Our next meeting is next Tuesday!
An open choir for Pagan and Pagan-adjacent singers in the Triangle area of North Carolina
Thursday, June 4, 2026
Next Rehearsal – 06/09/26
Monday, June 1, 2026
Next Rehearsal – 06/02/26
Our next meeting is next Tuesday!
Tuesday, May 26, 2026
Next Rehearsal – 05/26/26
Our next meeting is next Tuesday!
Thursday, May 14, 2026
Next Rehearsal - 05/19/26
Our next meeting is next Tuesday!
Thursday, April 30, 2026
Next Rehearsal – 05/05/26
Our next meeting is next Tuesday!
Friday, April 24, 2026
Next Rehearsal – 04/28/26
Our next meeting is next Tuesday!
Rehearsal Summary - 04/21/26
Three of us made it this week. After catching up and warming up, we went through "Maypole Dance" a few times. It's a fairly simple piece to pick up, especially with some small adjustments we've made, so we didn't linger on it. After that, we worked on "Summer's King". This is a more complicated piece, so we reviewed it stanza by stanza, working out some flat parts, before doing several repetitions of the full song. Once we were feeling confident, we split into parts. I'd been singing in the middle range with the other two fellas but we tried it with me popping up into the high range, the way I originally wrote it. I think it was harder for the guys to stay on pitch with me up high and it's at the top of my range so it was challenging for me, too!
You may remember from last week that we were considering making "We All Come from the Goddess / Hoof and Horn" our standard way of closing out rehearsal but one of our members informed me "We All Come from the Goddess" was written by a transphobe, which I have just verified to the best of my ability. He also reported that she apparently hates the "Hoof and Horn" version, which seems likely based on what I was able to find online. So we're considering whether we should give up the piece or if it's better to have a bunch of trans people singing the version she doesn't like as an act of defiance. I invite our trans members to weigh in on the subject in any of our social spaces, if they wish. We're also considering replacing it with "May the Circle Be Open".
If you'd like to review any of our material, the sheet music and recordings are available on our Drive. For the naming conventions of the recordings, see the document in our Drive. You can also listen to the TPC playlist of recordings of some of the pieces by professional artists on Spotify. If you're trying to practice at home and can't quite discern your note, you can use a keyboard app to plunk out whichever ones you're having trouble with. (This is by no means an official endorsement, but the app I use is "Voice Training - Learn to Sing" by the developer Learn to Master. It labels the notes on the keyboard and gives you real-time feedback on what note you're singing.) If you need a tutorial on how to read music, this one seems sufficient for helping you figure out which note you want to find on the keyboard.
Sunday, April 19, 2026
Next Rehearsal – 04/21/26
Our next meeting is next Tuesday!
Rehearsal Summary - 04/14/26
Four of us made it this week, including a new person! After introductions and warming up, we went through "Maypole Dance" a few times. It's a fairly simple piece to pick up, especially with some small adjustments we've made, so we didn't linger on it. After that, we worked on "Summer's King" (former working title, "Beltane"). This is a more complicated piece, so we did a couple full run-throughs, then did detailed adjustments stanza by stanza, then did a few more full run-throughs. Next, we did several repetitions of each of the three melodies in "Dark of the Moon". After that, we reviewed the Libana recording so our new person could hear how they all fit together but, since it's a fairly intimidating piece, we didn't attempt it ourselves. Finally, we wrapped up the evening with "We All Come from the Goddess / Hoof and Horn". We're considering making this our standard way of closing out rehearsal.
If you'd like to review any of our material, the sheet music and recordings are available on our Drive. For the naming conventions of the recordings, see the document in our Drive. You can also listen to the TPC playlist of recordings of some of the pieces by professional artists on Spotify. If you're trying to practice at home and can't quite discern your note, you can use a keyboard app to plunk out whichever ones you're having trouble with. (This is by no means an official endorsement, but the app I use is "Voice Training - Learn to Sing" by the developer Learn to Master. It labels the notes on the keyboard and gives you real-time feedback on what note you're singing.) If you need a tutorial on how to read music, this one seems sufficient for helping you figure out which note you want to find on the keyboard.
Monday, April 13, 2026
Next Rehearsal –04/14/26
Our next meeting is next Tuesday!
Monday, April 6, 2026
NO Rehearsal - 04/07/26
We will NOT be holding rehearsal on Tuesday April 6, due to low expected turnout coinciding with my kiddo's Spring Break holiday. I hope y'all enjoy your evening and I look forward to singing with you next week!
- El Pethybridge, Administrative Director
TrianglePaganChoir@gmail.com
Rehearsal Summary - 03/31/26
Three of us made it this week. After warming up, we spent one last night with "Ostara". It was new to one person, who hadn't made it to rehearsal recently, but he picked it up quickly! After that, we spent some time working on "Beltane", which was also new to both the others. Finally, we wrapped up the evening with a couple quick run-throughs of "We All Come from the Goddess / Hoof and Horn". Since one of our party hadn't been around recently, we spent a lot of our time simply catching up and didn't really dig into the nitty gritty of any of the pieces. I consider that time well spent!
If you'd like to review any of our material, the sheet music and recordings are available on our Drive. For the naming conventions of the recordings, see the document in our Drive. You can also listen to the TPC playlist of recordings of some of the pieces by professional artists on Spotify. If you're trying to practice at home and can't quite discern your note, you can use a keyboard app to plunk out whichever ones you're having trouble with. (This is by no means an official endorsement, but the app I use is "Voice Training - Learn to Sing" by the developer Learn to Master. It labels the notes on the keyboard and gives you real-time feedback on what note you're singing.) If you need a tutorial on how to read music, this one seems sufficient for helping you figure out which note you want to find on the keyboard.
Monday, March 30, 2026
Next Rehearsal - 03/31/26
Our next meeting is next Tuesday!
Tuesday, March 24, 2026
NO Rehearsal - 03/24/26
Oops! Ostara threw off my routine and I forgot to pay rent and post/send announcements! I did an informal poll on the two platforms where our most active members are and no one has said they're able to make it tonight, so we'll just take this week off. My apologies for dropping the ball!
- El Pethybridge, Administrative Director
TrianglePaganChoir@gmail.com
Thursday, March 12, 2026
Next Rehearsal –03/17/26
Our next meeting is next Tuesday!
Rehearsal Summary - 03/10/26
Three of us made it this week. We had a really productive rehearsal and covered a lot of material! The new warm-ups continue to be a welcome bit of novelty after so long using the same one. However, we decided we need to work on our breath work, so we'll be swapping one out for a breathing exercise some weeks. After warming up, we started with the Ostara piece I composed for us last year. Since we got really comfortable with it last week, it was smooth sailing this week. We worked on refining our pronunciation, including doing a test to see if it was better to hit the Ts in "gently" or to soften it to "genly". We found that hitting the Ts was a challenge in several respects. It is difficult to time it so that we all hit it together, it makes it harder to move on to the lyrics that come next, it doesn't lend itself well to singing as quietly as those verses should be sung, and it doesn't sound nearly so gentle as letting the Ts pass by. As you might imagine, we elected to let go of our Ts! After "Ostara", we moved on to "Moon, Sister Moon". We're all very familiar with this piece, so it was a breeze. I suggested we introduce a slide between the two notes in "sky" and the others agreed that it's an improvement! Much like with the Ostara piece, we focused in on the Ts in this piece, doing a test to determine if "what you know" sounds better as "wha Tyou know" or "wha Dyou know". Unsurprisingly, the softer option won in this piece, as well. Next, we did a couple cursory passes through "Equinox Chant". We didn't spend much time with this piece because it feels more like an Autumn Equinox chant than a Spring Equinox chant and, honestly, it's a little dreary and boring. Next, I suggested we might want to have something prepared for the Little Pagan Faire on May 2 in case we end up wanting to do a little demonstration for folks, so we did a very quick review of "Feathers" and "Beltane". However, there are some exceedingly high notes in "Beltane", so we agreed I'd find suitable harmonies with which to amend it before we really dig in on it. We've gotten pretty comfortable with the "We All Come From the Goddess / Hoof and Horn" round, it sounds impressive but is actually pretty easy, and most people will recognize it, so we decided that's our sure-fire piece if we want to do a demo at the Faire. As such, we spent the last portion of rehearsal working on that piece, which I have affectionately -and pragmatically- nicknamed "We All Hoof".
If you'd like to review any of our material, the sheet music and recordings are available on our Drive. For the naming conventions of the recordings, see the document in our Drive. You can also listen to the TPC playlist of recordings of some of the pieces by professional artists on Spotify. If you're trying to practice at home and can't quite discern your note, you can use a keyboard app to plunk out whichever ones you're having trouble with. (This is by no means an official endorsement, but the app I use is "Voice Training - Learn to Sing" by the developer Learn to Master. It labels the notes on the keyboard and gives you real-time feedback on what note you're singing.) If you need a tutorial on how to read music, this one seems sufficient for helping you figure out which note you want to find on the keyboard.
Friday, March 6, 2026
Next Rehearsal – 03/10/26
Our next meeting is next Tuesday!
Thursday, February 26, 2026
NO Rehearsal - 03/03/26
We will not be holding rehearsal on Tuesday March 3, 2026, due to the Primaries. The campus where we meet is generally used as a polling place, so I don't want our presence to make it harder for voters to park and I don't want our members to have to worry about making it to vote and making it to choir in the same evening. Please vote!
- El Pethybridge, Administrative Director
TrianglePaganChoir@gmail.com
Rehearsal Summary - 02/24/26
Three of us made it this week. We had a really productive rehearsal and covered a lot of material! The new warm-ups on rotation continue to be a welcome bit of novelty after so long using the same one. Having warm-ups specifically for vocal agility and tone is much more helpful (and fun!) than the very basic warm-ups we were using before. After warming up, we started with the Ostara piece I composed for us last year. It's a fairly simple piece to learn, so we picked it up pretty easily. We got the lyrics and rhythm down quickly enough that we were able to move on to dynamics. The lyrics revolve around the word "gently", so it is mainly sung piano. But there is also the swelling of rivers and new life, so the volume rises with the lyrics, before ending back with a gentle piano. Hopefully it translate in the recording! The song rises up to B4, so I thought I was going to need to implement a harmony for folks who couldn't pop up that high, as I have in the past; instead, we discovered that one of our members has increased her range over the last year! Higher notes that were uncomfortable for her to sing last Spring are now perfectly attainable for her! We love to see people expanding what's possible for them and finding new ways to access their voice! After "Ostara", we moved on to "Equinox Chant". We didn't spend much time with this piece because it feels more like an Autumn Equinox chant than a Spring Equinox chant and, honestly, it's a little dreary and boring. The recording linked above was maybe our third run-through. I asked if the others wanted to do three repetitions for the recording and the consensus was "No, oh my goodness, it' too boring," so we moved on. In our last 30 minutes, we worked on singing the round combining "We All Come From the Goddess" and "Hoof and Horn". While most people are introduced to "We All Come From the Goddess" pretty soon after getting involved in the Pagan community, "Hoof and Horn" is less well known. One of our members hadn't encountered it before, so we spent some time introducing her to it. She picked it up very quickly! Luckily, even singing it in the round is fairly straightforward. Our other member even switched up which part he was singing toward the end but she rolled with it like a champ! We were going to spend the last 15 minutes learning a piece we've had the music for these last two years and never used but we ended up chatting instead! I'm not even sure what the title of the piece is; it's something Bizzy (my co-founder and our original Musical Director) had on the same sheet as "We All Come From the Goddess". We'll get around to it eventually! I learned it in order to record an example and found it easy to pick up and fun to sing!
If you'd like to review any of our material, the sheet music and recordings are available on our Drive. For the naming conventions of the recordings, see the document in our Drive. You can also listen to the TPC playlist of recordings of some of the pieces by professional artists on Spotify. If you're trying to practice at home and can't quite discern your note, you can use a keyboard app to plunk out whichever ones you're having trouble with. (This is by no means an official endorsement, but the app I use is "Voice Training - Learn to Sing" by the developer Learn to Master. It labels the notes on the keyboard and gives you real-time feedback on what note you're singing.) If you need a tutorial on how to read music, this one seems sufficient for helping you figure out which note you want to find on the keyboard.
Thursday, February 19, 2026
Next Rehearsal – 02/24/26
Our next meeting is next Tuesday!
Friday, February 13, 2026
Next Rehearsal – 02/17/26
Our next meeting is next Tuesday!
Rehearsal Summary - 02/10/26
Only two folks made it out this week and I wasn't even one of them! Unfortunately, I have a pretty bad sinus infection. Fortunately, my husband (Eric) was able to run rehearsal for me from recordings! After doing three vocal agility warm-ups, they worked on "Dark of the Moon". Our other member hadn't worked on this piece before, so Eric played the Libana recording for them and familiarized them with all three of the melodies. They got a pretty good feel for each melody, especially Melody 3, which they spent the most time on.
If you'd like to review any of our material, the sheet music and recordings are available on our Drive. For the naming conventions of the recordings, see the document in our Drive. You can also listen to the TPC playlist of recordings of some of the pieces by professional artists on Spotify. If you're trying to practice at home and can't quite discern your note, you can use a keyboard app to plunk out whichever ones you're having trouble with. (This is by no means an official endorsement, but the app I use is "Voice Training - Learn to Sing" by the developer Learn to Master. It labels the notes on the keyboard and gives you real-time feedback on what note you're singing.) If you need a tutorial on how to read music, this one seems sufficient for helping you figure out which note you want to find on the keyboard.
Thursday, February 5, 2026
Next Rehearsal – 02/10/26
Our next meeting is next Tuesday!
Monday, February 2, 2026
NO Rehearsal - 02/03/26
We will NOT be holding rehearsal on Tuesday February 3rd. Temperatures will get over freezing during the day but will drop back below freezing in the evening. This could create icy conditions that could be unsafe here in the south, where we don't have great ice-management infrastructure or experience, and I'm unwilling to risk our safety. I'm sorry it's been so long since we've held rehearsal! Hopefully Brigid will melt the ice as she awakens! (Happy Imbolg!) If y'all want to socialize on a group call, please feel free to make use of the rehearsal-replacement channel on the Discord!
Monday, January 26, 2026
NO Rehearsal - 01/27/26
We will NOT be holding rehearsal on Tuesday January 27th, unfortunately, as I'm quite sick. If y'all want to socialize on a group call, please feel free to make use of the rehearsal-replacement channel on the Discord!
Sunday, January 18, 2026
NO Rehearsal - 01/20/26
We will NOT be holding rehearsal on Tuesday January 20th due to a competing obligation. If y'all want to socialize on a group call, please feel free to make use of the rehearsal-replacement channel on the Discord!
Monday, January 12, 2026
NO Rehearsal - 01/13/26
We will NOT be holding rehearsal on Tuesday January 13th. Unfortunately, I've been ill all week. I was holding out hope that I might improve in time to host rehearsal but, at this point, I don't expect a miraculous recovery before tomorrow. If y'all want to socialize on a group call, please feel free to make use of the rehearsal-replacement channel on the Discord!
Thursday, January 1, 2026
Next Rehearsal – 01/06/26
Our next meeting is next Tuesday!