Meet our Artists
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Sarina Partridge | Music
Sarina Partridge | Music
“Sarina has a knack for disarming defenses with playfulness and humor that works a certain kind of magic for drawing out creativity and building community. Her presence and teaching style create a container safe enough to feel things and go for it, and at the same time is compassionate, collaborative, and responsive to what folks fluid needs and curiosities. Our community is so lucky to have Sarina leading us in song.”
Stephani Pescitelli - MDiv, Theology & the Arts - community choir participant
Sarina Partridge is a musician, song-leader, educator and activist based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. She feels most alive when learning, creating and sharing songs -- especially songs that grow out of time spent in wild places. Sarina sings with a wide variety of music projects: community choir song-leading; singing/ playing with folk trio Heartwood; and performing and teaching of Eastern European and Yiddish song - her own musical lineage. As a COMPAS teaching artist, Sarina focuses on using collective singing and song-creating as tools for building and strengthening community.
Sarina has received grants for her composing and community songleading from the American Composers Forum, the Minnesota State Arts Board, Rimon, and Young Adults Leadership Action; and has been welcomed as an Artist-in-Residence by the University of Minnesota’s Cedar Creek Ecosystem Science Reserve in East Bethel MN, The Rabbit Island Foundation in Michigan, Slough Farm in Martha’s Vineyard, Tofte Lake Center in Ely MN, and Acadia National Park in Maine. She travels around the country and internationally performing and leading workshops teaching her original music with community groups, choirs, and school groups. Sarina has released one album of original music, ‘Songs to Re-Root &
Sarina's facilitation is reliably remarkable; I love being able to relax as a programmer, knowing my participants are in the best of hands. She has a gift for making people feel at ease, creating community effortlessly and with depth, and empowering people to find their voices even within one session together. Sarina invites space for people of all backgrounds to connect to the land as well as the big feelings of being human - joy, grief, hope, love, belonging - and my participants have spoken about how connected they feel to their bodies and each other after a song circle. I am confident that Sarina can welcome anyone in my community into the circle, and I can't thank her enough for the gifts she brings!
Riv Shapiro, Arts and Culture Producer at the Minnesota JCC
Sarina is especially skilled at working with groups that wouldn’t really consider themselves “singers” — using singing as an embodied practice for grounding ourselves in our bodies, in community, in shared work, in place. With Sarina, groups will be singing for joy and connection, not performance or perfection!
As a teaching artist, Sarina will work with your group to customize a program that fits your group. She can lead public all-ages community singing circles; nature-inspired songwriting workshops for school or community groups; facilitate singing for faculty or volunteer groups to open an organizational gathering; join a music or choral class for a residency to teach original songs and expand an existing singing group’s harmony-singing capacity; and more! More information on program offerings below.
Singing together connects us deeply — it’s a chance for us to experience the truth that every individual voice matters, AND we are a part of something bigger. Song is a powerful medium, often transcending spoken language; when endless facts detailing the crises of our era can leave us overwhelmed and unmoved, unsure of how and where to act, perhaps through singing, we can find our way back to being beautifully woven back into the whole.
Sample Programs: Customizable To Site’s Needs
Workshops
Community Song Circle
Participants will learn simple, satisfying, harmony-rich songs inspired by the wild without and within. Sarina will teach her engaging, original songs by ear in a welcoming, accessible way - all voices and ages welcome, no experience necessary, no need to read music or think of yourself as “a singer.” This workshop works beautifully in a community gathering space such as a library, community center, or senior center; intergenerational participation is definitely encouraged!
Songwriting in Collaboration with Nature
In this workshop, we will explore “listening in” for a song seed – a melodic or thematic song fragment that is trying to come through you. Participants will have time to seek inspiration in the natural world, spending a bit of time outdoors if that works for the group in terms of access needs and weather, and if not, we will draw on themes that speak to us from the natural world…
Next, people will develop their song seed into something that is singable and satisfying, both musically and emotionally. Once the basic song is formed, folks will have the opportunity to collaborate with each other, guided by Sarina, to add vocal harmony and/or additional instruments if desired. Let’s create together!
Singing for Strengthening Community
Imagine opening your next staff retreat, in-service day, community event, Earth Day celebration, etc… with an hour of skillfully facilitated community singing! Participants will get a chance to practice creativity, deep listening, play, and building new connections with each other through learning and singing simple, satisfying songs. Sarina will teach her engaging, original songs by ear in a welcoming, accessible way - all voices welcome, no need for folks to read music or think of themselves as “singers.”
Music/Choir Class Singing Workshop
Sarina will teach 1-4 original harmony songs to your music or choir class. Songs will be chosen to connect with the seasonal moment and themes that students can especially connect with. We will explore vocal harmony together, and also engage social-emotional learning skills; how does singing together make us feel? What skills do we practice when we sing - and listen - in harmony? All songs will be taught in the oral tradition, without sheet music.
Residencies
Music/ Choir Class Singing Residency
In this residency, we will go in-depth learning vocal harmony pieces and exploring elements of harmony singing. Sarina will teach 2-5 original harmony songs to your music or choir class, developing pieces over multiple sessions, perhaps building towards an outward-facing sharing or presentation. Songs will be chosen to connect with the seasonal moment and themes that students can especially connect with. We will explore vocal harmony together, and also engage social- emotional learning skills; how does singing together make us feel? What skills do we practice when we sing - and listen - in harmony? All songs will be taught in the oral tradition, without sheet music.
