music

Homecoming: A Window to the Soul

Last fall, at the beginning of the 2023-24 school year, teachers were asked to consider the question: Why are we here? I shared my “WHY” for teaching in The Wonder of Work: A Labor Day Reflection. My motivation during my last year of full-time teaching and, now, as a retreat leader and blog writer is the same—to foster curiosity, wonder, and the love of learning. It is what makes me come alive!

Learning IS the greatest gift of being human. I am encouraged when others are enriched by a retreat experience as we learn about spiritual practices and living soulfully with joy, creativity, curiosity, and wonder. Recently I was affirmed that my WHY makes a difference. Jana, a kindred spirit who I met through Deb, another SoulCollage® facilitator, sent this message to both Deb and me:

“It has been my experience that sometimes a passion or interest I have invested in sharing with others becomes work and can become tiresome. I wonder, is all this effort worth my time? Are people benefiting as I hoped they would? Please save this message for future use — just in case you ever bump into such a pondering with your SoulCollage efforts.

When Deb first introduced this process to me, I was a bit intimidated, but very quickly saw its power and potential to unearth my subconscious and offer my body a voice. This past summer I attended an in-person gathering Deb hosted and created this card. I had an initial reading that day, but it wasn’t until this past December when Jodi encouraged her retreat group to spend time listening to existing cards that I realized this one had much more to offer me. It has been so powerful that I adopted the card as my guiding mantra for 2024.

Remain open like a child.
Your inner Sage knows.
Return to your roots for support in times of stress.
Slow down and go easy so you don’t miss the most important things.
OPEN, INTUIT, ROOTED, SLOW.

The day after Christmas, I received a breast cancer diagnosis. I cannot emphasize enough how this card has repeatedly guided and comforted me through the days that followed.

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October 6, 2024 4

Ring Out, Wild Bells! A New Year Prayer

Ring Out, Wild Bells, a poem sung by Alana, is a heartfelt, prayerful intention to ring out the old and to ring in the new. The poem, In Memoriam, (Ring out, wild bells) was written during a time of grief, nearly 150 years ago by Alfred Lord Tennyson (1809-1892). The lyrics ring true for both letting go and welcoming in—letting go of the false, feuding, dying, grief, pride, partisan divide, and civic slander WHILE welcoming in the new, true, noble, sweet, pure, love, truth, light, and peace.

“Music is a higher revelation than all wisdom and philosophy. Music is the electrical soil in which the spirit lives, thinks and invents.”
― LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN

(Image above taken at St. Jacob’s Church bell tower in Telc, Czechia)

Listening to the sweet and soulful songs of Alana Levandoski is prayer itself. I discovered Alana through the Center for Action and Contemplation and have used her contemplative songs and chants in retreats I have led and in my own prayer practice. Whether setting music to her own words, or lyrics drawn from poetry or scripture, her singing is elevated prayer.

Alana writes: “Ring Out, Wild Bells is taking off again… moving from last year’s 75,000 + views to nearly 90,000 as of right now. I even heard from the CBC Weekend Morning Show who saw the video, and want to do an interview with me for their first show to air in 2022.” Interview with Alana HERE.

And at the bottom of this post, learn more about Alana, how to find her music, and some additional prayerful songs to start your new year.

Enjoy Alana’s new video of Ring Out, Wild Bells!

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January 1, 2022 0

A New Year Prayer: Ring Out, Wild Bells!

“Music is a higher revelation than all wisdom and philosophy. Music is the electrical soil in which the spirit lives, thinks and invents.”
― LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN

Ring Out, Wild Bells, a poem sung by Alana, is a heartfelt, prayerful intention to ring out the old of 2020, a year of great challenges, and to ring in the new of 2021. The poem, In Memoriam, (Ring out, wild bells) was written during a time of grief, nearly 150 years ago by Alfred Lord Tennyson (1809-1892). The lyrics ring true for both letting go and welcoming in—letting go of the false, feuding, dying, grief, pride, partisan divide, and civic slander WHILE welcoming in the new, true, noble, sweet, pure, love, truth, light, and peace.

(Image above taken at St. Jacob’s Church bell tower in Telc, Czechia)

Enjoy Alana’s new video of Ring Out, Wild Bells! And at the bottom of this post, learn more about Alana, how to find her music and some additional prayerful songs to start your new year.

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December 31, 2020 4

Our (Piano Teacher) Family Tree Includes Beethoven!

Ludwig van Beethoven was born in Bonn, Germany in December 1770—250 years ago. A long-awaited celebration for music aficionados, over 300 concerts and other projects had been planned in Germany, and many others around the world, to celebrate one of the most performed of all classical music composers. Unfortunately, the pandemic resulted in events being postponed or adapted for a virtual audience.

This significant date, 250^th birthday of Beethoven, was the nudge I needed to write the story of the family tree that includes my daughter, Jessica, as a direct descendent of Beethoven—as a piano player.

Jessica played piano from her Kindergarten year until she entered high school under the tutelage of Ceil Brown, 1953- 2010. Ceil learned to play piano from Marie Ducey, who she spoke of so highly. Marie Ducey took piano lessons from James Madison Tracy, 1837-1928. Tracy and his wife established the Liszt School of Music in Denver in 1910, named in honor of his piano teacher, Franz Liszt.

Franz Liszt, 1811-1886, one of the greatest pianists of all time, a Franciscan lay associate, was known to have never charged his students for piano lessons. Liszt learned from Carl Czerny, 1791-1857, an Austrian composer, teacher, and pianist of Czech origin whose vast musical production amounted to over a thousand works. His study books are still widely used in piano teaching. And….drumroll, please….Czerny was trained by Ludwig van Beethoven.

Our family is proud to be in this distinguished family tree of musicians and lovers of music.

Jessica describes Ceil, her piano teacher, as patient, gracious and calm. Ceil was an extraordinary teacher who appreciated individual student strengths and abilities. I delighted in hearing the conversations between her and Jessica. Ceil treated her as person, not like a kid as so many adults can do. When Jessica did not like a piece of music Ceil had selected for her to learn, Jessica was not afraid to say it. Ceil would go to her bookcase and look for another piece. I remember one occasion when Ceil looked three or four times for music that would suit Jessica’s style and interest (in a 45-minute lesson!)

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December 2, 2020 1

St. Cecilia, Patron of Music—November 22 Saint of the Day

“The aim and final reason of all music should be nothing else but the glory of God and the refreshment of the spirit.”
Johann Sebastian Bach

St. Cecilia—November 22, Saint of the Day

St. Cecilia is a Roman martyr and the patron of music and musicians. It is written that Cecilia dedicated herself to virginity, but instead was forced by her parents into marriage. As musicians played at her wedding, Cecilia “sang in her heart to the Lord”. Memorializing St. Cecilia is remembering that music is a pathway to connect to the Divine, a way to seek comfort, to praise and to pray.

“Singing is soulful. It is prayerful and it is powerful. I love to sing (in the privacy of my own car). I love to listen to others sing, from the liturgical chant of Benedictine monks to contemporary Christian artists. Whether it is the melody or insightful lyrics that I find a connection with, music can create a mood, help recognize or express a feeling, or bring me to a place of prayerful listening.

journey is my own — SoulCollage Card–This Journey Is My Own (blog post link below.)

When monks sing, they believe they are singing with the angels, and we are just to join in. The beauty of singing familiar songs and hymns is allowing our mind and heart to beat as one. Songs that capture what we could have not so artfully written, become our prayer. To sing, or sing with another, is to elevate the soul, to connect with the Divine.” (from a previous blog post, Music as Prayer ♫ This Journey Is My Own)

St. Cecilia was memorialized in the church of Santa Cecilia in Trastevere, founded in the 3rd century after Cecilia was martyred. The church is believed to be on the site of the house where she lived and died. Since 1527, a community of Benedictine nuns has lived in the monastery next door. In 1599, Cecilia’s body was found in incorrupt with deep cuts in her neck just as she had died. A sculpture by Stefano Maderno of Cecilia’s body lies in front of the choir.

When I visited Rome during the World Oblate Congress, we made an unscheduled stop at St. Cecilia’s in the Trastevere region. It was a profound experience, one that I cannot quite capture in words. Instead, I share some photos of my visit.

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November 22, 2020 1