Circle of Music
August 13 - August 19, 2023
August 13 - August 19, 2023
Description
Workshops
Conference Materials
Pricing
Description
Circle of Music
Learn from the Masters!
Learn from the Masters!
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Come join us for a magical week where we build a music community. You will be welcomed, accepted, encouraged, and challenged to grow whether you start as a beginner or are polishing skills. From the generosity of the workshop leaders to the support of the other participants who are taking risks along side you, join the opportunities to improve your musical abilities and decide how you will take your music back to the world.
Each day begins with chapel, followed by workshops, and optional afternoon activities of classes, singing, teaching, creating, playing and learning. Your days at Ferry Beach can include the beach, naps, walks or all of the above. The evenings have more opportunities to create music in song circles, coffee house, talent/no talent shows and anywhere else the spirit hits you including porch sings and jams. AND we encourage all of you to bring songs you know and can teach or lead – our best resource and inspiration are each other! Let the ocean waves create new rhythms, the cry of the seagulls – new melodies and the spirit of the week – new lyrics. The Life & Songs of Pete Seeger Concert
Join us on 8/18 at 8pm for a special concert starring Annie Patterson and Peter Blood Annie Patterson & Peter Blood, creators of Rise Up Singing & Rise Again made the songbook If I Had a Hammer to honor the 100th anniversary of Pete Seeger's birth. This collection of 46 of Seeger's favorite songs includes Ivrics, guitar chords, & excerpts from Seeger's autobiography Where Have All the Flowers Gone (edited by Peter Blood). Nancy Smith Circle of Music Scholarship
The Nancy Smith Circle of Music Scholarship fund has been established in memory of the late Nancy Smith, long-term Circle of Music Attendee. Nancy nurtured her spirituality and celebrated her love of music through Unitarian Universalist church choirs and the Ferry Beach Retreat and Conference Center Circle of Music Program. Through the scholarship started by her loving son Scott Smith and sister Lucinda Sanders, the memory of Nancy will live on in one of her most cherished places. To apply for the scholarship, please fill out the form below. Each year a scholarship recipient will be selected two months prior to the start of the Circle of Music Conference. |
Rise Up Singing and get ready for Circle of Music 2023! Because we have Annie Patterson and Peter Blood, editors of our music “bibles” Rise Up Singing and Rise Again, joining us as guest artists for the entire Circle of Music week!
We have so much already planned:
Annie is a very active solo and group performer. Peter is engaged in and committed to doing environmental and racial justice work. Both Peter and Annie are amazing musicians and educators whose life’s focus is on “creating peace and justice through communal singing”. This will be a week of musical wonderment as we learn, grow and share together on our musical journey. Make sure you don’t miss out on a magical week at Ferry Beach! Sign up today before space fills up! We will be using both Rise Up Singing and Rise Again through out our week. Be sure to bring your copies, or buy them online now!
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Workshops
Concerts
Sunday Night Opening Concert
We will start off the week with a singalong/concert from Annie Patterson & Peter Blood. Their capacity to ignite a group through shared singing comes from years of leading singalongs around the country and abroad. They'll draw from their expansive repertoire for this event—leading and performing songs from their two singalong collections Rise Up Singing and Rise Again, as well as teaching other great songs not in their songbooks. Participants will have a chance to get a sense of the full range of musical offerings that Annie & Peter are bringing to our week together.
Friday Night Concert: The Life & Songs of Pete Seeger
Pete Seeger was one of the greatest song leaders of our time—building community and peace through song as he led audiences in group singing around the world for 75 years. A supporter from the beginning of Annie and Peter’s songbook work, Pete recognized that Rise Up Singing could be a huge asset to the kind of shared singing that he spent his life doing, writing that it has “made a qualitative difference in singing in America”. Seeger played a significant role in bringing both of Annie & Peter’s songbooks to fruition. Peter (Blood) worked closely with Pete Seeger as the editor of his musical autobiography Where Have All the Flowers Gone. Annie and Peter will tell stories and antidotes of Pete’s life as they lead us in some of Pete’s greatest songs out of their book If I Had a Hammer: A Pete Seeger Singalong Songbook.
Chapel is held every morning at 8:40 at the campground and this year we welcome back the amazing Rev. Li Kynvi as Chaplain of the week. Rev. Li is a talented voice musician and brings us beautiful and often very new music to sing and share. Rev. Li will be assisted by our Musician of the Week, Ed Priest, and possibly by our guest artists as well. This is a very special way to start your day at Ferry Beach.
Morning Workshops (No Need to Preregister for Workshops)
10:00 to 11:30 a.m.
Monday: Digging Into Rise Up Singing
Join us as we sing our way through the Rise Up Singing songbook. Let’s make some music together as we learn directly from the editors how the book is organized and how best to use it. Bring your instruments, your voices, your songbook if you have one, and any questions for Annie and Peter as we explore the vast musical styles, artists and lyrics that the volume offers. Note: there will be an opportunity for participants to make song requests on a signup list posted in advance of the workshop and songbooks will be available to borrow for all the workshops.
Tuesday: The Power of Community Singing
Group singing has played a critical role in many social change movements, raising awareness of injustice, empowering people to act, and sustaining folks as they faced violence, repression, and imprisonment. Annie & Peter will lead songs drawing on a wide variety of such movements. They will touch on the skills needed to use songs at rallies, meetings, and picket lines.
Wednesday: Rise Again! Exploring the Second Volume
In 2015, Annie & Peter published their sequel to Rise Up Singing (which includes 1200 different songs from those in RUS) entitled Rise Again. The sequel includes whole chapters of song genres largely missing from RUS including blues, country, Motown, musicals, etc. This is a great chance to learn new songs and discover ones you know out of Rise Again.
Thursday: Songs of Peace & Justice
Annie & Peter are two of North America’s most experienced and accomplished song leaders. They will teach and demonstrate skills and approaches that help to encourage reluctant singers, teach songs, troubleshoot challenging song-leading moments, and keep singers energized and wanting more. They will touch on a wide range of issues from room setup to song selection, including work without using songbooks.
Friday: Fun Songs for All Ages
This is a workshop for everyone, including families and those working with children in other settings! We will discuss lively songs including humorous songs, songs that involve activity, rounds, lullabies, dance, energetic gospel singing. Wear comfy clothes and be prepared to get up and move as you are able.
Afternoon Workshops - (No Need To Preregister for Workshops)
(preliminary draft - may shift in time slots and content)
Celtic and Appalachian Songs
Annie has been singing traditional songs and playing clawhammer banjo since she was a teenager and knows a wide range of traditional British Isles ballads and old-timey American material. She will lead songs with traditional British Isles and Appalachian roots and lead a discussion on the roles these songs have played in their cultural settings and communities. Peter will often accompany Annie on fiddle. (Note: This is a singing workshop, not a banjo instruction workshop.)
Scatting, Jazz Vocal Tips, and Harmony
This is an instructional workshop. Annie will teach the basics of “scatting” (improvisational non-lyrical singing, mainly in jazz standards). She will also teach the basics of singing in harmony—when singing in an established ensemble and also when singing harmony in a group singing setting.
Jazz, Blues & Motown
Annie has 40 years of experience singing swing, jazz and Motown with several different ensembles. She will teach, perform, and lead songs drawing on these genres mainly in Rise Again. She will focus on how to use many of these songs in singalong settings with a general audience and the capacity of people to lead these songs without being
highly experienced guitarists of difficult jazz chords. The meaning and importance of the “Great American Songbook” (the loosely defined canon of US jazz standards, popular songs & show tunes) will be presented.
Songs for Picket Lines & Rallies
Peter and Annie will focus on songs that can be easily picked up and sung without any lyrics provided to participants. This includes zipper songs, echo songs, songs with refrain lines, etc. Songs draw on a variety of movements including labor songs and Civil Rights songs—as well as new songs that are being written today. We will practice
how to get groups singing together in settings with a lot of distractions. Bring your favorite picket line songs to share. Songs will be focused on racial, social, and climate justice.
Learning the Chord System in RUS and RA
Peter developed a unique system of “chord lines” in the prequel to Rise Up Singing called Winds of the People. This shorthand chord system allows a person to play guitar, banjo, uke or piano when accompanying singers using these books. This will be a hands-on instructional workshop. Participants are invited to bring their instruments and play along.
Let’s Jam! - tentative
Rudy Gabrielson, an incredible local talent from the Portland, Maine, and a strong musical presence at Circle of Music and Ferry Beach for many years, will bring his considerable skills to those of us who want to experience jamming together: how to set it up, focus on music you love, leading and organizing a session. Great fun!!
Ukelele I and II
Ed Priest, our loving, talented and very funny Musician of the Week, will teach you how to play Ukelele in 4 sessions, no matter what level you’re at: beginner to experienced. You will be playing songs at your very first session. Bring a uke if you have one. Ferry Beach has some basic ukes you can borrow.
Music Organizer Tips: Q&A with Peter
Here’s a chance to pick Peter’s brain and share ideas on the nuts and bolts around making music flourish to build community and change the world! Draw on Peter’s years of experience organizing concerts, workshops & tours, publishing songbooks, obtaining song permissions, and helping people start song circles.
Evenings at Circle of Music
Coffee House and Talent/No Talent
We’ll have great fun, as always, at our Tuesday night Coffee House and our Thursday Talent/No Talent show. All at Ferry Beach are welcome to participate – and they do! Ed Priest and Rudy Gabrielson will offer “office hours” for anyone who would like accompaniment and/or coaching for an act you’d like to present.
Porch Sings
Ed Priest leads porch sings on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday evenings right after dinner and before any evening programs. Sometimes – and upon request – he’ll lead sings later in the evening, too – until he is shut down by quiet hours! The Ferry Beach Songbook is available on the website so bring your cell phones and follow along. Bring your own songs and songbooks – and be prepared to lead with Ed’s help!
Bonfire
Hopefully Wednesday night weather will allow us to have our traditional bonfire. Bring all those camp songs to sing and share! We’ll have S’mores makings!
Note: Additional offerings for afternoons and evenings are still being considered and are in the stages of development. A full schedule grid will be posted as soon as all offerings and time slots are finalized.
Sunday Night Opening Concert
We will start off the week with a singalong/concert from Annie Patterson & Peter Blood. Their capacity to ignite a group through shared singing comes from years of leading singalongs around the country and abroad. They'll draw from their expansive repertoire for this event—leading and performing songs from their two singalong collections Rise Up Singing and Rise Again, as well as teaching other great songs not in their songbooks. Participants will have a chance to get a sense of the full range of musical offerings that Annie & Peter are bringing to our week together.
Friday Night Concert: The Life & Songs of Pete Seeger
Pete Seeger was one of the greatest song leaders of our time—building community and peace through song as he led audiences in group singing around the world for 75 years. A supporter from the beginning of Annie and Peter’s songbook work, Pete recognized that Rise Up Singing could be a huge asset to the kind of shared singing that he spent his life doing, writing that it has “made a qualitative difference in singing in America”. Seeger played a significant role in bringing both of Annie & Peter’s songbooks to fruition. Peter (Blood) worked closely with Pete Seeger as the editor of his musical autobiography Where Have All the Flowers Gone. Annie and Peter will tell stories and antidotes of Pete’s life as they lead us in some of Pete’s greatest songs out of their book If I Had a Hammer: A Pete Seeger Singalong Songbook.
Chapel is held every morning at 8:40 at the campground and this year we welcome back the amazing Rev. Li Kynvi as Chaplain of the week. Rev. Li is a talented voice musician and brings us beautiful and often very new music to sing and share. Rev. Li will be assisted by our Musician of the Week, Ed Priest, and possibly by our guest artists as well. This is a very special way to start your day at Ferry Beach.
Morning Workshops (No Need to Preregister for Workshops)
10:00 to 11:30 a.m.
Monday: Digging Into Rise Up Singing
Join us as we sing our way through the Rise Up Singing songbook. Let’s make some music together as we learn directly from the editors how the book is organized and how best to use it. Bring your instruments, your voices, your songbook if you have one, and any questions for Annie and Peter as we explore the vast musical styles, artists and lyrics that the volume offers. Note: there will be an opportunity for participants to make song requests on a signup list posted in advance of the workshop and songbooks will be available to borrow for all the workshops.
Tuesday: The Power of Community Singing
Group singing has played a critical role in many social change movements, raising awareness of injustice, empowering people to act, and sustaining folks as they faced violence, repression, and imprisonment. Annie & Peter will lead songs drawing on a wide variety of such movements. They will touch on the skills needed to use songs at rallies, meetings, and picket lines.
Wednesday: Rise Again! Exploring the Second Volume
In 2015, Annie & Peter published their sequel to Rise Up Singing (which includes 1200 different songs from those in RUS) entitled Rise Again. The sequel includes whole chapters of song genres largely missing from RUS including blues, country, Motown, musicals, etc. This is a great chance to learn new songs and discover ones you know out of Rise Again.
Thursday: Songs of Peace & Justice
Annie & Peter are two of North America’s most experienced and accomplished song leaders. They will teach and demonstrate skills and approaches that help to encourage reluctant singers, teach songs, troubleshoot challenging song-leading moments, and keep singers energized and wanting more. They will touch on a wide range of issues from room setup to song selection, including work without using songbooks.
Friday: Fun Songs for All Ages
This is a workshop for everyone, including families and those working with children in other settings! We will discuss lively songs including humorous songs, songs that involve activity, rounds, lullabies, dance, energetic gospel singing. Wear comfy clothes and be prepared to get up and move as you are able.
Afternoon Workshops - (No Need To Preregister for Workshops)
(preliminary draft - may shift in time slots and content)
Celtic and Appalachian Songs
Annie has been singing traditional songs and playing clawhammer banjo since she was a teenager and knows a wide range of traditional British Isles ballads and old-timey American material. She will lead songs with traditional British Isles and Appalachian roots and lead a discussion on the roles these songs have played in their cultural settings and communities. Peter will often accompany Annie on fiddle. (Note: This is a singing workshop, not a banjo instruction workshop.)
Scatting, Jazz Vocal Tips, and Harmony
This is an instructional workshop. Annie will teach the basics of “scatting” (improvisational non-lyrical singing, mainly in jazz standards). She will also teach the basics of singing in harmony—when singing in an established ensemble and also when singing harmony in a group singing setting.
Jazz, Blues & Motown
Annie has 40 years of experience singing swing, jazz and Motown with several different ensembles. She will teach, perform, and lead songs drawing on these genres mainly in Rise Again. She will focus on how to use many of these songs in singalong settings with a general audience and the capacity of people to lead these songs without being
highly experienced guitarists of difficult jazz chords. The meaning and importance of the “Great American Songbook” (the loosely defined canon of US jazz standards, popular songs & show tunes) will be presented.
Songs for Picket Lines & Rallies
Peter and Annie will focus on songs that can be easily picked up and sung without any lyrics provided to participants. This includes zipper songs, echo songs, songs with refrain lines, etc. Songs draw on a variety of movements including labor songs and Civil Rights songs—as well as new songs that are being written today. We will practice
how to get groups singing together in settings with a lot of distractions. Bring your favorite picket line songs to share. Songs will be focused on racial, social, and climate justice.
Learning the Chord System in RUS and RA
Peter developed a unique system of “chord lines” in the prequel to Rise Up Singing called Winds of the People. This shorthand chord system allows a person to play guitar, banjo, uke or piano when accompanying singers using these books. This will be a hands-on instructional workshop. Participants are invited to bring their instruments and play along.
Let’s Jam! - tentative
Rudy Gabrielson, an incredible local talent from the Portland, Maine, and a strong musical presence at Circle of Music and Ferry Beach for many years, will bring his considerable skills to those of us who want to experience jamming together: how to set it up, focus on music you love, leading and organizing a session. Great fun!!
Ukelele I and II
Ed Priest, our loving, talented and very funny Musician of the Week, will teach you how to play Ukelele in 4 sessions, no matter what level you’re at: beginner to experienced. You will be playing songs at your very first session. Bring a uke if you have one. Ferry Beach has some basic ukes you can borrow.
Music Organizer Tips: Q&A with Peter
Here’s a chance to pick Peter’s brain and share ideas on the nuts and bolts around making music flourish to build community and change the world! Draw on Peter’s years of experience organizing concerts, workshops & tours, publishing songbooks, obtaining song permissions, and helping people start song circles.
Evenings at Circle of Music
Coffee House and Talent/No Talent
We’ll have great fun, as always, at our Tuesday night Coffee House and our Thursday Talent/No Talent show. All at Ferry Beach are welcome to participate – and they do! Ed Priest and Rudy Gabrielson will offer “office hours” for anyone who would like accompaniment and/or coaching for an act you’d like to present.
Porch Sings
Ed Priest leads porch sings on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday evenings right after dinner and before any evening programs. Sometimes – and upon request – he’ll lead sings later in the evening, too – until he is shut down by quiet hours! The Ferry Beach Songbook is available on the website so bring your cell phones and follow along. Bring your own songs and songbooks – and be prepared to lead with Ed’s help!
Bonfire
Hopefully Wednesday night weather will allow us to have our traditional bonfire. Bring all those camp songs to sing and share! We’ll have S’mores makings!
Note: Additional offerings for afternoons and evenings are still being considered and are in the stages of development. A full schedule grid will be posted as soon as all offerings and time slots are finalized.
Conference Materials
Pricing
Pricing per Person |
Adult: $480.00 (Includes Conference Fees + Meals) Youth: $360.00 (Includes Conference Fees + Meals) Off-Site Daily Fee (Commuter): $60.00 Adult / $40.00 Youth (Includes Lunch Only) On-Site Daily Fee: $19.00 (On Campus and Not Registered for Programming. Does not Include Meals) |
Lodging |
Lodging Prices Vary Base on Selection. See our Lodging Page for pricing information. |
Membership |
Membership must be paid to attend any Ferry Beach program and is due annually. Individual Membership: $35.00 Family Membership: $60.00 See our Membership Page to learn more and to purchase or renew a membership or add on to your reservation. |
Register |
Click here to register. For help with your registration, or to register by phone, call the office at 207-282-4489 or email registration@ferrybeach.org |
Our mission at Ferry Beach is to awaken hearts to explore, grow and renew the spirit of universal love.
We work by creating programing and events in the areas of Arts & Culture, Education, Spirituality, Sustainability, Personal Growth and Justice & Action.
We work by creating programing and events in the areas of Arts & Culture, Education, Spirituality, Sustainability, Personal Growth and Justice & Action.
