PRAYING WITH MUSIC: aims.
Explorations of great music by a well know choral poet (librettist), whose work is commissioned and performed internationally.
All music retreats designed to enable participants, performer and listener alike, to explore the spiritual and emotional hearts of great choral works.
They are not singing or performing weekends – rather, they involve a series of talks on the works, as well as listening to the individual movements in order, and time of space for reflection on each talk – they are essentially prayer pilgrimages involving great music.
They are retreat weekends – not a ‘music appreciation’ weekend, with mostly music introduced with a few words – there is much spiritual input and interpretation, for musical works exist in a spiritual context. Music opens up new vocational and spiritual possibilities for us, and the input aims to explore this.
Joy, relaxation, and learning is a key part of the weekends. For recent participant comments – see Feedback tab.
- Music you love, music to discover.
- Joy, pleasure, new listening.
- Re-discovery of the familiar – yet new faith directions.
- Messages of hope and mercy in music.
- Going to the spiritually creative heart of you.
- Going deeper into music – what does it mean for me?
- Coming home to your gifts and potential through great works of art.
These retreats are explorations of the inner life of music, its spiritual and emotional forces, by a praying poet. While they are neither singing weekends nor do they involve in depth technical analysis, they welcome performers and non-performers alike into an experience of the works that aims to greatly enrich their imaginative response to the music and words – music as a constantly unfolding creative gift in each life.