Check back for Annie’s recordings
of songs written for Threshold Choir
In August of 2010 I became aware of a singing opportunity that has led to a shift in the way I see my sharing of music.
Just a few months before, Doris Mogen and Sally Rothstein started up the Pikes Peak Threshold Singers (PPTS), following in the footsteps of the Threshold Choir started by Kate Munger in California in 2000. PPTS, like the 100 other choirs across the US and into Canada, provide comfort to people at life’s thresholds. Twice weekly, our local trios sing a cappella songs at the bedsides of people in hospice care, in hopes of easing pain, bringing peace and comforting ill and dying individuals and their families. This is not musical performance. Rather, it is a beautiful gift to hearts that need easing. Offering this service has provided me with innumerable rewards, the greatest of which is being welcomed into families’ most sacred spaces with loved ones at their thresholds of life.
This work is most amazing and enlightening, and the repertoire of songs from which we sing provides multiple mantras for the ways in which I believe I should be living my life. Our Colorado Springs newspaper, The Gazette, recently ran a story about our group where you can learn more.
To learn more about the Threshold Choir, arrange for singers to visit a loved one, or inquire about becoming a member, visit Thresholdchoir.org. This is a beautiful website that features everything from the history of the organization to links to choirs across the country. To arrange for singers in the Colorado Springs area, contact Threshold Choir.
To see what Threshold Choirs do for practice you could watch this video that shows me singing with Doris and Sally at the Threshold Choir gathering in April of 2012.
To learn more about our experiences in singing at bedsides, listen to this podcast, “The Gift of Song”, featuring Sally Rothstein and Annie being interviewed for New Orleans’ Death: the Podcast.