Tag: Threshold Choir

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2017 Update

Exciting update! We are an active choir – very active in singing bedside – although not always up on our blogging. Here’s news from this summer, as written by Jennie Boulet:

“A week ago, three of our Tucson singers returned from Threshold Choir’s all choir gathering in Portland, Oregon – a wonderful opportunity to be with 300 choir members from across the US and Canada, as well as singers from Australia and the UK!  (Threshold Choir International now has over 2,000 members and 153 chapters – with more new chapters launching soon.)

Consistent with the theme of “Strengthening Our Connections . . .  Savoring Our Song,” we sang and sang and sang, inspired by the richly talented Threshold Choir leadership and renowned singers and vocal coaches Melanie DeMore and Charles Williams.  We talked and shared and developed our skills in “making kindness audible” through bedside singing.  As one of the lucky attendees, I know there is nothing like having been there – but for just a taste of this delicious celebration, please check the recent posts at Threshold Santa Rosa Facebook Page.
And, as always, we welcome all interested to join us in offering (or receiving) the healing gift of song.”

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Singing into Grace

Yesterday was a bright and sunny day in Tucson, balmy compared to much of the country who shivered with temps at or way below the zero degree mark. Six members of our choir gathered on the humble front steps of an adult care home to ‘warm up’ our voices for singing winter carols on what might have felt like a spring day to many folks. We went inside to find a semi-circle of elderly faces in the living room, some sleeping, some expectant, with a couple of caregivers present amongst them. Just what we hoped. We came to sing in honor of a woman who had recently transitioned in this home, to celebrate her life, and those who knew her and/or cared for her on her journey, all on behalf of her family.

We sang a few of our core Threshold Choir songs, yet realized quickly that on this ‘ninth day of Christmas’ the holiday spirit was still mighty present! We shifted into familiar tunes like Away in a Manger, Silent Night, Joy to the World . . . you know the stable of songs. Faces brightened, singing along opened up with cheer. Jingle Bells was likely the crowd favorite!

Then we went to the house next door and sang to a new group in the living room. One lady had a series of questions for us: “Where did you come from? What church do you go to? Do you know my minister?” I can see why she wondered from where on earth we appeared in her living room. Understandable! And as our ‘voice’ of the choir that day answered her questions with the response “we come from many faiths and our songs are written by members from various traditions or beliefs systems” – Baha’i to Jewish to Universalist to Baptist to well, you name it –  I stood in quiet awe of what Threshold Choir does across this country.

We sing from a place without faith boundaries for people during fragile times. We sing openly from our hearts. We let ourselves be vulnerable. We sing into grace.

And hopefully, from there we issue peace.

(And yes, we learn something every single time.)

Then, this morning my meditation reading catalyzed this post. It relates so well to our experience yesterday and this sweet inquisitive lady’s questions. The author of my reading, Mark Nepo, writes:

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“Each person is born with an unencumbered spot – free of expectation and regret, free of ambition and embarrassment, free of  fear and worry – an umbilical spot of grace where we were each first touched by God. It is this spot of grace that issues peace. Psychologists call this spot the Psyche, theologians call it the Soul, Jung calls it the Seat of the unconscious, Hindu masters call it Atman, Buddhists call it Dharma, Rilke calls it Inwardness, Sufis call it Qalb, and Jesus calls it the Center of our Love.

To know this spot of inwardness is to know who we are, not by surface markers of identity, not by where we work or what we wear or how we like to be addressed, but by feeling our place in relation to the Infinite and inhabiting it.”

More and more through singing with Threshold Choir, it feels like we sense our place “in relation to the Infinite” because we honestly do stand at infinite thresholds. It matters little what faith we do or don’t bring into these spaces; what kind of clothes we wear or where we work. All that matters, really, is the grace we sing into along the way.

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Threshold Choir on NPR Today

This is so exciting: you can listen to our founder, Kate Munger, being interviewed on an “All Things Considered” segment here. As I listened to the radio this afternoon in my kitchen, I felt my heart race when I heard Kate’s voice and happily began singing along with Threshold Choir sisters as the piece aired.

During this season of gratitude, a path in my life for which I am most grateful to walk is being a part of the Tucson Threshold Choir. (Based on recent emails to each other over the holiday, I think many in our choir would agree!) When Kate mentions in the story how singing bedside is more of a form of prayer than ‘performance’, in response to Arun’s question about it being kind of stressful, I felt tears well up in my being.

“Yes. Thank you, Kate!” I said aloud. And felt a huge swell of gratefulness to her: thank you for bringing the possibility of your songs to so many of us across this country.

Whether our choir rehearses together in the Little Chapel of All Nations or sings in an ICU hospital room, care facility dining room, inpatient hospice hallway or silent bedroom of a home . . . singing for the dying and their caregivers – or even sometimes for ourselves – is a tender experience. A delicate and sacred unspoken kind of prayer is woven throughout our songs.

Grateful for the path we walk in Threshold Choir
Grateful for the path we walk in Threshold Choir

 

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Singing at the Southwest Regional Threshold Gathering

From March 2nd-4th, 40+ women of varying ages and life experiences gathered to sing in Taos, New Mexico with our National Director, Kate Munger. Three of us from the Tucson Choir were enormously blessed to join this wise circle.

YES. We gathered with a singular focus: to sing! And to heal. And laugh together. Shed tears together. Walk a labyrinth on crunchy snow together. Mostly, to sense our voices lifted up in song as one glorious vibration.

The greater circle sings to the Taos members in gratitude.

We learned new songs like: “I will be your standing stone / I will stand by you.” And “Freedom on the Inside“. Oh – and “Make me a Polished Stone” — all written by our Song Grandmother, Kate. ‘Polished Stone‘ in fact, was written the day before we gathered; while she was at a local hot springs!

Words fail me when trying to describe this experience. I’m hoping my sisters who also attended will chime in with their thoughts. We will attempt to upload some sound files, so you can listen to some of the songs we rehearsed together.

What I can say shines amongst my most memorable experiences is this: the vision and sound of Kate Munger singing a solo lullaby. She explained how our sound while singing bedside ought to be no more than a mother singing softly into her baby’s ear, while held against her breast. This tenderness is incredibly soft. So delicately loving! And when a group of women sing this way, the power of it brings pure healing love.

Part of our circle as we sing in San Geronimo Lodge.

Some women came with heavy hearts, as they were experiencing their own grieving. Some of us came with a need for renewal found in the songs we sing. Many of us were surprised by everything we experienced beyond what we came for.

Thank you, Kate. And thank you, Threshold sisters. My life is so incredibly expanded by your presence. And when I reflect upon the circles of people we touch while we go out into this world singing our songs, I’m awash in the same kind of spirit-filled goosebumps I feel when we close a song cycle.

All my love to you ALL!

Kristine