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(support available before sangha starts)
On Monday, August 8, Marie will facilitate our sangha. She shares:
Dear Thay, dear friends,
One of the aspects of the practice that I’ve missed, over the Covid months and years, is singing together as a sangha. Creating music together - or just listening - felt soooooo good! I’ve adapted, as have we all, in different ways, from early morning chanting with Melina Bondy (all are invited - learn more here), to singing songs to myself throughout the day, to creating playlists of music from different traditions, and this has been wonderful.
And, something in me still yearns to share music in community. So, this week I’d like to try an experiment: let’s share music that supports our practice.
How will this work? You’re invited to:
Reflect on music that nourishes your practice, and, if you wish, choose a piece to share. This could be any type of music (from a Plum Village song to rock & roll to an old folk song or a classical movement - what matters is that it matters to you (and is somewhat brief - e.g. no more than two-three minutes)
You are welcome to sing and/or play the song or, alternatively, have us play a recording of the song on a shared screen. It would help us to organize the evening if we knew which songs would be shared, so please send the name of the song and a hyperlink (and lyrics, if there are any) to me at wmarie.sheppard@gmail.co by 4pm on Monday.
After our meditation, those who have sent in songs will be invited to share about the song they have chosen, should they wish, and then play the song (or our tech host will share their sound and play it). People who wish to sing along, to those songs that have lyrics, can do so, muted.
Those who wish to share a song anonymously are also welcome to do so.
Those who wish to share about how music has supported their practice and lives, or anything else that is on their minds/hearts, are also welcome to do so.
By the time you receive this email, I’ll have announced this idea at last week’s sangha, and hopefully some people will send songs in advance (as this will make it easier). If you wish to share a song, impromptu, on Monday night, we’ll try to make that work as well. As I wrote - it’s an experiment!
Lastly, I plan to create a google doc of all the songs that have been shared and make this available to the sangha. I look forward to singing, listening and learning how music supports each of us.
With love and a bow,
Marie