Upcoming Events

ONLINE SONGLEADER FLIGHT SCHOOL
A 6-WEEK COURSE FOR EMERGING SONGLEADERS
OPEN WORLDWIDE
June 15 – July 24, 2020

Online learning can be a joy! I’ve been effectively training emerging songleaders in this way for four years.

This online course developed by Lisa offers an accessible but deep dive into the basic skills needed to effectively lead, organize and grow community song circles. It is offered over six weeks with a digestible and interactive presentation of the material each weekday, and features consistent, interactive connections with other members of your active cohort. This will be the seventh time Lisa has offered this course and each cohort has sold out with outstanding reviews.

Whether you are an experienced singer with a vision of starting and leading a choir or are new to singing and wish to rapidly grow your confidence singing with others, this course is designed to meet your unique needs.

BIG SUR, CA

Courting the Muse, a Property-Wide Event
at ESALEN INSTITUTE
With MaMuse, Aimée Ringle, Claudia Cuentas & Tonya Abernathy
August 23-28, 2020

How do we make space for all that wants to move through during these times? How do we allow the song to sing us? How do we become the song? Join an extraordinary group of diverse and accomplished community songleaders, including MaMuse, Lisa G. Littlebird and guest teachers Claudia Cuentas, Tonya Abernathy and Aimée Ringle. These dynamic individuals have devoted their lives to singing for truth and transformation, and have found that there is great healing by singing together. Through embodied practices and play, we will open ourselves up wide and sing out what we find. This workshop will be accessible and participatory for all, and requires no prior experience. We’ll sing songs we love and reach for new, emerging songs together. We’ll liberate individual voices while learning what it is to be in harmony and compassionate presence with others.

When we sing through our collective grief and celebration, the voice we share with the whole for the sake of the whole can be a true salvation. We vow to stand steady in kindness for any and all who dare to cross the threshold from fear into the wide open star fields of singing with a full heart.

This workshop is part of a property-wide musical event, called Courting the Muse.

Courting the Muse: A Week of Singing and Songwriting at Esalen offers an experiential immersion and playground of music, exploring singing and songwriting as spiritual practices and tools in service to our collective healing and transformation. Participants select from one of two workshop focuses: songwriting with GRAMMY-award-winning Emily Saliers of the Indigo Girls and Glen Phillips of Toad the Wet Sprocket or singing in community with MaMuse, Lisa G. Littlebird and friends. The two groups will join together in the evenings for creative play, singing, and sharing. The culture will be one of inspiration and collaboration, inviting a deep dive into the sea of questions evoked by the state of our world today.

BIG SUR, CA

Singing on the Edge, a Property-Wide Community Singing Event
at ESALEN INSTITUTE
With Melanie DeMore, Barbara McAfee, Laurence Cole, Emile Hassan Dyer & Maggie Wheeler
October 9-11, 2020

Community singing invites us all to step to the edge together — to the edge of our own unfolding and to the edge of the conversations most needed in our collective communities. Join us for a world-class gathering of community song leaders in this celebratory property-wide singing event. We will use the power of singing together in the oral tradition to craft a recipe for our world, using empathy, empowerment, connection and joy. This collaborative experience among the faculty features a mix of breakout sessions around a centerpiece community-wide workshop with Melanie DeMore singing in the African American tradition. This workshop is accessible and welcoming to all voices with every level of experience. Come ready to offer your voice in a potent exchange designed to sow deep seeds of inspiration, community and action on the path of harmony.