Our Rivers & Roots Run Deep
Nightingale, Free Your Voice
Attend a choir session with the Elder Flower. When we sing together and share stories, we unearth our deep roots, enjoying a shared connection.
When we find our voices and fall in love with them just as we fall in love with other nature sounds (like bird song and waterfalls), we find freedom.
Autumn 2025 Registration, Now Open.
Choir is not dedicated to recovery, although we find it to be a very healing and uplifting creative activity that someone can do as part of making their recovery beautiful.
TWO OPPORTUNITIES TO JOIN US IN SONG:
Songkeepers
At the Taghum Hall
We have a name…
At the end of each choir practice, participants are encouraged to share a story or a song. There are usually one or two…
Kathleen came up to me at the end of a session and gifted me a song sheet. She said that many of the Songkeepers in our area are now treasured ancestors. Could the choir keep these songs alive?
And the name was created, much like our repertoire, from our shared experience. We are more than Songkeepers: we are singing songs old and new, and we are writing our own.
You have songs inside. Will you join us?
In the last session, we had to add a second show. Performance is Optional.
Songbooks and practice tracks will be provided. You are not expected to attend every practice.
DETAILS
Taghum Hall
Tuesdays, starting September 2, with Thursday sessions on the weeks of September 18, October 16, 12 weeks
6:30-8:30 pm
$200-220 sliding scale. Pre-registration is required. Pay in full, or secure a spot with a 50% non-refundable deposit. The remainder is due at the first session, or you can e-transfer jen@humanideas.net. Work trade opportunities, including gardening, firewood collection, and cleaning, are available.
Ptashichka, Sing
Songbirds from Doukhobour and Shared Eastern European Ancestry
I think about childhood stories of a scary Baba Yaga. Now, as I embrace midlife, I relate to aspects of the woman in the folktales. A life in the woods connecting to plants isn’t far off from the life I am living now.
And I am curious to learn more Slavic and Georgian folktales, particularly those that center on women and nature. I’m interested in delving deeper to uncover shared resources. Do we share struggles? Could this circle of women practice acceptance, understanding, non-judgement and share uplift and encouragement?
This is a space where you choose if you belong…
You might have been raised in a Doukhobor household, and may be interested in exploring culture and ancestry, or maybe you have “just a little ” Doukhobor ancestry (we think this counts). You might have been raised in the USCC, the Independent, or Sons of Freedom, outside of an organization or in a setting completely removed from any ancestral roots. Everyone is welcome here to explore the music and folklore that are part of your roots! You may or may not speak Russian or have experience singing Russian songs. You might not think of yourself as a singer, but you were given a voice…
We will be singing in several languages, and experience reading music or another language is not required.
There is HARMONY in your story. We’ll connect to it together.
Performance is not mandatory, nor is participation in every session. Songbooks and practice tracks will be provided.
DETAILS
Tarry’s Hall
Wednesdays, beginning September 3, 12 weeks
6:00-8:00 pm
$200-220 sliding scale. Pre-registration is required. Pay in full, or secure a spot with a 50% non-refundable deposit. The remainder is due at the first session, or you can e-transfer jen@humanideas.net. Work trade opportunities, including gardening, firewood collection, and cleaning, are available.
FAQs
What if I’m not Doukhobor? Or maybe I’m just a small part Doukhobor. Can I still register for that Choir?
First off, any part of your ancestry is a part of your story, and you can be curious about it! And if you don’t have any Doukhobour ancestry and have a curiosity to learn about a culture that plays a part in this place, you are welcome to join us!
Maybe you have Georgian, Ukrainian, Polish, Russian or other Eastern European ancestry. You might be surprised at how similar some of the singing, story and symbolism are. Perhaps you grew up in this area and are curious about this music and story.
Our singing and sharing together celebrate a shared sense of humanity and community. You are welcome.
I don’t know my ancestry…
This too is ok. You will be an ancestor someday, and you can tell the story of this place now, along with the things that influence it: nature, culture, food, and music. You are invited to excavate stories of women and nature and determine what themes you would like to explore and what wisdom you would like to share. You can also add your voice to the choir to create something beautiful together, now.
Do I need to speak and understand Russian?
We will be singing some Russian music, but we’ll sing in other languages too. No Russian experience is necessary. The Taghum Choir has also sung songs in other languages. We learn them by ear.
Do we only sing ancestral folk music?
No. Our repertoire is co-created. We also put together playlists and have song sheets of uplifting songs that explore some of the themes we discuss (the last choir LOVED river songs and found folk tales about women and rivers from around the world).
What if I am not a Singer?
You were born with an instrument: a voice. You may be out of practice! If you enjoy listening to music, you can sing. The beautiful thing about a choir is that it is part singing and part listening! We are a group, and the more practiced singers naturally help the section. With time, you’ll discover your unique voice and realize that it is each unique voice layered together that makes a choir special.
I don’t connect to my ancestry: I come from a “boring” culture or one I’m not particularly proud of.
This is also something that comes up in our group. Sharing stories and songs also shares our humanity. We can acknowledge the hard feelings we have about our pasts, and we can also claim the beautiful parts that we often discard when we have challenging feelings about who we are or where we are from.
We might discover something we love about our story or ourselves, and perhaps settle a part of our inner spirit, even imparting joy.
Are you a therapist? A Music Teacher? A Historian?
No. I was born of Doukhobor Ancestry, and I joke that I came into this world singing four-part harmony. I facilitate a love of music, and while I do share some technical direction, I arrange and record many of our practice tracks by ear. I am a trained facilitator with specialized training in trauma-informed facilitation.
In these choir sessions, we explore themes. Perfectionism was a theme that naturally arose in our last choir. Participants do not have to share if they don’t want to. You don’t have to sing any song you don’t like. I facilitate group discourse and song, but I am not “teaching” or “advising”. If you are struggling with feelings that come up, please feel free to talk to me outside of choir or speak to a therapist.
Singing stimulates our vagus nerve and our “rest and digest” response. Storytelling coregulates our nervous systems. What I experience most in choir is a sense of uplift. While sharing can be vulnerable, it can also be funny, enthusiastic and joyful!
As far as history goes, this is not a history lesson. I am not “teaching” what happened to the Doukhobors when they came to Canada, or teaching you facts about your ancestry (whatever it is). I am prompting the shared exploration of songs and stories from our collective roots.
I am sharing what I have found and urging you to explore (should you choose to).
In this choir, you are asked to listen to yourself first and foremost. Every prompt is only a suggestion. You choose what you would like to engage in.