Sound and Song Medicine Series: Creating Our Own Revival Music as Medicine for the Soul
Facilitated by Shireen Amini

Sundays, January 31-March 6
4-6pm
Hawthorn Healing Arts Center, Community Room
$195/person

• Immerse in sound, voice, and free expression while held in a sacred healing process
• Experience circle singing and the study of medicine songs
• Co-create soulful community songs to sing with shared purpose
• Connect with a rich tradition of singing together as an expression of unity, strength, and joy

No prior musical experience needed, only your voices in this safe and inclusive environment.

Pre-registration required and limited spaces available. Call 541-330-0330 or email jill@hawthorncenter.com to reserve your spot today!

Imagine being part of a movement that has arisen from your own heart and has the music and shared community to give it voice. Imagine an immersive sound healing experience combined with playful and creative group singing.

This is what the Sound and Song Medicine Series is all about. During these six weeks, we will journey through the healing experience of sound and the spiritual power of song, reaping deep benefits from both, and come away with our own repertoire of soul songs we have created as a community.

As a lifelong musician and recently-certified sound healing practitioner, Shireen Amini is most compelled by the mysterious relationship between sound and song as they serve the human experience. During her studies at the California Institute of Integral Studies in San Francisco (http://www.ciis.edu/public-programs-and-performances/certificate-programs/certificate-in-sound-voice-and-music-in-the-healing-arts), she began to intuit a method in which melodies, grooves, and eventually songs arose from meditative states and raw expressions of sound, such as free vocalizing. Together with fellow cohort Tasya Herskovitz, Shireen devised a process with four distinct phases that, in themselves, are therapeutic but also can result in musical material that serves as the basis for creating meaningful songs. This process invites participants 1) into an authentic space together, segues into 2) sounding with the voice and a drone, 3) pauses in silence, then 4) brings forward the melodies and grooves that have come as medicine for us, as a response to our soul-felt longings, whether they be for healing, release, joy, or empowerment.

In this series, Shireen will take this process one step further by including the study, both through singing and analysis, of established songs with medicinal characteristics. We all know songs of this nature. They have a way of hooking us into their healing potential. Many are called spirituals or mantras or folk songs. These songs have historically been sung in a group. Shireen believes this type of group singing with aligned purpose is gravely lacking in our culture today. Therefore, in addition to our experiential study, Shireen will direct a playful and intentional group vocal jam in the style of CircleSinging (http://www.circlesing.org/), which she learned from Bobby McFerrin’s protege, Dave Worm. This jam will juice us up for the final, most magical part of our sessions together: the group songwriting process. With use of both intuitive and musical skills, Shireen will hold the group strong to the musical sensibility and messages that will best serve the group as we write. The atmosphere will be inclusive and dynamic. All ideas will be welcome and all voices part of creating these group songs.

By the end of our time together, we will have up to 4 self-written communal songs that tie us to a rich tradition of singing together with shared purpose soulful transcendence and. We will have a renewed relationship to song as an ally in wellness, sustenance, and change for ourselves and the world around us. We will have our own revival music with messages most relevant to us and our times!

No prior musical experience is required and all you will need is your voice and possibly a recording device. If you feel shy about your singing voice, please remember that you will be strengthened and held by many other voices in a safe environment.

Come be part of this first offering of its kind to feed your spirit, deepen your connection to your own voice and community, and bring about positive change in your life and in the world!