Day 38. Ascending to Imbolc. Music of the Gelflings

I’m weaving together some beautiful threads. A bit obsessively, and I’m not really sure where it’s going, but it’s really nurturing, and I wanted to share in case you wanted to explore too.

On day 17, I wrote about going to the woods and creating music as an offering, and on day 14 about The Dark Crystal and the Speak for the Dead scene.  The way the Gelflings come together in their grief touches something profound.

The mourning song that the Gelflings sing in their informal ritual has been ringing around and around in my head. It’s called Speak for the Dead by Daniel Pemberton. 

And I’ve been learning to sing and play it on the ukulele! 

Now, I am NOT a confident singer, and I struggle with holding my own notes when trying to sing in harmony, but the ukulele is the one instrument that I’ve found that helps my musicality come out of hiding.

Josh, my partner, is a classically trained singer, and (bless his patient heart) has been helping find how to do this thing - it seemed impossible a couple of days ago, but is slowly becoming a possible thing. As the part I can sing solidifies, I can hold it as Josh sings and harmonises too.

The inability to hold a note when other people start to sing in harmony feels symbolic to me - an inability to hold my path when I focus on what others are doing. I’ve worked on this a lot in ‘real’ life, it feels like a loop closing to practice this musically too. 

Here are some of the resources that are helping me learn the words, notes and how to use my voice to sing this sweet song. 

🌟 I found the score for Speak for the Dead on Musescore here 

🌟 And there’s a really useful ukulele/guitar/piano/mandolin chords play along here on ChordU 

🌟 Musician Priscilla Hernandez has done a beautiful cover of Speak for the Dead here 

Music is an offering  And a creative practice medicine for the soul…

If you are looking for more ritual in your life, The Everyday Mystic is my offering to help you find it! Check it out here 

Back to blog