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       Singing for Well Being

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6/25/2024 0 Comments

151. Deeper

« PreviousNext »
Song Learning Time Stamps:
Start time of teaching: 00:03:03
Start time of reprise: 00:12:16

Lyrics:

​Here in the place I am,
I drop in a little deeper.

All I've known and the ways I've grown,
I take in a little deeper.

To live and to give from a place
that's a little deeper.
​
I want to live from a place
that's a little deeper;
I want to give from a place
that's a little deeper
Picture
Song: Deeper
Music by: Meg O'Dell Chittenden

​Notes: I was stymied when I came to the point in the podcast where I explain why I chose this song... because to me it simply is exactly the way I'm trying to live. It's like Meg O'Dell Chittenden went in my brain and named what was happening! Do you find songs like that -- ones that simply speak your truth so clearly that singing them feels like naming your very own core? It reassures me that I am not alone...

Songwriter Info: Meg loves helping people access their innate capacity for healing, connection, and joy. She is a somatic coach, supporting individuals and couples in growth, transformation, and healing. Because she's always found the voice, and especially singing in harmony with others, to be a particularly powerful pathway for connection with ourselves and the world around us, she delights in serving as a music teacher, song leader, and vocal mentor. She hosts an annual adult and family singing retreat on the coast of Maine called SongWeavers. In addition, Meg is an Adjunct Professor for Antioch University's Graduate Program for Waldorf Teachers and for the Center for Anthroposophy's Waldorf High School Teacher Education Program. Her sources of inspiration include the small, misty mountain that overlooks her home and singing with her children, Clancy and Celia.
​
Sharing Info:
The song is free to share but Meg always welcomes financial and/or networking support if/when folks are so moved.
​
Song Learning Time Stamps:
Start time of teaching: 00:03:03
Start time of reprise: 00:12:16

Links:
Meg's Website: www.singwaldorf.com
​Meg’s A Breath of Song songwriter conversation: 
https://www.abreathofsong.com/episodes--show-notes/135-what-would-it-take-with-guest-meg-odell-chittenden​

Nuts & Bolts: 4:4, minor with a major V7 chord, 4-layers

Join the A Breath of Song Mailing list to receive a heads up as a new episode is released, plus a large version of the artwork, brief thoughts from my slightly peculiar brain... and occasional extras when they seem vitally important! No junk -- I will never sell your address. I read out all your names into my living room when I send new mailings... I appreciate the connection to you who are listening and singing these songs with me.

Exchange energy with A Breath of Song with dollars at the Gratitude Jar, or by making comments, leaving reviews, suggesting songs or songwriters (including yourself) ..... your participation matters!
0 Comments

6/17/2024 0 Comments

150. The Change with guest Mary Cohen

« PreviousNext »
Song Learning Time Stamps:
Start time of teaching: 00:05:45
Start time of reprise: 01:07:58

​Lyrics:


Who, who do we
want to become?
We want to be the change
that we want to see,
to see in the world.
Who--oo, ooooo.


(based on Gandhi's quote "Be the change you wish to see in the world.")

Picture
Song: The Change
Music by: Mary L. Cohen

​Notes: “My dad played the copper fish mold.” — aren’t you curious now? Listen in as Mary Cohen and I explore family music, personal structures for improvisation, creating connections between incarcerated and not-incarcerated people, and more… We wander a bit through grief and disconnection and finding what is, in a conversation that’s real and messy and touches on fear and joy, building a caring community for ourselves, our neighbors, the global world… living with regret and streaming grace to the person we were when we made a mistake; restoring connection. It’s a glimpse of the rich variety of resources Mary draws on as she shapes her life… I hope to add some into mine.

Songwriter Info: Mary L. Cohen, Professor of Music Education at the University of Iowa, is lead author of Music-Making in U.S. Prisons: Listening to Incarcerated Voices (2022). She co-founded the International Music and Justice Network: IMAJIN Caring Communities, a group of researchers from 18 countries who study music-making in prisons, and you are welcome to join by contacting Mary to get on the group email list ([email protected]). From 2009 to 2020 she led the Oakdale Community Choir with incarcerated and non-incarcerated participants where participants have written over 150 songs, and the Oakdale Choir performed over 75 of these songs, available with the Creative Commons License. To continue working toward the choir’s goals of building communities of caring through singing and songwriting, she founded the Inside Outside Songwriting Collaboration Project where partnerships between incarcerated and non-incarcerated songwriters create original songs, build relationships, and learn about transformative and generative justice. She has been a keynote for conferences in Germany, Canada, and Portugal, interviewed by the BBC3 Music Matters, and has over 40 publications in journal articles, book chapters, and conference proceedings. She leads weekly music groups inside the Juvenile Detention Center of Linn County.
​
Sharing Info: 
The song is free to share, and Mary welcomes networking support and invites you to further your education and activism regarding environmental justice, restorative/transformative/generative justice, and simply acting with kindness to all you encounter.
​
Song Learning Time Stamps:
Start time of teaching: 00:05:45
Start time of reprise: 01:07:58

Links: 
  • Oakdale Community Choir website: https://oakdalechoir.lib.uiowa.edu/
  • Dave Camlin's new book is Music-Making and Civic Imagination: A Holistic Philosophy. His website: https://www.davecamlin.com/civic
  • There is a new 30 minute documentary film by Daniel Kolen about the Oakdale Community Choir called "The Inside Singers." The 3 minute preview of the film is available at https://vimeo.com/169192145.
  • Iowa PBS did a short 8'30" video story on the Oakdale Community Choir. Find it here: https://www.pbs.org/video/the-oakdale-community-choir-coralville-iowa-bfe7bd/
  • Andy Douglas, local Iowa City nonfiction & spiritual author wrote Redemption Songs: A Year in the Life of a Community Prison Choir about his experiences singing in the Oakdale Community Choir
  • Forthcoming (fall 2024) book by mother of filmmaker Daniel Kolen who created "The Inside Singers", Amy Kolen wrote Inside Voices: A Prison Choir, My Mother, and Me
  • For people interested in abolition of the prison industrial complex, here are some good resources:
    • Mariam Kaba's We Do This Til We Free Us
    • University of Santa Cruz's Visualizing Abolition resources (including the Music for Abolition collection)
    • Critical Resistance online at https://criticalresistance.org/
    • The book Mary wrote with Stuart Paul Duncan Music-Making in US Prisons: Listening to Incarcerated Voices
  • To hear two versions of the Oakdale Community Choir performing "The Change" visit https://oakdalechoir.lib.uiowa.edu/original-works/
    • Most recent one was December 14, 2016 concert themed "Look on the Bright Side" track 13
    • The first version was Fall 2014 and is available under "Original works" link (scroll down a bit) along with the Fall 2016 version. The simple score of the song is available on that link too.
  • Voice Science Works with lots of tools for voice habitation: https://www.voicescienceworks.org/
  • "The Real Work" (song) by Gretchen Sleicher, words by Wendell Berry https://songsforthegreatturning.net/originals/therealwork/
  • InterPlay: An active creative way to unlock the wisdom of the body founded by Phil Porter & Cynthia Winton-Henry
  • Music for People: A free improvisation program founded by David Darling (whose niece Emily Darling was Mary Cohen's first yoga teacher & owns Darling Yoga in Overland Park, Kansas)
  • Sandy Kemp: Sending Healing streams of Grace. Sandy is an educator, healer, intuitive, mentor, and nurturer.
  • Plantiful Pantry 
​
Nuts & Bolts: 6:8, minor, round

Join the A Breath of Song Mailing list to receive a heads up as a new episode is released, plus a large version of the artwork, brief thoughts from my slightly peculiar brain... and occasional extras when they seem vitally important! No junk -- I will never sell your address. I read out all your names into my living room when I send new mailings... I appreciate the connection to you who are listening and singing these songs with me.  https://dashboard.mailerlite.com/forms/335811/81227018071442567/share

Exchange energy with A Breath of Song with dollars at the Gratitude Jar (whoo-hoo!!!!), or by making comments, leaving reviews, suggesting songs or songwriters (including yourself) ..... your participation matters!  https://www.abreathofsong.com/gratitude-jar.html
0 Comments

6/10/2024 2 Comments

149. May My Tears Water a Sapling

« PreviousNext »
Song Learning Time Stamps:
Start time of teaching: 00:03:48
Start time of reprise: 00:18:20

​Lyrics:

May my tears water a sapling,
May my life support its growth,
May I walk with care and healing
for new life upon the earth.

May our breath move with the Spirit,
flowing free around the earth,
May we listen to the sunshine,
and feel the moon reflect our worth.


(based on the last line of a poem
​"Not Our Trees" by Laura Weber)
Picture
Song: May My Tears Water a Sapling
Music by: Mary L. Cohen

​Notes: Mary Cohen's huge heart and willingness to do big work in the world shines through in this song, with lyrics sparked by the 2020 midwestern derecho with devastated so many trees. When we talk in next week's songwriter conversation, the depth of Mary's passion for how singing can support and feed change is evident. I hope you can join us as we explore the US prison-industrial complex and music, the role of mentorship, and how self-care can adapt. In this episode, I invite you to experiment a bit, finding musical touchstones as a way into harmonizing. In the links, you'll find several different arrangement/performances you can listen to for other harmonizing ideas, if that's up your alley.

Songwriter Info: Mary L. Cohen, Associate Professor of Music Education at the University of Iowa, is lead author of Music-Making in U.S. Prisons: Listening to Incarcerated Voices (2022). She co-founded the International Music and Justice Network: IMAJIN Caring Communities, a group of researchers from 18 countries who study music-making in prisons, and you are welcome to join by contacting Mary to get on the group email list ([email protected]). From 2009 to 2020 she led the Oakdale Community Choir with incarcerated and non-incarcerated participants where participants have written over 150 songs, and the Oakdale Choir performed over 75 of these songs, available with the Creative Commons License. To continue working toward the choir’s goals of building communities of caring through singing and songwriting, she founded the Inside Outside Songwriting Collaboration Project where partnerships between incarcerated and non-incarcerated songwriters create original songs, build relationships, and learn about transformative and generative justice. She has been a keynote for conferences in Germany, Canada, and Portugal, interviewed by the BBC3 Music Matters, and has over 40 publications in journal articles, book chapters, and conference proceedings. She leads weekly music groups inside the Juvenile Detention Center of Linn County.
​
Sharing Info: 
The song is free to share, and Mary welcomes networking support and invites you to further your education and activism regarding environmental justice, restorative/transformative/generative justice, and simply acting with kindness to all you encounter.
​
Song Learning Time Stamps:
Start time of teaching: 00:03:48
Start time of reprise: 00:18:20

Links: 
Oakdale Community Choir website: https://oakdalechoir.lib.uiowa.edu/
"Not Our Trees" by Laura Weber: https://prairiewoods.org/not-our-trees/
Outside singers (non-incarcerated choir members) from the Oakdale Community Choir (now disbanded because the current warden will not allow it to restart) performed "May My Tears Water a Sapling" at the Anne Frank Tree Planting Ceremony from April 29, 2022, on the University of Iowa Pentacrest. You can see this performance that begins with a powerful spoken word piece by Jhe Russell at 1:14 on this YouTube video.

Nuts & Bolts: 3:4, Major, unison with optional harmonies

Join the A Breath of Song Mailing list
(https://dashboard.mailerlite.com/forms/335811/81227018071442567/share)  to receive a heads up as a new episode is released, plus a large version of the artwork, brief thoughts from my slightly peculiar brain... and occasional extras when they seem vitally important! No junk -- I will never sell your address. I read out all your names into my living room when I send new mailings... I appreciate the connection to you who are listening and singing these songs with me.

Exchange energy with A Breath of Song with dollars at the Gratitude Jar
(https://www.abreathofsong.com/gratitude-jar.html) (whoo-hoo!!!!), or by making comments, leaving reviews, suggesting songs or songwriters (including yourself) ..... your participation matters!
2 Comments

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All original art by Patty Piotrowski,
pocket song singer
Logo by Patricia Norton,
aided and abetted by Hannah Gross
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​©2024 Juneberry Music, LLC

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