Yes, yes, it’s been….what… a year? since I posted a podcast episode? Listen, I never said I was good at regular schedules….. But the good news is, I have a new episode! This one is a bit of a Halloween special, adapted from a recent virtual concert I put together, in which I perform and... Continue Reading →
Well, it's only been about 5 months, but I'm still excited to announce Episode 2 of my podcast! In the second episode "Of Song and Bone," I explore ballads about sirens, mermaids, and other seemingly sinister water spirits. I was curious to unpack what lessons these ballads offer about the sacred ecology of water, the... Continue Reading →
Hello to all of you from the Abenaki lands of N'Dakinna (so-called Central Vermont). I have been busy here with lots of farm and garden projects, trying to meet the needs of my community and the greater world in this time of change and transformation. It's been a while since I've posted to the blog,... Continue Reading →
"This is the place of my song-dream, the place the music played to me..." I read these words in The Wind in the Willows – the chapter called “The Piper at the Gates of Dawn,” in which Mole and Rat have an encounter with the demigod Pan in a half dream state, led by the... Continue Reading →
I sit in the forest in the early dawn light, listening to the chorus around me. Robins and Tufted Titmice sing enthusiastically, almost manically in the understory. It's a joyful, pleasant sound. One Robin in particular stands out, his voice echoing with buzzy, resonant tones. I can track him as he hops and warbles around... Continue Reading →
This morning, I paid special attention to the sounds that surrounded me. The soft roar of the woodstove fire and the rhythmic clicking of our bent stovetop fan. The click and scrape of a stretching dog's toenails against pine floorboards and the woosh-sway of an eager wagging tail. Outside my woodland home, the world was... Continue Reading →
Music is deeply connected with sacred spaces throughout the mythologies of the world. An agent of creation, transformation, healing, or destruction, music can shift and release consciousness from the bounds of space and time. Nowhere is this power more strongly demonstrated than in the ancient Irish cycles of mythology. Within the myths, legends, and lore... Continue Reading →
“The Elfin Knight stands on yon hill, Blow, blow, blow winds blow, And he blows his horn both loud and shrill, And the wind has blown my plaid away….” So begins “The Elfin Knight,” one of the most haunting and fascinating ballads of the English and Scottish tradition, commonly referred to as the Child Ballads.... Continue Reading →
When we journey into the song mysteries, we find that we already hold them in our bones. The flame of memory that music lights within us is universal and eternal. We all already have songs imprinted into us. Perhaps you have a song you turn on whenever you need to cry, knowing it will trigger... Continue Reading →
