Singing into Summer
Inside: song catching workshop with Paul Vasile, upcoming song carrier reunion, celebrating WA song carrier training and Songs of Peace, Power and Protest, and more!
Dear Singing People,
What a time to be alive! What’s keeping you steady? For me it’s gathering with others to share stories, sorrows, joys, work, and songs….always songs, the threads that run through it all. I give thanks for the song makers, the song carriers, the gatherers, the holders, the activists of every kind. I give thanks for you and whatever ways that you are caring for the places where you dwell.
Here’s some news of upcoming events, and more.
In Gratitude,
Liz
Song Catching and Campfire Singing with Paul Vasile
July 12, 2025 at Center for Belonging Folk School, Decorah, IA
1-4 pm – Song catching workshop
4-6:30 pm – Dinner and rest on your own (maybe you’d like to go to the Pizza Farm down the road!)
6:30 pm onward – Campfire singing and song sharing
My friend Paul Vasile is coming to the Center for Belonging! Paul is such a dear person and wonderful teacher. Come for the afternoon, and if you can, stay for a nighttime song circle around the fire (or candles, if it’s a hot July night!) with Paul and me. Free camping for those who’d like to spend the night!
You’re invited to step into a playful, courageous space where we explore the process of catching/composing short songs. Paul Vasile is an inspiring song leader, teacher and composer who will offer an immersive three-hour workshop that invites participants to listen for the melodies and musical ideas within and around them. We’ll notice the shape and energy of the melodies we find, improvise with them, then share them with the group, even just as song fragments or seeds.
No musical training is required. Bring your listening ears and your voice and be surprised by the creative capacity we will nurture in each other.
Register separately for song catching ($25-45) or campfire signing ($15-25), or bundle them together ($40-70). Free camping Saturday night.
Paul Vasile (he/him) is a church musician, teacher, coach, and composer who finds his greatest joy in collaborative and community-centered work. Committed to modeling expansive, imaginative, and hospitable experiences of music making wherever he goes, Paul's leadership builds trust, invites spaces of creativity, vulnerability, and play, and supports practices of reflection and holistic learning.
Celebrating Washington Song Carrier Training
Earlier this month I traveled to Olympia, WA to lead a song carrier training with Sarina Partridge, Heidi Wilson, and Willy Clemetson of the Heartwood Trio. What a joy it was to be in collaboration with those dear people and all of the 24 participants! The beauty of the Pacific Northwest was busted full-out, with Rhododendron and Azalea in bloom at every turn. This event was funded through a grant secured by the Folk School Alliance, as part of an ongoing effort to bring more community singing into the culture of North American folk schools.
I’m a big fan of folk schools and hope that more and more communities create these spaces for coming together. You don’t have to have a bunch of infrastructure! There’s also the kitchen table variety, just getting together with friends, neighbors, strangers, to do/make/talk about whatever is there among you. Here’s ‘Tea for Community,’ a great little guide to getting started.
Songs of Peace, Power, and Protest
Last Saturday 30 people came to the Center for Belonging to learn songs of Peace, Power, and Protest. How can gathering to sing songs about things that matter to us be anything but good? There we were among the trees, the birds singing too, people who had come from the Twin Cities, Madison, Iowa City, Davenport, Chicago, Winona, Viroqua, LaCrosse, Dodgeville, Troy Mills, and Decorah…people who love this world and are caring for it in many ways, who know that singing together helps us share our grief, find our courage, remember our love, uplift our joy. Here are some recordings of the songs we sang. Many of them are good ones to bring to public settings such as rallies. Try getting a group together ahead of time to practice and lead together!
Song Carrier Reunion
August 9-10, 2025 at Center for Belonging Folk School, Decorah, IA
Are you one of the people who have attended a Song Carrier Training with me over these last 13 years? Wouldn’t it be nice to gather again, to hear how things are going in one another’s singing communities, and to sing together? You’ll have a chance to share songs, to learn from others who are out there bringing songs into their communities, and to share stories, questions, and connections.
Interested? Fill out an interest form here – we will contact you.
WisconSing
August 21-25, 2025 at Camp Helen Brachman in Almond, WI
This biannual singing gathering is organized by the good people of Wisconsin, and I’ve been invited to be one of many songleaders there. This year the gathering is moving to a new camp, up near Stevens Point, and it looks like a really beautiful place. It’s on a lake!
Register here. Early bird pricing ends on June 15th.
Musicland Dates
Musicland is a small weekend-long singing camp (50 people) that my family has been hosting for 30+ years. It is held at Dream Acres Farm near Rochester MN. This year Musicland will take place from Fri-Sun, Sept. 12-14. Registration will open in July and be announced through this newsletter.
...and a poem
Eye-to-Eye
by Naomi Shihab Nye
Please forgive this interruption.
I am forging a career,
a delicate enterprise
of eyes. Yours included.
We will meet at the corner,
you with your sack lunch,
me with my guitar.
We will be wearing our famous street faces,
anonymous as trees.
Suddenly you will see me,
you will blink, hesitant,
then realize I have not looked away.
For one brave second
we will stare
openly
from borderless skins.
This is my salary.
There are no days off.
You’re currently a free subscriber to Notes from the Center for Belonging Folk School. To support The Center for Belonging Folk School with a monthly or annual donation, upgrade to paid below.