A Weekend of Pagan Song

Want to spend a weekend immersing yourself in pagan music? A chance to soak in a creative cauldron of song is coming up May 17, 18 & 19, 2019. I’ll be leading a Pagan Music Retreat at Ardantane Pagan Learning Center in lovely Jemez Canyon, north of Albuquerque, New Mexico.

To register, go to https://www.ardantane.org/courses/ Click on “courses and retreats” (not “registration”) and scroll down to May. You’ll find this description:

Pagan Music Retreat with Alane Brown Come spend the weekend building your magical song skills. You’ll learn the most popular pagan chants (as well as some brand-new ones) and practice harmonizing, layering, leading and creating chants. We’ll explore ways to use song as a powerful tool in ritual as well as for personal spiritual practice. The weekend will include a fire circle complete with drumming, dancing and, of course, singing the songs we have worked on. There will also be a richly-musical ritual of dedication to the deities of music.
The weekend will be led by Alane Brown, a songwriter for the pagan band the Crow Women, and an experienced fire circle facilitator in the New Mexico pagan community.
Cost: $120 class only, $150 class with lodging

Here’s the schedule. On Friday, after a short opening ritual, we’ll have a chant workshop dedicated to teaching songs that work great at drum circles and bonfires. In addition to learning the songs, you’ll practice skills such as layering multiple chants, adding harmony, communicating with singers, drummers and dancers, leading a chant, and building a magical experience for all present. After the learning session, we’ll head outside for a fire circle of our own, and put those skills into practice.

On Saturday morning there will be a session on chant-writing, during which you’ll compose a short chant of your own. Later in the morning, we’ll explore the use of vocalization in individual meditation and spiritual practice. After lunch, we’ll have our second session of chant-learning, this time focusing on songs for rituals and celebrations. For example, songs for processions, for circle-casting and for various magical purposes. We’ll also use an example to demonstrate how to build a ritual around a song. Then, we’ll go on to plan a ritual of dedication to music, and after a break for potluck dinner, we’ll do that ritual together. So, not only will we learn about music in ritual, we’ll put the ideas into practice in our own ritual honoring our relationship with the spirits of music.

On Sunday morning, we’ll start the day with a playful workshop on improvization, followed by a time set aside for walking and singing on the land–in the labyriths and on the beautiful trails of Ardantane. After a lunch break, I’ll turn it over to the participants to teach one another their favorite chants. We’ll finish with a closing ritual, then it’s Hail and Farewell!

Participants are welcome record the sessions so they can take what they have learned back to their home circles and communities. Lyric sheets and handouts will be provided.

I hope you’ll join me May 17-19. You’ll practice magical song skills with old favorites as well as with new original chants. By the end of the weekend, you’ll be more confident as a participant and leader of song at drum circles. You’ll also have added to your toolbox of methods for incorporating music into personal and group ritual.

I’m delighted to be offering this magical musical retreat. It’s a chance to do live what our blog at www.pagansong.com is all about: sharing practical tips for using music to enrich your spiritual life on the earth-centered path. Come be part of it!

Alane is a composer of pagan music. Thirty-two of her songs and chants have been recorded by the Crow Women. She served as choir director at the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Durango 2015-2018 and completed a 3-year program of the UUA to become a Certified Music Leader. She holds a Ph.D. in social psychology and worked for several decades as a college professor. The courses she taught included Creativity & Expressive Art Therapies, Group Dynamics and the Psychology of Religion. Alane has regularly taught workshops on pagan music for 20 years, at festivals including Magical Mountain Mabon and Beltane Southwest in New Mexico, at Dragonfest and Beltania in Colorado, at Heartland Pagan Music Festival in Kansas, at Firetribe events in Nevada and Hawaii, and at Wisteria in Ohio. Alane and the Crow Women are available for workshops and performances at festivals and other events–if interested, contact them through the Crow Women Facebook page.

For more information about the Crow Women pagan choir, and access to all the blog posts by Alane and the other 9 crowsingers who have written for Pagan Song, you can visit the Crow Women author page here on Pagan Song.

Please subscribe to the Pagan Song blog, to receive our blog post each week. Don’t miss any of the musical magic!