For the past 5 years, 4 gifted musician/vocalists/teachers, all women, have called for a "Singing in Circle" retreat at the LAMA Foundation, high upon the Sangre de Cristo Mountain Range just north of Taos, New Mexico.
The teachers are Melanie DeMore, Terry Garthwaite, Kate Munger, and Becky Reardon. The first 3 are from the North Bay Area near SF and Becky hails from Taos. All four have diverse styles. My connection is with Kate Munger who founded the Threshold Choir.
This is my first year to attend.
My intention was to go another place that I haven't gone...to sing a cappella in front of others. I was shaky at first but out came my voice and it was a blast! If you sing from your Heart, I think the entire body follows!
The women who attended were from all over the US (there are more abroad) For a total of 5 days we sang by day and by night. Before bed, we would gather up in the adobe and wood dome and sing lullabies by candlelight under the most awesome canopy of stars you can imagine.
One night, I was inspired to sing, "When You Wish Upon a Star" but couldn't remember all the words. A voice from across the room came through the darkness and sang the complete version with the total beautiful operatic voice!! She later recorded it for me.
Each teacher presented us with their music. At times the music would take on a different life of it's own and other times, the teacher was insistent on following them. We even ventured into improvisational theatre, using our voices rather than words to act out a particular theme.
All the music was written by each musician and was based on consciousness raising and/or spiritual concepts.
By the end of the 5 days, we were all in another world for sure. Even the people who served us meals joined in with us and the last night we had them lay on cushions while we surrounded them and sang them lullabies. It was beautiful!
I ended up driving to both LA and then to New Mexico with a friend so after 5 days of being "up in the clouds", we were able to let ourselves down slowly by driving back to the Bay Area through the most enchanting canyons and vistas imaginable. No wonder Georgia O'Keefe loved New Mexico!
We experienced Chaco Canyon (my personal favorite), Ojo Caliente Hot Springs, the wilds of Abiquiu, where Georgia O'Keefe painted, and Arches National Park at sunrise was drop-dead gorgeous! Not to mention the petroglyphs (I feel a tattoo coming on!)
Our last stop was in Elko, Nevada. Did you know that Elko is a Basque community? I didn't. (Lot's of handsome cowboys for sure!)
My total time away was 12 days....it's been a long time since I've pulled a road trip like that and of course, when I returned, my computer decided to take a vacation at the doctor's and various other things began to overwhelm me and so it goes....
I'm glad to be back and am looking forward to seeing many of you at the RISE event!
PS If you would like to see more, check out the Photo Album section of my community. Of course that means you're invited to join us!
I welcome you with open arms and ....
With a Song in My Heart,
Kathy
One Voice
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