Composing Chants To Lift the Spirit

Setting a meaningful quotation or text to melody helps us store its message in our deep memory, where it can nurture our spirit as needed. Chanting inspiring words is a contemplative practice that involves breath, vibration, and intention; it’s a healing practice that brings body and mind together, drawing our focus to the present and calming the dualistic mind. Composing our own chants opens us to an embodied way of prayer.

Paulette (who does not read or write notated music) will lead a presentation on how she has composed certain chants from Quaker texts, followed by break-out sessions for participants to work on their own chant-making. Participants are advised to bring a quotation or brief text to set to a simple melody, as well as a recording device. One advantage of the Zoom format is that we can easily work alone or in pairs in separate rooms! Participants are encouraged to share their chants with the group afterwards, and we will end in a worship sharing format about the experience.

“We sing, and yet not we, but the Eternal sings in us…The song is put into our mouths, for the Singer of all songs is singing within us… It is not we that sing; it is the Eternal Song of the Other, who sings in us, who sings unto us, and through us into the world.” – Thomas Kelly