Next Rehearsal - 10/14/25

Our next meeting is next Tuesday!

October 14, 2025 7pm-9pm

Raleigh UU, Peace Hall, Rm. 101

3313 Wade Avenue

Raleigh, NC 27607

As Samhain approaches, I intend to focus on our various versions of "Samhain's Door" and the new Samhain piece I wrote for us. The Moon will be Last Quarter, so we could also work on "Moon, Sister Moon". I'd also like to start incorporating some more Pagan standards, such as "We All Come from the Goddess/Hoof and Horn" and "May the Circle Be Open". And, of course, the justice-oriented pieces from Reclaiming remain an option. If you'd like to be an overachiever and come prepared, sheet music and recordings for most pieces are available on our Drive.

We welcome all safe and respectful Pagan and Pagan-adjacent adults of any skill and experience level! We're community-focused rather than performance-focused, so we don't hold auditions and we welcome drop-ins. Because of the music that is best-known and most-available, our starter songs trend a little Wiccan, but we will be seeking to incorporate all kinds of Pagan and Pagan-friendly music. You can help! We welcome recommendations and leads on pertinent music that is in the public domain or is low-royalty. 

There are no fees or dues for participating, but we do gratefully welcome any cash donations* to cover the cost of renting our rehearsal space. We will have a receipt book on hand to log all donations and post aggregate info (without personally identifying information) to the blog so everyone can see where their donations are going. *We are not currently a registered 501c, so we don't have financial accounts and I can't speak to whether or not your donation is tax-deductible.

If you are experiencing any symptoms of a contagious illness, especially Covid-19, please defer your attendance until you're feeling well. We'll all be breathing the same air in that meeting room and, while you are absolutely welcome to wear a mask, it isn't exactly conducive to singing.

We will have name/pronoun stickers, sheet music, and folders available at our meetings. The sheet music is also available on our Drive. The only things you need to bring are your voice and the vocal-chord-friendly drink of your choice!

The UU campus has multiple lots, buildings, and doors, so we have a video demonstrating how to get to our rehearsal space from either lot. (Apologies for my winded smoker wheezing!)

We can't wait to sing with y'all on Tuesday!

- El Pethybridge, Administrative Director

TrianglePaganChoir@gmail.com

P.S. In addition to this blog, there are a number of ways to stay updated on our events. We have a mailing list for weekly email reminders and can even send you an Invite directly through Google Calendar. Email us at the address above to be added to both or either of these lists. If you use Discord, you can join our server to stay updated. If you use BlueSky, you can follow us there for updates. You can also find us on Facebook at our Page and in our Group, where we share Events and other info. If you'd like to be added to the Invite list for our Facebook Events, please follow our Page or join our Group (otherwise FB won't let me send it to you) and drop us a PM. Here's the FB Event for our October 14 rehearsal.

Rehearsal Summary - 10/07/25

Four of us made it out this week, including a new person! After a quick warm-up, we worked on "Full Moonlight Dance". Once we were comfortable with it, we worked on gradually increasing the tempo with each repetition. (Unfortunately, by the time we got around to recording, we were exhausted and it wasn't our best version.) We then spent most of the evening working on "Samhain's Door". After getting comfortable with the standard version, we tried several other variations. First, we added a harmony to the final note. Then, we incorporated a supporting beat on the djembe. Finally, we tried it out as a round. After several tries at that, we decided it worked best if the higher voices lead and the lower voices follow, otherwise it ends up sounding like some people are just behind! That recording is extremely rough, so I recorded one at home as an example.

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.

We received $10 in donations this week; thank you to our generous donors! If you would like to track our accounting, you can view our donations and expenses spreadsheet and receipts on our Drive.

We can't wait to sing with y'all!

- El Pethybridge, Administrative Director

TrianglePaganChoir@gmail.com

Next Rehearsal - 10/07/25

Our next meeting is next Tuesday!

October 7, 2025 7pm-9pm

Raleigh UU, Peace Hall, Rm. 101

3313 Wade Avenue

Raleigh, NC 27607

Today is the Full Moon, so tomorrow would be a great time to return to "Full Moonlight Dance"! "Moon, Sister Moon" would also be appropriate. We could also continue with "Harvest Chant" and/or "Samhain's Door". I don't have music written yet for the Samhain piece I channeled, so I welcome suggestions on that! And, of course, the justice-oriented pieces from Reclaiming remain an option. If you'd like to be an overachiever and come prepared, sheet music and recordings for most pieces are available on our Drive. Sorry this update is coming so late; I just yesterday regained access to my files (since my laptop died), I haven't gotten everything re-integrated yet, and I'm using an unfamiliar & glitchy machine, so it's still difficult to manage the admin right now.

We welcome all safe and respectful Pagan and Pagan-adjacent adults of any skill and experience level! We're community-focused rather than performance-focused, so we don't hold auditions and we welcome drop-ins. Because of the music that is best-known and most-available, our starter songs trend a little Wiccan, but we will be seeking to incorporate all kinds of Pagan and Pagan-friendly music. You can help! We welcome recommendations and leads on pertinent music that is in the public domain or is low-royalty. 

There are no fees or dues for participating, but we do gratefully welcome any cash donations* to cover the cost of renting our rehearsal space. We will have a receipt book on hand to log all donations and post aggregate info (without personally identifying information) to the blog so everyone can see where their donations are going. *We are not currently a registered 501c, so we don't have financial accounts and I can't speak to whether or not your donation is tax-deductible.

If you are experiencing any symptoms of a contagious illness, especially Covid-19, please defer your attendance until you're feeling well. We'll all be breathing the same air in that meeting room and, while you are absolutely welcome to wear a mask, it isn't exactly conducive to singing.

We will have name/pronoun stickers, sheet music, and folders available at our meetings. The sheet music is also available on our Drive. The only things you need to bring are your voice and the vocal-chord-friendly drink of your choice!

The UU campus has multiple lots, buildings, and doors, so we have a video demonstrating how to get to our rehearsal space from either lot. (Apologies for my winded smoker wheezing!)

We can't wait to sing with y'all on Tuesday!

- El Pethybridge, Administrative Director

TrianglePaganChoir@gmail.com

P.S. In addition to this blog, there are a number of ways to stay updated on our events. We have a mailing list for weekly email reminders and can even send you an Invite directly through Google Calendar. Email us at the address above to be added to both or either of these lists. If you use Discord, you can join our server to stay updated. If you use BlueSky, you can follow us there for updates. You can also find us on Facebook at our Page and in our Group, where we share Events and other info. If you'd like to be added to the Invite list for our Facebook Events, please follow our Page or join our Group (otherwise FB won't let me send it to you) and drop us a PM. Here's the FB Event for our October 7 rehearsal.

Rehearsal Summmary - 09/30/25

Four of us made it out this week, including a new person! After a quick warm-up, we did one run-through of the Reclaiming version of "Harvest Chant" with the recording. We then spent most of the evening working on "Samhain's Door". As we've found with many of the chants, the music seems to have been written for having the correct number of beats per measure rather than for singability; so, after trying to get the rhythm right repeatedly, we decided it was more comfortable, easier on the ear, and more aligned with the tone of the piece to simply stretch out the rests. We practiced it a few more times and ended with what I feel was a practically perfect rendition! We wrapped up rehearsal by working on "Moon, Sister Moon" a few times.

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.

We didn't receive any donations this week but we remain grateful to our past donors! If you would like to track our accounting, you can view our donations and expenses spreadsheet and receipts on our Drive.

We can't wait to sing with y'all!

- El Pethybridge, Administrative Director

TrianglePaganChoir@gmail.com

Next Rehearsal - 09/30/25

Our next meeting is next Tuesday!

September 30, 2025 7pm-9pm

Raleigh UU, Peace Hall, Rm. 101

3313 Wade Avenue

Raleigh, NC 27607

I waited until we could be more certain of the forecast to confirm rehearsal, but we can now we pretty sure that Imelda will miss us! As it will be the shortly after Mabon, I expect we'll resume working on "Harvest Chant". The moon will be First Quarter, so we could work on "Moon, Sister Moon". And, of course, the justice-oriented pieces from Reclaiming remain an option. If you'd like to be an overachiever and come prepared, sheet music and recordings for most pieces are available on our Drive. Sorry this update is coming so late; I still haven't regained access to my files since my laptop died, so it's twice as difficult to manage the admin right now. I hope to have a solution by next week, thanks to the amazing programmers in my life!

We welcome all safe and respectful Pagan and Pagan-adjacent adults of any skill and experience level! We're community-focused rather than performance-focused, so we don't hold auditions and we welcome drop-ins. Because of the music that is best-known and most-available, our starter songs trend a little Wiccan, but we will be seeking to incorporate all kinds of Pagan and Pagan-friendly music. You can help! We welcome recommendations and leads on pertinent music that is in the public domain or is low-royalty. 

There are no fees or dues for participating, but we do gratefully welcome any cash donations* to cover the cost of renting our rehearsal space. We will have a receipt book on hand to log all donations and post aggregate info (without personally identifying information) to the blog so everyone can see where their donations are going. *We are not currently a registered 501c, so we don't have financial accounts and I can't speak to whether or not your donation is tax-deductible.

If you are experiencing any symptoms of a contagious illness, especially Covid-19, please defer your attendance until you're feeling well. We'll all be breathing the same air in that meeting room and, while you are absolutely welcome to wear a mask, it isn't exactly conducive to singing.

We will have name/pronoun stickers, sheet music, and folders available at our meetings. The sheet music is also available on our Drive. The only things you need to bring are your voice and the vocal-chord-friendly drink of your choice!

The UU campus has multiple lots, buildings, and doors, so we have a video demonstrating how to get to our rehearsal space from either lot. (Apologies for my winded smoker wheezing!)

We can't wait to sing with y'all on Tuesday!

- El Pethybridge, Administrative Director

TrianglePaganChoir@gmail.com

P.S. In addition to this blog, there are a number of ways to stay updated on our events. We have a mailing list for weekly email reminders and can even send you an Invite directly through Google Calendar. Email us at the address above to be added to both or either of these lists. If you use Discord, you can join our server to stay updated. If you use BlueSky, you can follow us there for updates. You can also find us on Facebook at our Page and in our Group, where we share Events and other info. If you'd like to be added to the Invite list for our Facebook Events, please follow our Page or join our Group (otherwise FB won't let me send it to you) and drop us a PM. Here's the FB Event for our September 30 rehearsal.

Next Rehearsal - 09/23/25

Our next meeting is next Tuesday!

September 23, 2025 7pm-9pm

Raleigh UU, Peace Hall, Rm. 101

3313 Wade Avenue

Raleigh, NC 27607

As it will be the day after Mabon, I expect we'll resume working on "Harvest Chant". It will also be the day after the New Moon, so we could return to "Dark of the Moon" or "Moon, Sister Moon". And, of course, the justice-oriented pieces from Reclaiming remain an option. If you'd like to be an overachiever and come prepared, sheet music and recordings for most pieces are available on our Drive. Sorry this update is coming so late; I still haven't regained access to my files since my laptop died, so it's twice as difficult to manage the admin right now. I hope to have a solution by next week, thanks to the amazing programmers in my life!

We welcome all safe and respectful Pagan and Pagan-adjacent adults of any skill and experience level! We're community-focused rather than performance-focused, so we don't hold auditions and we welcome drop-ins. Because of the music that is best-known and most-available, our starter songs trend a little Wiccan, but we will be seeking to incorporate all kinds of Pagan and Pagan-friendly music. You can help! We welcome recommendations and leads on pertinent music that is in the public domain or is low-royalty. 

There are no fees or dues for participating, but we do gratefully welcome any cash donations* to cover the cost of renting our rehearsal space. We will have a receipt book on hand to log all donations and post aggregate info (without personally identifying information) to the blog so everyone can see where their donations are going. *We are not currently a registered 501c, so we don't have financial accounts and I can't speak to whether or not your donation is tax-deductible.

If you are experiencing any symptoms of a contagious illness, especially Covid-19, please defer your attendance until you're feeling well. We'll all be breathing the same air in that meeting room and, while you are absolutely welcome to wear a mask, it isn't exactly conducive to singing.

We will have name/pronoun stickers, sheet music, and folders available at our meetings. The sheet music is also available on our Drive. The only things you need to bring are your voice and the vocal-chord-friendly drink of your choice!

The UU campus has multiple lots, buildings, and doors, so we have a video demonstrating how to get to our rehearsal space from either lot. (Apologies for my winded smoker wheezing!)

We can't wait to sing with y'all on Tuesday!

- El Pethybridge, Administrative Director

TrianglePaganChoir@gmail.com

P.S. In addition to this blog, there are a number of ways to stay updated on our events. We have a mailing list for weekly email reminders and can even send you an Invite directly through Google Calendar. Email us at the address above to be added to both or either of these lists. If you use Discord, you can join our server to stay updated. If you use BlueSky, you can follow us there for updates. You can also find us on Facebook at our Page and in our Group, where we share Events and other info. If you'd like to be added to the Invite list for our Facebook Events, please follow our Page or join our Group (otherwise FB won't let me send it to you) and drop us a PM. Here's the FB Event for our September 23 rehearsal.

NO Rehearsal - 09/16/25

I'm sorry to have to do this again, but I'm unable to host rehearsal this week.

I'm recovering from being quite ill and my laptop is sleeping the forever sleep, so I don't have access to a lot of my admin tools, nor do I have the cognitive capacity to troubleshoot the situation right now because of the severe fatigue from my illness.

I'm so sorry to have to cancel again. I really hope to feel better and have solutions in place soon.

-El Pethybridge 

TPC Admin. Director