Episodes

  • 166. Breathe
    Oct 30 2024

    Song: Breathe Music by: Batya Levine

    Notes: This was the song I needed to sing to help myself through the pre-election moment... building trust in myself to navigate whatever comes next, tap into the energy to work up to the last moment to effect the change I hope for. Batya Levine is an incredibly heart-sourced song composer, and they'll be releasing a new album in December... check out their website and get on the list to know when it appears -- it's sure to be wonderful, and "Breathe" will be on it -- and you'll know it!

    Songwriter Info: Batya Levine (they/them) uses song as a tool for cultivating healing and resilience in their work as a communal song leader, shaliach tzibur (Jewish prayer leader) and cultural organizer. Batya is a co-founder and Director of Programs at Let My People Sing!, and they compose original music made of Ashkenazi yearning, queer heart-medicine, and emunah (faith). Batya is releasing their second album, Yivarechecha, in December 2024 through Rising Song Records.

    Sharing Info: The song is free to share but Batya always welcomes financial and/or networking support if/when folks are so moved.

    Song Learning Time Stamps: Start time of teaching: 00:03:34 Start time of reprise: 00:20:13

    Links:

    Batya's website: https://www.batyalevine.com

    Nuts & Bolts: 4:4, minor, 3-layer

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    24 mins
  • 165. Heaven Above, Earth Below with guest Becky Graber
    Oct 23 2024

    Song: Heaven Above, Earth Below Music by: Becky Graber

    Notes: Becky Graber let her unconscious speak during our conversation, and when I asked what she knows about herself right now, she said, "I am a breath of air on the earth" -- and then laughed a little in surprise and delight. The song she teaches also came from delighted awareness of the place of the body between heaven and earth -- plus a little tai-chi. Becky and I share a wonderfully rambly conversation about shedding old identities and making space, wanting to allow things to bloom rather than push them, and threshold times. We also take a lot of time with this three verse song, including playing with harmonies. You'll hear me making mistakes as I learn and play with harmonies -- but hopefully you won't notice it too much, because you'll be singing right along, too! The goal of this podcast is to encourage you to keep stepping into the power and beauty of your own voice, something Becky Graber has many years of experience at helping people do...

    Songwriter Info: Becky Graber has lived her life professionally centered around music and storytelling, teaching and performing, and a heart-drive towards healing and coming to centered generosity. She is the founder and director of the Brattleboro (VT) Women's Chorus.

    Sharing Info: The song is free to share in oral tradition groups, but please contact Becky for recording and/or performing permission.

    Song Learning Time Stamps: Start time of teaching: 00:04:58 Start time of reprise: 01:15:20

    Links:

    Becky's website: www.beckygraber.com

    Brattleboro Women's Chorus website: www.brattleborowomenschorus.org

    Psychospiritual paths like psychosynthesis – Roberto Assagioli: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychosynthesis

    The Diamond Approach – H.M. Almaas: https://www.diamondapproach.org/

    Helen Yeomans: https://www.abreathofsong.com/episodes--show-notes/156-we-got-all-the-love

    Natural Voices Network: https://www.naturalvoice.net/

    Lisa Littlebird’s library: https://thebirdsings.com/song-library/

    Velma Frye: https://www.velmafryemusic.com/

    Song “Take Heart, Take Part, with lyrics “Participation is gonna save the human race” – Pete Seeger quote set by Becky Reardon: https://beckyreardonmusic.com/product/take-heart-take-part/

    “Spes” by Mia Makaroff – Latin & Sami: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HKeikhsVynM

    Gaia Music Collective in NYC: https://www.eventbrite.com/o/gaia-music-collective-44369305153

    Choir! Choir! Choir!: https://choirchoirchoir.com/

    Gareth Malone with “The Choir” on BBC: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b008y125

    Ry Cooder “Jazz” album with red cover and black letters: https://open.spotify.com/album/3Z6RuwMcmDMgBJsZ01Ouhf

    Buena Vista Social Club: https://www.buenavistasocialclub.com/

    Bobby McFerrin: https://bobbymcferrin.com/

    Nuts & Bolts: 4:4, Major (Ionian), 3 verses

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    1 hr and 25 mins
  • 164. Fly Away
    Oct 16 2024

    Song: Fly Away Music by: Becky Graber

    Notes: Becky Graber really captured that feeling I get sometimes when I'm so uncomfortable, I want to simply fly away... when you are seeking something that feels trustworthy, and it feels elusive. I taught this in an unusual way for A Breath of Song, using solfege to identify the very different ranges of each of the four parts... you may find that useful, or not -- let go of anything doesn't serve you! Next week, Becky and I get to dig into a conversation with both of us here in my basement workspace... newsletter subscribers will see the pairsie (what do you really call a selfie with two?) As a songleader who started a chorus that has felt like mutual nourishment for almost 30 years, Becky has a perspective on group singing that is unique, and I really enjoyed exploring this experience with her.

    Songwriter Info: Becky Graber has lived her life professionally centered around music and storytelling, teaching and performing, and a heart-drive towards healing and coming to centered generosity. She is the founder and director of the Brattleboro (VT) Women's Chorus.

    Sharing Info: The song is free to share in oral tradition groups, but please contact Becky for recording and/or performing permission.

    Song Learning Time Stamps: Start time of teaching: 00:03:00 Start time of reprise: 00:16:44

    Links:

    Becky's website: www.beckygraber.com

    Brattleboro Women's Chorus website: www.brattleborowomenschorus.org

    Nuts & Bolts: 4:4, Major (Ionian), 4 part layer

    Join this community of people who love to use song to help navigate life? Absolutely: https://dashboard.mailerlite.com/forms/335811/81227018071442567/share

    Help us keep going: reviews, comments, encouragement, plus contributions... we float on your support. https://www.abreathofsong.com/gratitude-jar.html

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    20 mins
  • 163. Radiate
    Oct 2 2024

    Song: Radiate Music by: Lisa Piccirillo

    Notes: Going epic this week -- we learn the chorus to Lisa Piccirillo's song, Radiate, with just me and the piano...and then when we're feeling solid, blow our socks off by singing along with her huge soundtrack! If you love the song, then there are links to find it in Bandcamp, etc, just below! I particularly love the way the word "radiate" is the most intimate in the entire chorus -- it feels like a world of confidence and self-connection right there... Enjoy -- I certainly did!!

    Songwriter Info: Lisa Piccirillo almost gave up on songwriting, but the muse wouldn’t let her. The inspiration for her latest record came to her as a vision: the silhouette of a woman, backlit by the sun, alongside the word RADIATE. Fueled by this idea and the desire to reclaim her creative identity, Lisa devoted herself to daily songwriting sessions at sunrise and the new record was born. An unapologetically loud follow-up to her mellow and folky 2008 debut (momentum), RADIATE chronicles Lisa’s vast emotional landscape with her signature blend of vulnerable songwriting and powerhouse vocals.

    Sharing Info: The song is free to share but Lisa always welcomes financial and/or networking support if/when folks are so moved.

    Song Learning Time Stamps: Start time of teaching: 00:02:03 Start time of reprise: 00:13:57

    Links:

    Website: www.lisapmusic.com

    Linktree: https://linktr.ee/lisapiccirillo

    Tickets for Radiate Release Event Oct 19th 2024: https://tinyurl.com/48t8dna7

    Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/7GJmGSN3Era6CJspcpMMY4?si=PFoGHPmUTQOVLYSJv0UlNg

    Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/us/artist/lisa-piccirillo/289758509

    Bandcamp: https://lisapiccirillo.bandcamp.com/

    Instagram: www.instagram.com/lisapiccirillo

    YouTube: www.youtube.com/lisapmusic

    Facebook: www.facebook.com/lisapmusic

    Nuts & Bolts: 4:4, major, unison

    Join this community of people who love to use song to help navigate life? Absolutely: https://dashboard.mailerlite.com/forms/335811/81227018071442567/share

    Help us keep going: reviews, comments, encouragement, plus contributions... we float on your support. https://www.abreathofsong.com/gratitude-jar.html

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    16 mins
  • 162. Ribbon 3: Joyful Power
    Sep 25 2024

    The Sunday after this episode is released, September 29th, 2024, at 4 p.m. Eastern time, there will be an online gathering of folk who use song to help navigate life -- and we'll sing through this Ribbon of Songs with live-looping! To learn more, click here, or sign up right now to join us!

    Lyrics ​& Links to the original episodes for the songs in this ribbon.

    Note: Angela Gabriel has made a melody change (which she can, right? Her song!) to We Were Made for These Times -- I made a new recording for this ribbon of songs, reflecting this update. If you click here, it will go to a teaching youtube video she created (which wonderfully includes the full lyrics...) https://youtu.be/kZfD7YbZJew?feature=shared

    2. Put Your Roots Down

    by Molly Hartwell

    Put your roots down,

    put your feet on the ground,

    can you hear what she says

    when you listen?

    (2x)

    ‘Cause the

    sound of the river,

    as it moves across the stone

    is the

    same sound as the

    blood in your body

    as it moves across your bones.

    Are you listening?

    The title link goes to Molly Hartwell singing her original… but as she has given her blessing to the “telephone” versions that have travelled around, I am still singing (more or less) the version I learned from Lisa Littlebird in 2019…

    99. Turning Wheel

    by Lisa Littlebird

    There’s a wheel that is turning,

    calling me into my power.

    There’s a wheel that is turning,

    calling me into my voice.

    It’s turning, we’re learning

    to stand inside our hearts.

    It’s turning, we’re learning

    to stand in love.

    I will not be silent.

    121. Make Good Trouble

    by Elizabeth Melvin

    words inspired by John Lewis

    Stand up and make good trouble

    Speak up and make good trouble

    Get up and make good trouble

    Rise up and make good trouble

    Never, ever be afraid

    to make some noise, make some noise

    This is the struggle,

    the struggle of a lifetime

    (Make good trouble)

    86. We Were Made For These Times

    text by Clarissa Pinkola Estés

    music by Angela Gabriel

    Don’t lose heart,

    We were made for these times.

    (3x)

    Show your soul,

    it shines like gold in these dark times.

    Don’t lose hope….

    Don’t give up….

    The link goes to Angela’s own recording… Here it is as a podcast episode.

    46. We Are The Way

    by Christine Kick

    Celebrate the difference, celebrate the distance,

    celebrate the love, celebrate this brand new

    way. We are the way.

    We are the way… we are the way!!!

    All night and every day

    we bring the love, we bring the love.

    Join this community of people who love to use song to help navigate life? Absolutely: https://dashboard.mailerlite.com/forms/335811/81227018071442567/share

    Help us keep going: reviews, comments, encouragement, plus contributions... we float on your support. https://www.abreathofsong.com/gratitude-jar.html

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    26 mins
  • 161. Good Friend
    Sep 18 2024

    Song: Good Friend Music by: Jan Harmon

    Notes: Both harbor and freedom, connection and release, seasons and timelessness. Jan Harmon's song, written in 1985, has generous space for harmonies, and impels us singers forward, as though we were the sail catching the wind. I love the feeling of holding and letting go as I sing this song -- it helps me grieve, helps rejoice, helps me open, helps me curl up... I wonder what you will experience as you sing it with me?

    Songwriter Info: Jan Harmon (1940-1993) was a published poet, a writer of short stories and biographical non-fiction, as well as a prolific composer of choral music, topical songs, ballads, rounds, musicals, and instrumental pieces. She was born in Saginaw, Michigan and lived in many places from southern California to Maine.

    Sharing Info: When sharing in a money-making venture, like a workshop, class, or performance, please contact Scott at Harmon Publishing for permission and rates: https://harmonpublishing.com/contact.php

    Song Learning Time Stamps: Start time of teaching: 00:02:47 Start time of reprise: 00:16:25

    Links: Song info on the Harmon Publishing website (including a sheet music PDF): https://www.harmonpublishing.com/jan/music/library/good-friend

    Nuts & Bolts: 2:2, minor, round

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    18 mins
  • 160. (O Spirit) Guide Me to Those I Need with guest Aimée Ringle
    Sep 11 2024
    Song: (O Spirit) Guide Me to Those I Need Music by: Aimée Ringle Notes: If you've run across Aimée Ringle's work, you know her wicked musical skills, her exuberant, high-energy presence, her huge heart and desire to be of service... and you may not yet know how she grew into her voice, the questions she asks herself around how best to contribute to songcircles, her deep desire for village community, and questions about how to make that real in the here and now. We dig a little into one of the hard conversations in songcircles or any group situation where people bring varying skill levels -- how can people of varying skill levels feel welcome and find space and satisfaction as they are? We talk about what Aimée finds she needs to be able to let songs come through and more! Aimée shares the story of how O Spirit came through and we sing it both with guitar and in an up-close and personal way. It's a big episode because we let our conversation spread out, enjoying the end of summer and a sense of expansiveness. I hope you, too, find that pleasure of connection when you join us. Songwriter Info: Aimée Ringle is a singer, multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, song-leader, and storyteller. She has an invigorating teaching style that is enriched by her capable percussion and guitar skills. Aimée’s work as a song-leader and storyteller have woven her into an ever widening community of cultural shifters around the country in the realms of sustainable agriculture, alternative education, community living, healing, creativity, and spiritual exploration ~ all of which are reflected in the songs she carries. As a song-leader, Aimée’s work and example have become a valued part of several Ancestral skills gatherings including Winter Count, Spirit Weavers and Sharpening Stone. Sharing Info: The song is free to share in oral tradition groups, but please contact Aimée for recording and/or performing permission. She says: "For now, the song is just the chorus, but I am paying attention to its evolution and leaving space for the possibility of verses, etc. But this will not be a group process and I'm not inviting unsolicited creative ideas in this process." Song Learning Time Stamps: Start time of teaching: 00:03:53 Start time of reprise: 01:34:28 Links: Aimée's website: www.aimeeringlemusic.com Aimée's YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/AiméeRingle Aimée's O Spirit video on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/p/C8wzISTpTsh Aimée's Bandcamp: https://aimeeringle.bandcamp.com Earth Practice: https://www.instagram.com/earthpracticemusic/ Tone Home by Elijah Ray: https://soundcloud.com/entheo/tone-home?in=l29rjc61w9os/sets/the-upload-1 I'm My Own Walkman by Bobby McFerrin: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u8DUi9RCTiQ Samara Jade: https://www.instagram.com/samara_jade_music/ Three Wheels Turning: https://threewheelsturning.com/ "We are what we repeatedly do." Aristotle interpreted by Will Durant: https://blogs.umb.edu/quoteunquote/2012/05/08/its-a-much-more-effective-quotation-to-attribute-it-to-aristotle-rather-than-to-will-durant/ The Sharpening Stone: https://www.instagram.com/thesharpeningstone/ Laurence Cole: https://www.laurencecole.com/ Liz Rog: https://www.facebook.com/liz.rog1/ Shireen Amini: https://shireenamini.com/music Song Village: https://www.songvillage.net/ Emergent Strategy and Holding Change by Adrienne Maree Brown: https://adriennemareebrown.net/book/emergent-strategy/, https://adriennemareebrown.net/book/holding-change-2/ Billie Eilish: https://www.instagram.com/billieeilish/ Ganavya: https://www.instagram.com/ganavya Nuts & Bolts: 4:4, Aeolian, unison chant Join this community of people who love to use song to help navigate life? Absolutely: https://dashboard.mailerlite.com/forms/335811/81227018071442567/share Help us keep going: reviews, comments, encouragement, plus contributions... we float on your support. https://www.abreathofsong.com/gratitude-jar.html
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    1 hr and 37 mins
  • 159. The Ambulance Song
    Sep 4 2024

    Song: The Ambulance Song Music by: Aimée Ringle "Ooo Love" part by: Laurence Cole

    Notes: We live on a busy road, not far from a fire station -- an ambulance is not an unusual sight -- and thanks to Aimée Ringle, I have the perfect song to wish the people involved well... and now you do, too! Next week, Aimée and I talk about the tender place music is able to open up, how someone with considerable musical skills and experience finds how they, too, can be included in community singing... how we are what we repeatedly do, and what that means for Aimée. She is generous, vulnerable, clear-sighted, and willing to name her own challenges. I hope you can join us... but before that, please enjoy adding this song to your personal repertoire!

    Songwriter Info: Aimée Ringle is a singer, multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, song-leader, and storyteller. She has an invigorating teaching style that is enriched by her capable percussion and guitar skills. Aimée’s work as a song-leader and storyteller have woven her into an ever widening community of cultural shifters around the country in the realms of sustainable agriculture, alternative education, community living, healing, creativity, and spiritual exploration ~ all of which are reflected in the songs she carries. As a song-leader, Aimée’s work and example have become a valued part of several Ancestral skills gatherings including Winter Count, Spirit Weavers and Sharpening Stone.

    Sharing Info: Yes -- The song is free to share in oral tradition groups, but please contact Aimée for recording and/or performing permission.

    Song Learning Time Stamps: Start time of teaching: 00:04:12 Start time of reprise: 00:17:38

    Links: Aimée's website: www.aimeeringlemusic.com

    Aimée's YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/AiméeRingle

    The Ambulance Song video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7b6WxqtlIbo

    Aimée's Bandcamp: https://aimeeringle.bandcamp.com

    Laurence Cole's website: https://www.laurencecole.com

    Nuts & Bolts: 3:4, Aeolian, 4-part

    Join this community of people who love to use song to help navigate life? Absolutely: https://dashboard.mailerlite.com/forms/335811/81227018071442567/share

    Help us keep going: reviews, comments, encouragement, plus contributions... we float on your support. https://www.abreathofsong.com/gratitude-jar.html

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    21 mins