Unfortunately, there will be no Youth Lyre Workshop in the fall of 2010, as we had hoped. However, LANA will host a Youth Lyre Program for the first time in conjunction with our regular summer conference in 2011. If you know of anyone who might be interested, please contact Sheila Johns ( / 301-681-6546).

Background: 2002 and 2003

In the Winter of 2001, as the board of the Lyre Association turned to the planning of the 2002 Summer Conference in preparation for our World Lyre Congress in 2003, Channa Seidenberg voiced a strong wish that we begin to imagine a way to incorporate children into our work with the lyre. Knowing of the work with children going on in Europe, we felt that such a possibility might even encourage a few of these young people to come from abroad to meet and play with American lyre students, much as the adults would be doing. We were very enthusiastic about that vision, and Channa, Joanna Carey, and Sheila Johns became ad hoc Children’s Program coordinators for both the 2002 conference, where we had 14 young participants, as well as for the 2003 congress where we had 16 American students plus, in the end, 1 student from Germany. Working with these young people was such a joy! It was truly inspiring to experience what was possible with them–-how eager they were to work, how quickly they picked things up, and how much enjoyment they had in the process. Many of our friends were able to hear some of the fruit of their labors in the public concert following the World Congress.

2004 and Beyond

As we were planning the 2004 conference, we realize that there were children who have played lyre together for two summers in a row. We have taken the opportunity to look more deeply at our commitment to lyre work with our young people, and we realize that it is just such young people that will be in a position to carry forward the work of the lyre and other instruments into the future! Therefore, the board of the Lyre Association has made a commitment to work with young people on an on-going basis.

In keeping with this commitment, we have undertaken a youth lyre program, offering a youth lyre workshop each fall. To offer suggestions, obtain more information, or if you are a lyre teacher with students who may be interested in participating in weekend workshops for young people, please contact board members Catherine Read, Channa Seidenberg, or Sheila Johns.

Youth Lyre Workshop, Kimberton Hills, PA, September, 2006

This last September, the Lyre Association of North America sponsored its biggest ever Youth Lyre Workshop. With 18 young lyrists and 3 teachers working together over 3 days, we felt very encouraged by how this work has grown in the 3 short years since we began this initiative. We were grateful to once again be welcomed by the Kimberton Hills Camphill Community, which has facilities that are ideally suited for our work. Students, who ranged in ages from 3rd through 9th grade, came from the local community as well as from New Jersey, Connecticut, and Washington, D.C. The organizers and teachers were Kerry Lee, Diane Ingraham Barnes, and Sheila Johns.
The previous years’ participants had asked very strongly that we consider adding an additional day to our program, so we began on a Friday evening and extended through Sunday noon this year. We played lyre in small groups as well as in a large ensemble, we ate together, we listened, we sang, we ate together, we worked with a variety of other new instruments, we played together . . . and we ate together! On Sunday morning, we had a festive sharing of music for members of the local community and our families, which was a joyful conclusion to a most satisfying weekend of work together. Since four of our young people had participated in the Youth Lyre Workshop at Lyre 2006 in Belfast, they had an opportunity to share some of the music they had learned and to teach a bit to the rest of us as well.

After three years, nice friendships have begun to form among some of these young people, and one senses with great expectation the importance of nurturing this youth lyre initiative for the future. We encourage all young lyrists to consider joining us in September 2007 for another unforgettable weekend of music making together!

On September 14-16, lyre students and teachers gathered at Kimberton Hills Camphill Community in Pennsylvania for our sixth annual LANA Youth Lyre Workshop. The 12 students ranged from fourth to twelfth graders and from beginners through more intermediate lyrists. Teachers Kerry Lee and Sheila Johns welcomed the students on Friday afternoon and they all enjoyed supper together. The majority of the students knew one another from previous youth workshops, and it proved to be a harmonious and enjoyable social mix, with everyone pitching in to help as needed.
After some basic listening activities and musical games on Friday evening, the young people retired to local homes for the night. Saturday was filled with music making, including work in two smaller groups in which the students deepened their technical skills and learned some pieces of their own as well as rehearsed their sections of the larger group pieces. In addition, they did some rhythmical movement work, sang together, and participated in an improvisation session with many different kinds of instruments. There was time for bountiful snacks and delicious meals provided by LANA member and Kimberton Hills housemother Veronika Rohmer as well as for playing in the beautiful outdoor surroundings of the village. On Sunday morning, we focused our work on refining selections to be shared later in the morning.

To conclude our workshop, parents, friends, and members of the village community joined us in the beautiful Rose Hall to enjoy a variety of lyre music and singing. Large group offerings included the Pachelbel Canon, which the Youth Conference participants had played at Lyre 2006 in Belfast. With everyone singing along, our intermediate group played the instrumental parts on their regular lyres while the elementary group provided the ostinato part on bordun lyres. We were honored to have Christof-Andreas and Norma Lindenberg present for this sharing and to feel through them the support of our larger lyre community for this important ongoing work.

This annual Youth Lyre Workshop will be held once again on the second weekend of September in 2008 in Kimberton Hills Camphill Community, and we warmly invite all young lyrists from fourth grade up to start planning now to join us then for another fun-filled and satisfying weekend of music-making together.
—Sheila Johns

Kimberton Hills was the perfect location once again for our Youth Lyre Workshop, held September 12-14. We had ten young people: one each from New Hampshire, Maryland and New Jersey and the rest from Pennsylvania. Veronika Roemer, who substituted at the last moment for Diane Barnes, and Kerry Lee led the participants through playing of songs, improvising, and exploring rhythms on percussion instruments. We worked with two groups of varying abilities. We practiced the songs separately and then joined together for the various activities.

The Sunday sharing went very well. "You must keep doing this, this is revolutionary!" was the comment of one of the listeners. Indeed, the lyre brings a certain element better than any other instrument. It brings "listening"! The young people were able to experience that, along with the fun of playing together. Most of them had been there before, some since the beginning, and some are very excited about going to Sweden next summer!

I hope to see a few new faces at our next workshop. —Kerry Lee, Spring City, PA