Song: Breath By Breath
Music by: Juliana Murphy

Notes: There is so much joy and delight in the holiday seasons -- and there can also be so much grief and loss. The air is thick with the smells of sugar and memories, we are in contact (or not) with folk with whom we carry long histories, and sometimes it's really hard to show up as we are now. I love this song of Juliana's for the full acceptance of grief: "I will allow my heart to be broken." And I love the way that very allowing unsticks feelings, so they become a river flowing, a soul opening... and I love the way she gives a concrete way to do all this: "breath by breath, steady and slow." This song helps me be wiser about allowing my full self to include my grief -- and reminds me that breath by breath, that grief can be a gentle, soul-opening presence. 

Songwriter Info: Juliana Murphy (she/they) comes to the circle with a lifelong love of singing and a library of original and collected songs that connect us to ourselves, nature, and the cycles and rhythms of being a human on this planet. She brings a deep desire to sing a more beautiful, inclusive, loving, sustainable, and delightful world into being. Juliana is co-founder of the Monsoon Seed Choir and Chrysalis Choir, co-tends the Tucson Community Song Circle, is a graduate of the Littlebird Songleader Flight School for community songleading and is a member of the Ubuntu Choirs Network.

Sharing Info: Juliana says: "This song being carries potent medicine for moving grief. It is most supportive when sung within a container of care, both individually and in community. If you plan to perform or record it with the intent to sell, please contact me for permission."

Song Learning Time Stamps:
Start time of teaching: 00:03:22
Start time of reprise: 00:15:51

Links:
Website: https://www.julianamurphy.com/
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/cw/julianamurphy
Community Singing Offerings: https://www.tucsonsongcircle.com/
SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/jumutx 

Nuts & Bolts: 3:4, major, 2-layer

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​The Sunday after this episode is released, November 23rd, 2025, 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.

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Song: Set Us Free
Music by: Elise Witt

Notes: Elise is an inventive songleader and huge heart in Georgia, USA, whom I met online during the pandemic doing vocal improv with our shared teacher, Rhiannon... but I had been in contact with her before then because I wanted to sing a song of hers with my community chorus. Here, she has set words from the Rev. Timothy McDonald, calling us to the kind of integrity that gives freedom. I teach the song a capella, so you can sing with just my voice -- and then do it with piano at the end, so you can experience it that way -- and then if you follow the shownote links, you can sing it in Spanish and English with Elise, Judith & Lisset Rodés -- Lisset wrote the Spanish words... and it's a little slower, a little more legato than I sang it. I love it when there's a chance to compare different versions of the same song!

Songwriter Info: Elise’s concerts of Global, Local & Homemade Songs™ and her Impromptu Glorious Chorus™ workshops create and connect singing communities around the world. Born in Switzerland, raised in NC, and living in Atlanta since 1977, Elise speaks 5 languages fluently and sings in at least a dozen more. The Elise Witt Choral Series features choral arrangements of her original compositions and she recently published All Singing, a songbook with 58 original songs including music notation, lyrics and chords, stories and photos.
A founding member of Atlanta’s Theatrical Outfit, Elise spent many years as a Resident Artist, visiting communities around the state of Georgia and the Southeast, teaching global music and writing local songs with students of all ages.
From 2009 until 2024 Elise served as Director of Music Programs at the Global Village Project, a non-profit, special purpose middle school for teenage refugee girls in Decatur Georgia, for which she published Imagine A Circle: The Global Village Songbook, Using Singing and Songwriting to teach English for Multi-lingual learners.
Elise currently gathers singers of all persuasions in joyous circles, and continues her global touring.

Sharing Info: Elise says: "I always love to share songs in oral (by ear) tradition and I'd love to hear from you how and with whom you share the song...
AND the song is also available as a choral arrangement (SATB, SSAA, TTBB) on my website https://elisewitt.com/web/ewcs-choral-music/"
​
Song Learning Time Stamps:
Start time of teaching: 00:02:49
Start time of reprise: 00:15:29

Links:
Website: www.EliseWitt.com 
A glimpse of what I do: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e0YHTe_Q7bE&feature=youtu.be 
All Singing: The Elise Witt Songbook: https://elisewitt.com/web/product-category/songbook/
“Jenny Jenkins” global community music/art video created for DAS Year 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QCmNNZIVZkw&t=2s
“Ready or Not” global community music/art video created for DAS Year 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UNsUsSobImw&t=11s 
Imagine A Circle: The Global Village Project Songbook: https://elisewitt.com/web/gvp-songbook/ 
Elise's Bandcamp: https://www.BandCamp.com/EliseWitt 
Choral arrangements by Elise: https://elisewitt.com/web/ewcs-choral-music/ 
Choral arrangements for Set Us Free in particular: https://elisewitt.com/web/product/set-us-free/ 
Spanish and English version of Set Us Free in concert: https://youtu.be/L5IjAhJZyOo?si=5WIleerpseLX_rxo 

Nuts & Bolts: 4:4, major, many verses

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Song: In This House
Music by: Karisha Longaker of MaMuse

Notes: Today we get “right in the river, totally listening, totally all in” with MaMuse, the duo of Sorah Nutting and Karisha Longaker, whose description of songcatching is what I just quoted. I came out of our conversation thinking about so many things -- how we see and appreciate those we love, kindness as our common wealth, danceable songs, being led by feeling and what's insanely fun, and especially house rules for how we be in the world... which comes from "In This House." I was singing harmony with them by the time we sang the song the second time, so you'll hear me making stuff up... partly because of the big, beautiful permission Karisha and Sorah give each other and us to celebrate creativity. I hope you feel that extra space and encouragement, too, after you sing with us!

Songwriter Info: MaMuse (“Ma” as in Mamma; “Muse” as in the one who inspires) was born out of a collaboration between songwriters Karisha Longaker and Sorah Nutting. 2008 was a year of great alchemy. Fires erupted in Northern California, a great wind of inspiration blew through, catalyzing a series of songs written from the soil and rivers, ash and heat of Chico where these two musicians met.
In the early days these troubadours toted instruments around town by bicycle and shared their songs at farmers markets, community gatherings, small cafes and festivals. Not too long after, these two voices became iconic to the Chico community, representing idyllic values of friendship, community, love for nature and care for Self and World. The love spread, sisterhood held strong through two decades of LIFE: children, relationships arriving and dissolving, making home in many new places. 
MaMuse songs such as “We Shall Be Known” and “Hallelujah” have sprouted wings and are now sung at the bed sides of birthing mothers, round campfires, at weddings and funerals... All places where people are gathered to celebrate and to mourn. These are songs born of the Folk lineage; songs for all of us.

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

Song Learning Time Stamps:
Start time of teaching: 00:03:56
Start time of reprise: 01:03:15

Links:
Show info, bookings and newsletter signup: www.mamuse.org 
Instagram: www.instagram.com/mamusemusic 
Facebook: www.facebook.com/MaMuseMusic 
Patreon: www.patreon.com/mamuse
Download and contribute to recorded music funds: mamuse.bandcamp.com 
Song Village in Santa Cruz: https://www.songvillage.net/ 
Kirtan: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kirtan 
ReMuse: https://mamuse.bandcamp.com/album/remuse 
Patrick/FunkPharm who produced ReMuse: https://www.instagram.com/funkpharm/ 
Tidal as a subscription platform: https://tidal.com/ 
Community Choir Leadership Training in Canada: https://www.communitychoirleadership.com/ 
Garrison Keillor’s Prairie Home Companion duet competition October 2012: https://www.prairiehome.org/shows/47951.html 
Arnaé Batson: https://www.eomega.org/people/arnae-batson 
Scott Elliot Ferreter (guitar and bass): https://www.scottelliottferreter.com/ 
Trying Time album: https://open.spotify.com/album/3BSIiZwg5MdqY6OuVLRMdR 
Nathan Dittle (keyboard/piano): https://www.instagram.com/redbeardthecat/ 
Songs in the Key of Life by Stevie Wonder: https://open.spotify.com/album/6YUCc2RiXcEKS9ibuZxjt0 
Blue by Joni Mitchell: https://open.spotify.com/album/1vz94WpXDVYIEGja8cjFNa 
Aimée Ringle – Human and Tender: https://aimeeringle.bandcamp.com/album/human-and-tender 
A Breath of Song conversation with Aimée Ringle: https://www.abreathofsong.com/episodes--show-notes/160-o-spirit-guide-me-to-those-i-need-with-guest-aimee-ringle#/ 
Melanie DeMore: https://melaniedemore.com/ 
A Breath of Song conversation with Melanie DeMore: https://www.abreathofsong.com/episodes--show-notes/175-one-footlead-with-love-with-guest-melanie-demore#/ 

Nuts & Bolts: 4:4, major, harmonized, call and echo

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