced lyrists.  Many of the pieces would make for beautiful community sharing.     

Shop for this specially discounted collection and much more music in our LANA music store!

Milestone for LANA’s Online Music Store

LANA’s music sales service was created in 2003 as a forum for making lyre music available to our growing community.  In 2018, we expanded the service to include books on music, PDF copies of scores, CD’s, strings, and other accessories, and we moved our music store online.  We have been very busy over the past five years, responding to the needs of our customers and creating a store that reflects the musical tastes and interests of our members and friends, both within the US and internationally.

We are thrilled to share that on March 27th of this year, our online music store reached an important milestone when order number 1,000 was placed by LANA member Lucy O’Neal of Eugene, Oregon!  As a thank you for helping us reach this point, Lucy was given a set of the beautiful “Healing Forces of the Madonna Images” cards.  (Pictured here are Margo Ketchum, left, and Lucy O’Neal in Eugene, OR.)

Warmest thanks to all our members and friends for your support and patronage of our online music store.  We look forward to serving you for years to come!

Save the date! Summer Lyre Conference 2023

Celebrating Anthroposophic Composers
Maria Schüppel and Channa Seidenberg

Sunday, July 30 – Saturday, August 3, 2023
Hawthorne Valley School, Ghent, New York
More information coming soon ...

It's Irish Music Month!

Celebrate With 15% Off Irish Titles in the LANA Store 

With St. Patrick’s Day just around the corner, you might be looking for some Irish music to play with your ensemble or by yourself.  We’ve got you covered!  All of the Irish sheet music titles in the LANA music store are on sale for 15% off during March. Use “IRISH-15” discount code at checkout.  Many of our favorite composers have written beautiful arrangements of Irish melodies for solo lyre or lyre ensemble, including the following:

John Billing:

• Music from Ireland, Volumes 1 and 2 (sheet music and PDF)

• Bridget Cruise and Other Tunes by Turlough O’Carolan

• Carolan’s Own

• Irish Music

• Six Melodies by T. O’Carolan

• From Ireland with Love

John Clark:

• Irish Traditional Slow Airs, Volumes 1 through 5

Anna Prokhovnik Cooper:

• An Irish Collection for the Lyre

Beatrijs Gradenwitz:

• Zes Liedern op oude keltische teksten

Cecelia Unsworth:

• Come with Me to the West

You can see these titles and many more in our store.  Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

Children's Festival Music to Sing and Play

Book Review: The Child’s Praise of the Seasons – Festival Music to Sing by Christof-Andreas Lindenberg

We continue to honor Christof-Andreas Lindenberg’s 90th birthday by looking at his book of 61 festival songs for children, The Child’s Praise of the Seasons – Festival Music to Sing, published in 1995 by Rose Harmony Association.

In his introduction, Christof-Andreas notes that this book can be seen as a companion to his book written for communities, In Praise of the Seasons – Festival Music to Sing and Play, also published in 1995 by Rose Harmony Association, which also contains some songs appropriate for children to sing. However, the focus in The Child’s Praise of the Seasons is on children singing through the year – in story and verse, in rounds, in harmony, in intervals, in rhythms, and, at times, with the accompaniment of lyres and other instruments: flute, violin, bells, drum, and triangle. These songs arose out of the composer’s many years of working with children in schools that celebrate the Christian seasonal festivals through the year, interspersed with christenings, and other festive moments. There are activities that some of the songs are meant to accompany, such as the “Palm Sunday Hosianna – Song for Boundary Walk,”a “Pizza Song for Summer Camp,” and “Santa Lucia” for a procession with children and candles. There are also two graces, four birthday songs, a “House Blessing,” and “The Robin’s Song – A Blessing for All Seasons.”

The seasonal compass outlined in the companion book for communities stands as an excellent introduction to this one, with this collection focusing on the child’s experience. The contents page contains an outline of the seasons of the year, listing the songs appropriate for each age group in order of the seasons. This is a great help to a music or class teacher looking for music for the children in their classrooms and provides another way to navigate through the year.

Finally, a lovely bonus at the end of this collection offers an explanation of the tone of each day of the week, along with its corresponding planetary (mirrored) scale, to which Christof-Andreas adds a rhythm for each day and then gives us ‘The Week’s Rhythm Songs’ – one for each day of the week. As he states, these songs “combine the tone-of-the-day scale with the other musical rhythms to make the nature of the respective day come alive, accentuating the special character of each day in the week.” Christof-Andreas encourages the use of these songs in the sixth or seventh grade classroom as well as to serve as a basis for one’s further individual exploration.

Debra Barford, Chicago, IL

LANA Music Sales

From the time LANA opened its online store (May 16th, 2018) through December 31, 2022, we have had 945 transactions. 

In the first three quarters of this fiscal year, April through December 31, 2022,  we had a total of 251 sales, both domestic and international, pulling in a sales total of $2, 815.

• Among these transactions, we received 76 orders for music books, for a grand total of $737.

• Also of note, we had 12 orders for paid downloads and 107 free downloads. 

• Additionally, LANA has had 25 new memberships and renewals via our website, and 22 orders for miscellaneous items such as tuning forks, Madonna postcards, lyre accessories, and other items.

Our 30% holiday discount gave us a boost with a December sales total of $589. 

This discount program continues through February with 30% off all Raimund Schwedeler music books.  

A more in-depth look at our music sales will be included in LANA’s annual report that comes out in May 2023. 

 Sally Willig, for the LANA Music Sales Program

Interested in joining LANA's Board of Directors?

The Lyre Association of North America’s Board of Directors is always looking for interested Association members to join our work in promoting the modern lyre in North and South America. We are a dedicated group of lyrists who enjoy the opportunity to share ideas and work toward providing services for our members. If you have a potential interest in joining LANA's Board of Directors and would like to know more about board membership, please contact me at nancycarpenter680@gmail.com.

Nancy Carpenter, LANA President

February Music Sale – 30% off all music by Raimund Schwedeler

Here at the LANA Music Store, we are big fans of exploring new music – especially music that is new to us!  And as our way of encouraging other lyrists to do the same, we will be offering 30% off of select music each month.

 If you have never encountered the music of Raimund Schwedeler* (1925-2011), now is the time!  (We found an interesting bio of Raimund Schwedeler here – Klassika: Raimund Schwedeler (1925-2011): Lebenslauf.)

The LANA Music Store carries four titles by Schwedeler and they are all on sale this month:

• Leierstudien:  Seven studies for soprano lyre, soprano lyre duos, and alto/soprano lyre duos. The studies are lovely and accessible; good for late beginner/intermediate players.

• Musik fὕr Leierchor:  Eight compositions (five Christmas pieces and three studies) for lyre ensemble.  Most are for two soprano and two alto lyres; one is set for three sopranos and three altos.

• Metamorphosen:  Based on a motif from “Falstaff” by G. Verdi, this 13-page composition is for lyre ensemble, including two soprano lyres and two alto lyres.  This is a rewarding piece for a group that is up for a challenge!

• Sieben Lieder nach Gedichten von Lisa de Boor (Seven Songs based on the poems of Lisa de Boor):  For soprano and two lyres (soprano and alto).  The text is in German and the lyre accompaniment is for advanced players.

 We would like to encourage our members and friends to experience the music of Raimund Schwedeler! Just use the discount code “FEB30” when you check out, and you will receive 30% off as our gift to you.

Kilkenny Lyre Ensemble Performs “The Dream Song of Olaf Åsteson”

We are pleased to share a lovely report of lyre activity from the Republic of Ireland!

Here in the Republic of Ireland, there is a centre of lyre activity surrounding John Clark in County Kilkenny. The Kilkenny Lyre Ensemble meets every two weeks under his direction, and during November and December, we practiced Johanna Russ's "The Dream Song of Olaf Åsteson".

John Clark leading the Kilkenny Lyre Ensemble

A successful performance was offered to the community on the 15th of January in the large studio of the KCAT centre in Callan (https://kcat.ie). We were eleven lyrists and four singers, which created a wonderful tonal balance. John Clark gave an informative introduction to the whole piece and to each of the individual four songs.

With greetings to all of you for a positive 2023!

John Billing