Offerings for Individuals

Greetings,

I am opening my calendar to more paid 1:1 clients/mentees in these realms:

• spiritual direction/companioning
• full voice coaching
• song leading mentoring
• dances of universal peace leader mentoring

If you would like to explore the elements of your voice or take time to check in with your inner world or strengthen your leadership skills as a song and/or dance leader, I would be honored to walk with you. Send me an email at pointsoflightmusic@pm.me.

My ideal clients are folks doing movement work, folks interested in healing wounds, and the intersections therein.

Jun 22-29: Song Smorgasbord!

Here's a buffet of song possibilities this week.  Join us for one or all!   

• Mon, Jun 22 - Retrain Your Lizard Brain
• Wed, Jun 24 - Protecting Sacred Lands
• Thu, Jun 25 - Online* Song Leader Training 101: For Social Action
• Fri, Jun 26 - Songs for Tending Our Hearts
• Mon, Jun 29 - Singing for Liberation

More details about each under each image.  

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Retrain Your Lizard Brain:  Somatic Singing for Trauma Awareness + Resilience

Mon, Jun 22, 6:30-8:30p (not Jun 25 🤦)
Location: New City Center, near 31st + Bloomington, Mpls.
With Good Trouble.  

😷

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Protecting Sacred Lands:  Song Circle + Meeting

Wed, Jun 24, 6:30-8:30p 

Location: Creekside UCC, I-35W + Diamond Lake Rd, Mpls.

With The Coalition to Dismantle the Doctrine of Discovery, Music That Makes Community, Center for Sustainable Justice, and Singing Resistance TC. 

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Online Songleader Training 101: for Social Action

Thu, Jun 25, 6-8p CT 

Location:  Online

with Music That Makes Community. 

Register: https://www.musicthatmakescommunity.org/virtual_101_20260625

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Songs for Tending Our Hearts: a song circle for grief and the weight of the weary world

Fri, Jun 26, 7:30-9p 

Location: Yess Yoga, near 26th + Nicollet, Mpls. 

With Good Trouble. 

Register: https://www.yessyogastudio.com/yoga-workshops/

 

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Bonus!!!

Singing for Liberation: Monthly Songleader Incubator Circle

Mon, Jun 29, 6:30-8:30p 

Location: CTUL, near George Floyd Square, Mpls. 

Open to new/experienced songleaders, drummers, and all singers!

With Good Trouble. 

 

*Nov 20* Dec 9: MSP MMC Gatherings

Fall 2025 Music that Makes Community Gatherings in the Twin Cities Metro

**Confirm dates, times, and locations on MMC's Community Events calendar**

September 2025

Date: September 18, 2025

Time: 1:30-2:30 p.m.

Location: University Lutheran Church of Hope, 601 13th Ave SE, Minneapolis

October 2025

Date: Wednesday, October 23, 2025
Time: 6-7 p.m.

Location: Zion Lutheran Church, 1697 Lafond Ave, St. Paul

November 2025

Date: Nov 20, 2025
Time: 1:30-2:30 p.m.

Location: University Lutheran Church of Hope, 601 13th Ave SE, Minneapolis

December 2025

Date: Tuesday, December 9, 2025
Time: TBA

Location: St. Anne's Episcopal Church, Sunfish Lake

August 2025 Events: BIPOC + MMC MSP

Mon, August 11 - Heart Songs Online

Details HERE.

Wednesday August 13 - BIPOC Water Sing

Time:  6-8pm

Location:  St. Paul river location

We are inviting all BIPOC folks to the river to come sing about water!

No registration is required — just show up, bring a chair (if you want to sit), your dinner (if you want to eat), water/something to drink, and any percussion or non-amplified instruments you know how to play.

Email Asha.shoffner@ci.stpaul.mn.us for location info and the link to add songs about water that you’d like to sing!

Monday, August 25 - Singing for Liberation

Details HERE.

Wednesday, August 27 - MMC Mpls-St. Paul Gathering

Details on MMC's Events Calendar.

Thursday, August 28 - Sacred Lands SING @ Land Alliance Folk School, near Iowa City, IA

Details on MMC Events Calendar.

Friday, August 29-Monday, September 1 - Singing Rabbit @ Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage, Rutledge, MO

Details HERE.

Summer 2025 MMC Events

Music that Makes Community - Summer 2025

in Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN

When: 

Monday, July 21, 2025
6:30-8 p.m.

Where: 

Morningside Hills UCC

4201 Morningside Rd, Edina, MN

More details here.

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Elsewhere

Check out the Calendar on the MMC website for more details on what's happening in Kansas City on July 13, Detroit on July 15 and July 17 and beyond.

May 22-25: MMC in New England

We're be in New England later this month!  Join us for ...

• a Community SING in Hartford, CT on Thursday evening, May 22
• a 1-Day Community Singing Workshop in Hudson, MA on Saturday, May 24
• a Community SING in Boston, MA on Sunday afternoon, May 25

Find all the details to register on the MMC website.

*Apr 24*: MSP MMC Gatherings

Music that Makes Community Twin Cities Metro Gathering

 

When:  Thursday, March 13, 2025, 3:30 p.m.

Where:  University Lutheran Church of Hope, Minneapolis

When:  Thursday, April 24, 3:30 p.m.

Where:  St. Timothy's Lutheran, St. Paul

MMC News: Fall 2024

Here's a quick roundup of Music that Makes Community (MMC) news of this moment.  

What's inside:

• Events: around Turtle Island and TC local
• Important resources
• A Vision
• And an invitation to contribute to our mission.  

Jul 25: MSP MMC gathering!

Music that Makes Community in Minneapolis-St. Paul!

WHEN:
Thursday, July 25, 2024 at 3:00pm - 4:30pm

WHERE:
University Lutheran Church of Hope
601 13th Ave SE
Minneapolis, MN 55414

If you are looking for a new way to foster vulnerability, trust and connection in your worship, meetings or gatherings… if you enjoy oral singing tradition… or if you need a place to rest your soul and be filled…

Join Conie Borchardt, Maria Anderson-Lippert and Liesl Spitz for a Paperless Singing Practice Group. This gathering is for anyone who loves to sing, churchy and non-churchy alike. 

Questions? Contact hello@musicthatmakescommunity.org

June 28: Community Sing for Sacred Lands

WHEN:  FRIDAY, JUNE 28, 7-8 P.M.

WHERE:  FAITH MENNONITE CHURCH, 

2720 22nd St, Minneapolis

Facebook event | MMC website

Come join song leaders Doe and Conie, from the Coalition to Dismantle the Doctrine of Discovery and Music that Makes Community, as they share songs submitted to their playlist project collaboration on Sacred Lands. The songs will connect to stories from the Coalition's growing network for Indigenous justice. For more information on the playlist project and/or to submit an original song, see here: https://tinyurl.com/sacredlandsplaylist

We will be indoors, so masks are strongly encouraged, as is taking a Covid test prior to attending.

This is an opportunity for local Twin Cities folks to connect with other members in the Coalition's national network for Indigenous justice and decolonization, as many of our members will be in the Twin Cities for our Annual Gathering June 28-July 1.

Oct 28: 2 MMC Events in Chicago!

We're pleased to be leading a couple of Music that Makes Community events in Chicago this fall!  Join us if you're in the area, or make a special trip into the Windy City!

#1 - Advent Worship Planning & More -- Facebook event

- When: Saturday, October 28 from 9 am to Noon

- Where: Bethany United Church of Christ (4250 N Paulina, Chicago)

Join fellow musicians, clergy, and lay leaders on Saturday, October 28 for a Half-Day Advent Worship Planning Workshop at Bethany United Church of Christ, Chicago. The time of singing and learning will be facilitated by Conie Borchardt from the Twin Cities, in collaboration with local MMC leaders.

We'll reflect on this expectant season of the liturgical year through songs that invite our communities into paperless, participatory expressions of praise and prayer. The final hour of the workshop will model creative approaches to Communion liturgy, using paperless practices to renew our experiences around the table.

REGISTRATION:
Registration fees are on a sliding scale, from $40 to $20 per person, which includes access to a song list and resource materials following the workshop. We ask you to pay what is generous and affordable for you, with gratitude for the time and skill of our presenters. Additional scholarship support is also available, if needed.

REGISTER HERE!

The workshop is supported by generous gifts from Bethany United Church of Christ, Chicago and First Congregational Church of Evanston.

#2 - Peace and Justice SING! -- Facebook event

- When:  Saturday, October 28 from 2 to 4 pm
- Where:  Borelli's Pizzeria (2124 W Lawrence Ave, Chicago)

Join Twin Cities song leader Conie Borchardt and singer/song-writer Charles Murphy for a Peace and Justice SING in Chicago on Saturday, October 28 from 2-4 pm.

When we sing, we connect with one another and with something larger than our individual selves. Join us for this uplifting experience of learning and collaboration, as we share songs that give voice to our collective yearnings for justice, freedom, and peace in our world. Bring a song to share and, by all means, bring friends who love to sing.

The event is free and open to all who love to sing, regardless of musical experience or training. Freewill donations are welcome and help support the work of Music that Makes Community.

Jul 27: Community Sing in Seattle - Songs for Your Body, On This Land

What:  A Community Sing in Seattle!  

Theme:  Songs For Your Body, On This Land

When:  Thursday, July 27, 2023

• 5p - Bring Your Own Picnic!
• 6-7:30p - SING!

Where:  Greenlake Park, Seattle, WA (see red pin on map for picnic & singing location, near Green Lake Boat Rental)  

Partners:  7400 Woodlawn Center for Community, Arts & Spirituality, Music that Makes Community, Good Trouble Songleading duo

Description:  

• Good Trouble, songleaders Conie Borchardt and Liz Digitale Anderson, will lead us!
• The registration fee is $5 - 20, but no one will be turned away.
• Register here, and use the COMMUNITY SING REGISTRATION in the drop down menu.
• In case of inclement weather, check back at our website - 7400Woodlawn.org/Events for location update.
• If you have questions, contact Harriet Platts at info@7400Woodlawn.org. 

More info and to register:  https://www.7400woodlawn.org/events

May collaborations with MMC

We collaborated with Music that Makes Community quite a bit this merry month of May!  Here's a selection of their posts:  

Celebrating Donald Schell's founding leadership!

Two events in Minnesota: a workshop on paperless practices for choirs and a community sing honoring Endangered Species Day at Good Courage Farm.  

Setlist for Breakout: Embodying Our Life Among God's Faithful People

Greetings!

If you're reading this you probably attended the 40-minute Embodying Our Life Among God's Faithful People workshop session at the East Central Wisconsin

Reading My Grandmother's Hands, Take 2022

It's time to read My Grandmother's Hands in community!  You are welcome to join us whether you have participated before or are newly joining us.  

We are organizing this reading with Music that Makes Community, an organization near and dear to our heart for their work to empower and liberate the spiritual life of communities through singing.  Check out more of their work here.

Groups start late in April and continue meeting every other week for eight 90-minute sessions.  Nine (!) scheduling options are available, including weekend and weekday evening.  See the details, select your best times, and register on this scheduling survey form: https://forms.gle/XErMmM9vkjCBG2wQ9.  

Read My Grandmother's Hands: Spring-Summer 2021

We're facilitating a book read of Resmaa Menakem's My  Grandmother's Hands: Racialized Trauma and the Pathway to Mending Our Hearts and Bodies*, with Music that Makes Community this spring-summer.

If you've read our Reflection for the UCC Musician's Association, then you know how transformative this book is.

Would you like join us?  

Here's the overview:

Spring 2021 Heart Song Dates!

What: Heart Songs: Lament, Longing, & Love (a community space for you to bring your heart and your voice)
When: alternating Mondays, 6:30-8p CDT (05-UTC)

• April 12 & 26
• May 10 & 24

Where: Online: https://zoom.us/j/431161455 (see call-in options below)

Gather for an informal singing time to re-center our hearts in community. Simple songs will be led paperlessly/taught by ear by Conie Borchardt, other song leaders, and you, if you have a song to share.

Join us. Bring friends. (Signup for the email reminder here; select Heart Songs)

Songs will be about the human experience and in that way, spiritual in nature, but not specifically religious.

This is a space intended for self-care, however that shifts for you in every moment. Bring water. Come and go. Sit in a chair, lie on the floor, or stand as you need to.


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Other Zoom options:
Meeting ID: 431 161 455

Winter 2021 dates for Heart Songs

What: Heart Songs: Lament, Longing, & Love (a community space for you to bring your heart and your voice)

When: alternating Mondays, 6:30-8p CDT (05-UTC)

• January 4 & 18
• February 1 & 15
• March 1 & 15 & 29

Where: Online: https://zoom.us/j/431161455 (see call-in options below)

Gather for an informal singing time to re-center our hearts in community. Simple songs will be led paperlessly/taught by ear by Conie Borchardt, other song leaders, and you, if you have a song to share.

Join us. Bring friends.  (Signup for the email reminder here; select Heart Songs)

Songs will be about the human experience and in that way, spiritual in nature, but not specifically religious.

This is a space intended for self-care, however that shifts for you in every moment. Bring water. Come and go. Sit in a chair, lie on the floor, or stand as you need to.


--
Other Zoom options:
Meeting ID: 431 161 455

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Sept 21: Leading "Morning Grounding: Awakening and Centering in Community" (MMC)

 

We'll be leading a few of these Monday morning gatherings for Music that Makes Community.  Join us for a weekly touchstone that includes singing, silence, sacred text, and community.  

What:  Morning Grounding:  Awakening & Centering in Community
When:  Mondays at 10a EDT (UTC-04) - 9a Central 
Where:  Online via Zoom.  Register here.

More details on facebook.

Here's the dates we'll be leading this space:  Sept 21 & Nov 2.  

Sept 2: Guest Leading the Community Video Live Hymn Sing

 

Hi folks, 

We have some friends, Paul and Elizabeth Damico-Carper, who have been hosting a nightly live hymnsing and prayer time since the beginning of the pandemic to foster virtual community and support.  The response and following has been so supportive and delightful.  Folks from all over the country watch and singalong.  They also speak of how they look forward to it and it being the highlight of their day.  

We in the midwest have be in pandemic precautions for almost 6 months.  Which is a long time to be producing and sustaining a daily mini-service.  We're glad they are taking time off and inviting other folks to take the reins from time to time.  Music that Makes Community is happy to be hosting Wednesday evenings from now on.  And we're delighted that MMC has invited us to host the Hymn Sing this Wednesday.  Here's the deets...

What:  Community Video Live Hymn Sing 
When:  Wednesday, September 2, 2020, 7 p.m. CDT (UTC-05)
Where:  Live stream from the Community Video Live Hymn Sing Facebook Page 

It's about 15-20 minutes long.  If you miss it, you can watch it in the page's video archive.

We'll be leading one of my songs as it fits the Daily Lectionary text from Luke.  Can you guess which one it might be? 

Here's a little sample of Paul and Elizabeth form last week for you to taste: 

 

We're excited to share in this time and hope you'll join us!