Our next meeting is next Tuesday!
An open choir for Pagan and Pagan-adjacent singers in the Triangle area of North Carolina
Thursday, October 1, 2026
Next Rehearsal – 10/06/26
Rehearsal Summary - 09/29/26
Two of us made it this week; our newest member has been consistent! After warm-ups, we started with "Wings of Night", experimenting with different harmonies than an octave, particularly thirds. We also worked on "Equinox Chant" and "Samhain's Door", exploring possible harmonies for those, as well. Next, we worked on "Luna's Lullaby", including adjusting our dynamics to fit the atmosphere of the piece. Finally, we spent some time with "Dark of the Moon". We reviewed all three melodies a few times, focusing on Melodies 2 and 3, so we could put them together. The easy part about doing those two is they fit together like lock and key at times, so it's easier to keep your place. The challenging part part of doing those two is the tendency to get pulled into the one the other person is singing, since they have some similarities. Eventually, we were able to get a working ability to keep our parts and fit them together basically correctly. In related news, our newest member has been working on transcribing "Dark of the Moon" into sheet music that will actually show how they fit together so we can stop guessing with our ears and counting measures!
Last week, a lot of other responsibilities pushed TPC admin down the to do list and out of my mind, so I didn't manage a rehearsal summary and only churned out a quick, last minute "Oops, rehearsal is on" for the "Next Rehearsal" blog entry. To retroactively cover the week that didn't get its own entry, we covered all of the songs above (except "Dark of the Moon", if I recall correctly) and also worked on "Harvest Chant". In other news, in the last couple weeks, we've welcomed two new babies to the community! Congratulations to our members and their families! Both are first time parents. If you'd like to contribute to their Meal Trains to help keep them fed during the challenging newborn period, you can find them in the TPC Group on Facebook.
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.
Tuesday, September 29, 2026
Next Rehearsal - 09/29/26
Our next meeting is today!
Monday, September 21, 2026
Next Rehearsal – 09/22/26
Our next meeting is next Tuesday!
Rehearsal Summary - 09/15/26
Two of us made it this week; our newest member returned again! I'll be honest, we mainly ran our mouths! But I consider that time well spent and we did get in warm-ups and worked on "Guri" long enough that she's got it down pretty well!
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, September 14, 2026
Next Rehearsal – 09/15/26
Our next meeting is next Tuesday!
Rehearsal Summary - 09/08/26
Two of us made it this week; our newest member returned! This time she brought music books: Circle of Song: Songs, Chants, and Dances for Ritual and Celebration compiled by Kate Marks, Songs for Earthlings: A Green Spirituality Songbook compiled and edited by Julie Forest Middleton, and Yule Carols compiled and published by Magdalene O'Brien. They're all compilations of mostly Pagan music, though they also contain songs from other paths, as well. We spent a fair amount of time flipping through them and discussing the history and culture of Pagan music. She's let me take the books home to continue looking through them! Two of the books are very emphatic about not photocopying anything from them, so I'll just be using them as a starting point for seeking fair use copies of songs that seem like a good fit for us. After our stroll through the pages of history music books, we worked on both "Equinox Chant" and "Harvest Chant" again, then spent a few minutes flipping through the other songs already in our repertoire, as I gave her some of our own history and culture, explaining our changes to songs and how I came to start writing originals for us. "Samhain's Door" appealed to her, so we spent a little time working on that. We also had another quick visit with "Luna's Lullaby". Finally, we spent some more time on Melodies 2 & 3 of "Dark of the Moon" and very successfully put them together! It was nice to end the evening on a triumphant note!
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, September 3, 2026
Next Rehearsal – 09/08/26
Our next meeting is next Tuesday!
Rehearsal Summary - 09/01/26
Three of us made it this week, including a new person! She's been on our mailing list for ages now but this was the first time she could make it and it was so nice to have her! She has some experience on the keys and is particularly interested in harmonies, so she plans to have a go at our music, looking for opportunities to harmonize more. We spent a lot of time getting to know each other but we did manage to get in quite a few songs! Since the Autumn Equinox is coming up, we worked on both "Equinox Chant" and "Harvest Chant". I was also excited that I was finally able to get folks to sing, "Luna's Lullaby", which I think is a really lovely piece. It was particularly comforting to a member whose cat recently passed away, which sparked a long, solemn conversation. To continue the conversation in a lighter vein, we worked on "Feathers" a bit, which is a lively piece with a sort of transcendental theme. Finally, we closed out by spending some time with "Dark of the Moon". Our new person picked up each melody really quickly but, predictably, we had some difficulty putting all three parts together. We were finally starting to lock in when, unfortunately, 9pm came and we had to pack up and head out. It was such an emotionally and musically fulfilling rehearsal! I hope it sets a trend for the rest of 2026!
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, August 27, 2026
Next Rehearsal – 09/01/26
Our next meeting is next Tuesday!
We still haven't managed to discuss whether we should continue singing "We All Come from the Goddess" so I'm keeping that on our agenda. The next Sabbat coming up is Mabon, so we can work on "Harvest Chant", "Equinox Chant", and "Guri". The Moon will be Waning Gibbous, so we could also work on "Moon, Sister Moon" or "Luna's Lullaby" . And, of course, the justice-oriented pieces from Reclaiming are always a good choice. If you'd like to be an overachiever and come prepared, sheet music and recordings for most pieces are available on our Drive.
Thursday, August 20, 2026
Next Rehearsal – 08/25/26
Our next meeting is next Tuesday!
We still haven't managed to discuss whether we should continue singing "We All Come from the Goddess" so I'm keeping that on our agenda. The next Sabbat coming up is Mabon, so we can work on "Harvest Chant", "Equinox Chant", and "Guri". The Moon will be Waxing Gibbous, so we could also work on "Moon, Sister Moon" or "Luna's Lullaby" . And, of course, the justice-oriented pieces from Reclaiming are always a good choice. If you'd like to be an overachiever and come prepared, sheet music and recordings for most pieces are available on our Drive.
Tuesday, June 30, 2026
Next Rehearsal – 06/30/26
Our next meeting is TODAY!
Thursday, June 18, 2026
Next Rehearsal – 06/23/26
Our next meeting is next Tuesday!
Monday, June 15, 2026
NO Rehearsal - 06/16/26
We will NOT be holding rehearsal on June 16, 2026. I'll be taking this week off from choir to focus on family time, since attendance has been so low for the last couple months anyway. We'll be back next week!
Thursday, June 4, 2026
Next Rehearsal – 06/09/26
Our next meeting is next Tuesday!
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.