Notes: Singing this meditative mantra with Heather Pierson's butter-warm voice draws me right into the here and now, even when I'm dealing with tech glitches... it's powerful stuff, and I've been putting it to the test! Heather says, "Music is an invitation..." and in our conversation, she talks about the different ways that plays out during grieving, learning to sing solo, collaborating, choosing songs, giving permission. Have you ever thought about how the meditation concept of titration might apply to leading a circle? Well, we've got you covered!

Songwriter Info: Heather Pierson is a pianist, singer/songwriter, songleader, and performer based in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. She has released 14 albums, two songbooks, and several singles of her original music ranging in style from folk to jazz to vocal chants. Since 2018, she is the co-creator with fellow songleader Bernice Martin of Heart Songs & Circle Songs, a community singing project dedicated to the cultivation of harmony, wellness, connection, joy, and peace through music and song. When she isn’t making music, Heather enjoys her meditation practice, hiking, cooking, writing, reading, and watching the birds.

Links: 
Heather's album 'Wishes of Lovingkindness', available for free or by donation at her Bandcamp: https://heatherpierson.bandcamp.com/album/wishes-of-lovingkindness
For more information about Heather's community singing project with Bernice Martin, please visit https://www.heartsongsandcirclesongs.com.
For more information about all of Heather's musical offerings, please visit: https://www.heatherpierson.com.
Heather's growing community on Patreon enjoys early and exclusive access to new songs, videos, and poetry every week. Learn more at https://www.patreon.com/HeatherPierson
​Kansas: “The Spider”
Melanie DeMore... "These songs are like medicine." Here's Melanie leading two of her medicine songs: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v3D1U_Cmlxc
Leah Boyd/Leah Wolfsong ‎Leah Wolfsong on Apple Music
The early albums:
‎We All Have a Song by Heather Pierson on Apple Music
‎Honor The Light by Heather Pierson on Apple Music
Laurence Cole: “Attention is the healer of separation”
Gray catbird
Baked Beans recording (Alan Bean) Recording Studio | Baked Beans Recording Studio | United States
Peaceful Means (Leah Boyd & Heather Pierson) (3) Peaceful Means | Facebook
ALLMAN BROTHERS BAND - Live At Fillmore East (Deluxe Edition) - Amazon.com Music
The Wood Brothers The Wood Brothers (thewoodbros.com)

Nuts & Bolts: 4:4, major, with a lovely minor final note; unison zipper song

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.

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Notes: I love the way this song pulls me into the very present moment of right now, really right now, with concrete reminders of the breath and body... and then also lightens my spirit with the rhythmic play as I sing about the goodness that I carry. Heather has found ways through steady, attentive practices to help herself heal from childhood trauma, and she carries this intentional tending with clarity and care into her music. Next week, we can settle into a songwriter conversation with Heather about all this, and more!

Songwriter Info: Heather Pierson is a pianist, singer/songwriter, songleader, and performer based in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. She has released 14 albums, two songbooks, and several singles of her original music ranging in style from folk to jazz to vocal chants. Since 2018, she is the co-creator with fellow songleader Bernice Martin of Heart Songs & Circle Songs, a community singing project dedicated to the cultivation of harmony, wellness, connection, joy, and peace through music and song. When she isn’t making music, Heather enjoys her meditation practice, hiking, cooking, writing, reading, and watching the birds.

Links: 
'May I Be Open' is from Heather's album 'Wishes of Lovingkindness', available for free or by donation at her Bandcamp: https://heatherpierson.bandcamp.com/album/wishes-of-lovingkindness
For more information about Heather's community singing project with Bernice Martin, please visit https://www.heartsongsandcirclesongs.com.
For more information about all of Heather's musical offerings, please visit: https://www.heatherpierson.com.
Heather's growing community on Patreon enjoys early and exclusive access to new songs, videos, and poetry every week. Learn more at https://www.patreon.com/HeatherPierson

Nuts & Bolts: 4:4, major, 2-part layer song

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.

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Notes: I so completely get the need for these questions, so appealingly set by Hannah Jeffery, to notice our body's basic needs. I love singing the reminder to attend to my creature self, what Mary Oliver calls, "the soft animal of your body" -- to tune into what it loves, what it complains about, how it responds to what's going on. This time of coming into a new year, perhaps with a plethora of complex people interactions, seems a particularly appropriate time to reset and reconnect with the awareness and presence of our own creature selves.

Songwriter Info: Hannah Jeffery (She/They) is a songstress, composer, song-leader and mama living in the Upper Valley of Vermont (Abenaki land). Her creative venture, Deep Well Song, is a gathering vessel for people to come together in song, prayer and playfulness, to turn toward and embrace all that it IS to be human on Earth. The songs Hannah carries, catches and teaches are songs of the heart and soul, that touch joy, grief, gratitude, heartbreak, righteous anger, beauty, love and praise and connect us to each other, ourselves and the Beloved Mystery. Hannah leads song at the UU church in Norwich, Vermont and in the newly forming Well Song Choir. To learn more and get involved please check out their website and Patreon and be in touch!

This song is free to share but Hannah always welcomes financial and/or networking support if/when folks are so moved.

Links: 
www.deepwellsong.org
deepwellsong@gmail.com
www.patreon.com/deepwellsong
Hannah singing this song herself

Nuts & Bolts: 4:4, Aeolian, unison

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.

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Notes: You get to hear Kate and I in deep conversation -- complete with creaky chair, and me messing up as Kate teaches me her beautiful song, Go Dark. Do you ever have the experience of being solid on a part, as long as the leader is singing it, but then when they leave to teach another part, you lose it? You'll hear me doing just that! :) We talk about building a bank of nourishing words for hard times -- and Kate shares a story about something that shook her certainty and ease with life, and how that made her vow not to judge people. She observes how giving time and a safe place to make mistakes makes it possible for most people to learn to sing, like almost all people learn to drive eventually. And then there's the handpan, and learning Arabic, and... I guess you'll just need to listen in!

Songwriter Info: Kate Thomas is a singer, song leader, songwriter and instrumentalist (guitar, piano and handpan) and has been leading singing groups in Sheffield for over 20 years. She has produced two songbooks, 'Honey and Salt' (from which 'Be Yourself' and 'Scattered Seeds'. If you are interested in contacting her about these resources, her email is honeyandsalt65@gmail.com. 

Links: 
Wendell Berry – Farming (counterpointpress.com) (Kate mentioned "Soul Food", but I think this ends up being the book with the poem in it.)
Barbara Brown Taylor – Learning to Walk in the Dark
Wanting Memories - Sweet Honey in the Rock
Handpan playing -- Kate suggests thishandpan duo, Mea
Raffi
The Singing Kettle
Tapestry – Carole King -- I'm pretty sure you can find the album, so here's an article that quotes many artists talking about the influence of the album on them... Talking about 'Tapestry': Musicians discuss the influence of Carole King's masterpiece - NJArts.net
Karine Polwart – Scottish Songbook, The Lost Words: Spell Songs -- and here's a bonus interview with Karine about the Spellsongs project
Youtube recordings of Kate’s songs -- here's her channel, where you can find all 10: Kate Thomas - YouTube
   And here are just a few links for specific songs:
  We Were Seeds: Kate's bold setting of the Dinos Christianopoulos quote, "They thought they could bury us; they did not know we were seeds.
  A Thousand Ways (with handpan! -- a beautiful meditation)
Kate's profile and choirs: Member profile - Natural Voice Network
Information about Honey and Salt (and Scattered Seeds is searchable there, too): Honey and Salt - Natural Voice Network

Nuts & Bolts: 6:8, major, 2-parts here, (SATB in the Honey & Salt book) or works beautifully unison, too
​
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 Tip Jar (whoo-hoo!!!!), or by making comments, leaving reviews, suggesting songs or songwriters (including yourself) ..... your participation matters!

Notes: After being sick for several weeks, I was lying in bed and trying to come to terms with the fact that I still felt crummy. I was trying to listen to my body, and this is the song that came into my head. The melody is pretty closely related to a Happy Birthday song which I learned from Liz Rog, but I don't know the origin of the song, and neither did Liz at that point. If anybody happens to know it, I'd love to learn! The song can be sung just as the first part, in which case I think "needing to be known" is more satisfying to sing, but when I added the second part it suddenly made sense to me to use the word "dying." It feels to me like a song that spans caregiving from infancy to deathbed. I'm moved by what a powerful feeling it is to be heard and seen.

Songwriter Info: That would be me, so both of the websites below have stuff...

Links: 
abreathofsong.com
juneberrymusic.com

Nuts & Bolts: 4:4, Major (Ionian), call and response with second harmonized part
​
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 Tip Jar (whoo-hoo!!!!), or by making comments, leaving reviews, suggesting songs or songwriters (including yourself) ..... your participation matters!

Notes: Heather says, “I love so easily," and “What’s next? And I just open up…” and “Silence is a part of the singing.” Trust me, this is a person you'd like to get to know a little better -- how can we all access that kind of love and openness? In our conversation, Heather and I dig into how she actually works with singers privately and in groups, finding the heart voice, ways back in when you've dropped your chanting/meditation practice, why to love humming... and more, including, of course, her favorite soup! Heather shares this beautiful song which warms up the voice and invites us into physical awareness and connection with a released sound.... and her love of the act of singing is contagious.

Songwriter Info: Heather Houston is passionate about uplifting hearts, freeing voices, transforming lives, and building strong, loving communities through the power of singing. She spreads her magic through her 20+years of international song circle leading, private vocal coaching, and her online offerings - The Art of Mindful Singing, S.H.E. Sings, Singing as Sanctuary, and Sisters in Harmony Song and Chant Leader Training. You can now join her every Monday night on Zoom for a 2-hour Sisters in Harmony Global community song circle with guest artists!

Heather recently released her second solo album, Sisters of the Moon, which features the ethereal voices of her 40-voice women’s choir Yala Lati. Her first solo album, Prayers for the Water is a ZMR Top 10 album. You can find Heather’s music and her a cappella group SIRENZ on all of the streaming platforms and for download on her website.

Links: 
Website: https://heatherhoustonmusic.com
Albums
    Download: https://heatherhoustonmusic.com/recordings/
    Streaming on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/4gw79r7NGOw6WF2bytPW5a?si=E0mvdKMpQ9ObjpRnhViDYQ
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/heatherhoustonmusic
IG: HeatherHoustonMusic
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPr_m3bi0-TqhBFvJlD4pFA
​
Kitka (Balkan music) – women's vocal ensemble in Oakland Kitka Women's Vocal Ensemble
Heather’s songleader training starting in Jan Sisters in Harmony Song Leader Training – Heather Houston Music
Paul Simon Rhythm of the Saints – here’s the title track: The Rhythm of the Saints - YouTube
Sound of Great Horned Owls -- What does a Great Horned Owl sound like? 
Lyndsey Scott -- Well Held | Lyndsey Scott (bandcamp.com) (as well as A Breath of Song episodes #69 & 70)
Samantha Keller and Tamar Fogel -- here with Heather as the trio Dis Moi: Dis Moi – Between Us – Heather Houston Music
the first song Heather wrote -- Lumin Solare Fiat - Heather Houston (Sirenz) - YouTube
Sirenz -- the four voice group of Heather, Samantha, Molly Hartwell and Sage Mendez: Sirenz – Heather Houston Music

Nuts & Bolts: 4:4, Mixolydian, chant
​
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 Tip Jar (whoo-hoo!!!!), or by making comments, leaving reviews, suggesting songs or songwriters (including yourself) ..... your participation matters!

Notes: This is song is a taste of Heather Houston's creative, connecting powers -- Episode #75 will feature an intimate conversation with Heather. After she shares another of her songs, we'll delve into why song matters, why voices matter... and a really good soup! Meanwhile, I love this song for noticing the balance of shadow and light -- to me, it's a beautiful song to sing on cusps, like dawn or dusk. Recently, as I've been healing from tick-borne illness, I've hummed it to myself as I watch the shadows and light cross my bedroom wall, encouraging my body to find its way into balance.

Songwriter Info: Heather Houston is passionate about uplifting hearts, freeing voices, transforming lives, and building strong, loving communities through the power of singing. She spreads her magic through her 20+years of international song circle leading, private vocal coaching, and her online offerings - The Art of Mindful Singing, S.H.E. Sings, Singing as Sanctuary, and Sisters in Harmony Song and Chant Leader Training. You can now join her every Monday night on Zoom for a 2-hour Sisters in Harmony Global community song circle with guest artists!

Heather recently released her second solo album, Sisters of the Moon, which features the ethereal voices of her 40-voice women’s choir Yala Lati. Her first solo album, Prayers for the Water is a ZMR Top 10 album. You can find Heather’s music and her a cappella group SIRENZ on all of the streaming platforms and for download on her website.

Links: 
Website: https://heatherhoustonmusic.com
Albums
    Download: https://heatherhoustonmusic.com/recordings/
    Streaming on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/4gw79r7NGOw6WF2bytPW5a?si=E0mvdKMpQ9ObjpRnhViDYQ
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/heatherhoustonmusic
IG: HeatherHoustonMusic
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPr_m3bi0-TqhBFvJlD4pFA

Nuts & Bolts: 4:4, Dorian, 5-layer song
​
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 Tip Jar (whoo-hoo!!!!), or by making comments, leaving reviews, suggesting songs or songwriters (including yourself) ..... your participation matters!

Notes: This poignant song by Wendy Luella Perkins comes from early on in the pandemic -- a time of fear and grieving -- yet also, in the early mornings, the streets were so unusually quiet in the cities that birdsong was clearly audible.  You'll be able to hear the echo of a dove call in the melody, which I teach with extra care so you can feel comfortable and relaxed singing it. This song helps me notice what I'm hearing around me -- and when I notice the sounds around me, I drop into the present micro-second, where all is well. In the next episode, there's a songwriter conversation with Wendy Luella, which includes not one, not two, but four songs that can be personal assistants as we heal, adapt, and grow.

Songwriter Info: Wendy Luella Perkins has been singing and making up songs since she was a very young child. When she was three years old, her older brother, Tim, took her to school as his Show+Tell item saying “this is my sister Wendy Lu, listen to her sing!” She's been going strong ever since. As a singer-songwriter, Unitarian Universalist community minister, and founder, in 2002 of Soulful Singing (singing meditation for all) Wendy Luella leverages the power of song to build authentic, healing and joyful communities.

A prolific writer of folk songs and meditative chants and supportive guide who helps others to create their own songs, Wendy Luella's greatest joy is to bring friends and strangers together in the transformational circle of song. Wendy Luella has produced three CDs of original music, which you can find on her website. As a response to pandemic restrictions, and recognizing the need to keep on singing in community, especially in difficult times, Wendy Luella transitioned Soulful Singing to online sessions in March 2020. Soulful Singers from all over have been gathering online EVERY SINGLE DAY since then and once a week on THURSDAY evenings.
​
Everyone is welcome to join Soulful Singing via Zoom. Singing daily over the last 875+ days with wonderful folks from Kingston and around the world has encouraged Wendy Luella to share her original songs more broadly in what she calls her “Song Liberation Project” (The SLiP). She has written hundreds of songs and with The SLiP is sharing them one by one on TikTok. Wendy Luella grew up in rural Nova Scotia, and has lived in Kingston Ontario for over 25 years with her sweetheart and fellow musician, Charlie Walker. She loves waking early, walking daily, eating communally, crafting publicly, sharing deeply, gardening bountifully, laughing abundantly and of course, singing soulfully!

Links: 
Wendy Luella's website: https://www.wendyluellaperkins.com
andtiktok page: https://www.tiktok.com/@wendyluellaperkins
To email Wendy Luella: info@wendyluellaperkins.com

Nuts & Bolts: 4:4; Ionian (major), unison, harmonized

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 Tip Jar (whoo-hoo!!!!), or by making comments, leaving reviews, suggesting songs or songwriters (including yourself) ..... your participation matters!

Notes: Abigail Spinner McBride has one of those stories -- a choir director once told her, "Don't sing, honey, because no one wants to hear your voice." This year she was chosen as Best Female Vocalist of the Year 2022 at the International Pagan Music Awards. I love me a story that says that though we may have had messages like that in the past -- interactions that shut us down either with dismissal or by sky-high expectations -- those messages say nothing real about us or our potential. Our excitement can be to wake to our own voices, come out of a dream state and notice what is actually real, around us, right now. I love this song for its high energy of opening and possibility.

Songwriter Info: Abigail Spinner McBride has been creating pagan chants in the Earth-Spirit community since the late 1980s and is deeply involved in transformation and transmutation work through drumming, chanting, fire circles, and magic. She is a High Priestess of the Family of Fire, a musician, dancer, and massage therapist, based in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Links: 
Fire of Creation album (with Awaken Me) on Apple Music (2007)
​Abigail's facebook page (you don't have to be a Facebook member to look at this)
The Vegas Vortex: a website of the transformational fire work that Abigail offers

Nuts & Bolts: 4:4; Mixolydian, 2-layer song with harmonies, verse & chorus

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 Tip Jar (whoo-hoo!!!!), or by making comments, leaving reviews, suggesting songs or songwriters (including yourself) ..... your participation matters!

Notes: This is a vacation episode! I'm on vacation with my dear friend, Joy Truskowski... and what do you think we're doing together? We've been having such a good time singing, and on this episode (I think the shortest yet) you get to hear us together, singing a song I wrote just as a particularly difficult time was beginning. It helps me to not jump ahead to the future or gnash over the past -- that I can be right here, right now, and usually that's a pretty good moment. I asked the A Breath of Song listeners via the email list where they've experienced sanctuary, and they wrote the lyrics we sing... here are some of the other options that came up: in my swing, in this garden, in this choir, with this book, as I'm cooking, with this patient, with my cats, with my ponies, in my loved one's arms, in a canoe, while I'm painting, meditating.

Songwriter Info: I'm bringing you this podcast, so you've already got a sense of me! You can find more about me at the juneberrymusic website, or pertaining specifically to this podcast here at abreathofsong.com.

Links: 
Find Joy at joytru.com -- all kinds of awesome things!​
Juneberry Music -- everything I'm doing professionally, and some less-than-professionally
A Breath of Song -- lots of extras about this podcast, including a Year One art tile page, atip jar, and songwriter collaboration information

Nuts & Bolts: 4:4; Ionian (major), zipper song, unison

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 Tip Jar (whoo-hoo!!!!), or by making comments, leaving reviews, suggesting songs or songwriters (including yourself) ..... your participation matters!

Notes: This is the first song Liesel wrote, on an island, starting the process of freeing her voice. What amazes me about this song, and keeps me coming back to it, is how good it feels to sing. From the opening jump of realization up to the word "free" to the rhythmic interplay that sets me swaying on the "love, I am love, I am love" line, the music and words strengthen each other. I added harmonies of my own, but you might choose different harmonies and end up with a very different kind of sound. I love how this song doesn't need complexity to be satisfying, and my focus is very quickly freed up to notice how my voice feels, how my body responds. Spacious and gracious -- and from my brief time with Liesel at a songleader workshop in 2019, I would say those are qualities of Liesel's as well.

Songwriter Info: Liesel describes herself as an intuitive relationship coach -- she is also an author, mother, spouse, and successful entrepreneur.... and a heart-centered, laughter-filled wise presence, with an amazing Parking Fairy song to find those elusive spaces! Liesel shares freely guided meditations on her soundcloud channel... check them out!

Links: 
About - LieselRigsby.com
Stream Liesel Rigsby meditations

Nuts & Bolts: 4:4, Aeolian, harmonized
​
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 Tip Jar (whoo-hoo!!!!), or by making comments, leaving reviews, suggesting songs or songwriters (including yourself) ..... your participation matters!

Notes: I came across We Are the Way in 2020 when I was joyfully listening through Annie Zylstra’s online collection in Heartland Harmony – if you love songs and haven’t found her library yet, you are in for a huge treat! Annie had this song, which lifted my heart and became a touchstone song for me in very short order. She explains that Christine Kick was living in her basement during a major home renovation that was taking longer than expected, and she found herself feeling a little shamefaced when friends would ask, “How’s it going?”, as it very much WASN’T… and then she reminded herself to celebrate the difference & distance she had come. We’ve just moved out of our home for 22 years to a new community, we’re unpacking boxes, searching for things in new places, slowly starting to meet new people… I am using this reminder on the regular!

Songwriter Info: Christine has been writing songs ever since she was a kid, growing up singing in choirs, and playing flute, guitar, piano, hand drums, etc. She wrote We Are the Way in 2016. She teaches yoga as a way to harness more energy for life by overcoming our limitations and fears - energy that can then be applied to any passion or pursuit that fills us up! Christine believes that music is medicine, especially singing since it opens the throat chakra which allows energy to flow. Her mission is to inspire others to live their best life possible and show up for their heart's true calling.... and music is part of and parcel of who she is and what she does. When we connected for permission for me to use this song, she was in Costa Rica travelling, and sharing songs. Christine enjoys leading and hosting song circles, kirtans, and music jams.

Links: 
Find Christine's website here: Christine Kick
on facebook as ChristineKick
or Instagram as @acrounicorn

Nuts & Bolts: 4:4, Mixolydian, round and layer
​
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 Tip Jar (whoo-hoo!!!!), or by making comments, leaving reviews, suggesting songs or songwriters (including yourself) ..... your participation matters!

Notes: I find I keep returning to Emily Roblyn's song after learning it many months ago... I find myself singing it when times are really sweet -- and when they're really hard. It helps me remember I don't need to try to clench the almost painfully beautiful, wonderful times, because they won't last forever no matter how hard I hold -- and it helps me trust that the difficult, heart-aching times will pass. And as I sing, I can feel my voice vibrate in my body, and it brings me into awareness of my own body. Now, I'm no sage or wise woman -- but I know that this kind of embodiment is good for my whole being, and I'm grateful for any song that gets me there! Lots of juicy harmony options, or a lovely melody that rises and falls like the waves.... you sing what feels good in you today.

Songwriter Info: Emily Roblyn is a Canadian born singer, choir leader and composer, who has made her home in Devon, UK where she has been leading choirs, workshops and singing retreats for over 18 years. She is a member of the Natural Voice Network and believes deeply in singing being a powerful tool for healing, change and connection. Her warmth and enthusiasm for sharing the blessings of singing together shines through in all her teaching, and her beautiful original songs are favorites in choirs across the UK.

Links: 
Visit Emily’s website and join her mailing list to be kept up to date with her new musical offerings. www.emilysinging.com
Or contact her directly to buy the license to teach any of her songs by emailing emroblyn@gmail.com
HearEmily herself sing this song, plus another verse here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=TVmM52zcCPk

Nuts & Bolts: 4:4, Minor, 2-layers -- one harmonized 3-ways.
​
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 Tip Jar (whoo-hoo!!!!), or by making comments, leaving reviews, suggesting songs or songwriters (including yourself) ..... your participation matters!

Notes: A song with two voices, in a way -- the cry of the heart which feels swallowed by darkness and lost, and the response or presence of a wisdom -- an angel, or ancestor, or Yoda?! -- who sees the seed inside the darkness that holds the dream of green during the waiting time.  I love the way this song lets me give voice to different experiences. Barbara has given us an extremely satisfying lift on the "call to the sky" line... and a lovely low rumble for "cannot remember", and "to the night." In western classical baroque times, that was called word painting... a wonderful way of yoking different parts of our brains into a whole, connected intent.

Songwriter Info: Barbara McAfee is a master voice coach, singer/songwriter, song leader, and river walker who lives an hour outside of Minneapolis/St. Paul in St Croix Falls, Wisconsin.

Links:
Barbara's website is at www.barbaramcafee.com
Barbara's Tedx talk on the Full Voice: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ze763kgrWGg

Nuts & Bolts: 4:4, minor, 3 layers, 2 with the same words.
​
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Notes Lissa Schneckenburger's song has a personal back story that we get into during the conversation part of the episode -- along with discussion of change-making as integral to music-making, the similarities and differences of violin and voice as instruments, why Lissa chose songs with words for her recent solo album... Lissa spills over with ideas, generosity, connections, and a deeply caring heart -- our time together was a treat for me. This song feels particularly appropriate at this turn of the year, when we are tired of COVID and injustice and it is easy to be fearful... "we are rising, we are shining, we have the power"... "we will not let this be the end". Something a little different on this episode -- after she invited us to join, I included myself singing with Lissa and experimenting (sometimes more successfully than others) with harmonies... my hope is that that encourages you, too, to explore. Brendan Taaffe says you're only ever one note away from a great harmony! If you want to hear the song already beautifully harmonized and sing along with a polished version after you've learned it on the podcast, check out the links below for Low Lily's video.

Songwriter Info: Lissa Schneckenburger is a fiddle player and singer whose roots are in folk music in Maine. She lives in Brattleboro, Vermont, now, and says, “To me, music creates community. Music is what people sing along to, dance to, fall in love to… music brings people together." Giving concerts on her own or as part of the trio, Low Lily, as well as supporting other musicians with practice challenges (and jokes) through her website, Lissa consistently does her part to build community. Her solo album, Thunder In My Arms, is a tender, powerful collection of songs about attachment, parenting, and trauma. We talk about its origin and development in today's conversation.

Links:
Lissa's website: lissafiddle.com
Low Lily's music video of Labor On: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R2XtOspP1Jc
Peter Mulvey (bike tours and music!) https://www.petermulvey.com/
The Road North by Alasdair Fraser and Paul MacHlis -- one of Lissa's influential albums
Moosewood borscht recipe by Mollie Katzen -- the link goes to a blogpost with the recipe, or buy the whole cookbook at your local bookstore -- a 40th anniversary edition was released and is still in print.
Kafari on kafarimusic.bandcamp.com/ -- a Black, Portland, Maine-based artist Lissa wishes more people knew about... piano and percussion music.
Duet with Lissa on TikTok here: https://www.tiktok.com/@lissafiddle?

Nuts & Bolts: 6:8, Aeolian, verses & chorus
​
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Notes: This song began to appear Sunday morning, December 4th, as I was making breakfast, thinking about snowy drives through our town, looking at Christmas lights. It was one of those warmish, wet days with snow on the ground, so there was a mist lifting up from the snow, and the sky was the same color as the fields. December is a complicated month for me, with rich memories of so much happiness as a child, and difficult loss as an adult...  the longing to connect with and create happiness for all whom I love -- the rueful recognition that I can't "make" anyone happy. Thinking of all the stories in December about light in dark, fraught journeys, seeds, births, miracles -- all the hope and determination we try to share with each other in lights and decorations and candles. For me, the song is a good companion to the bittersweet, reflective mood I often find myself in in December.

Songwriter Info: Patricia is the fourth of five siblings, with eight years from oldest to youngest. Growing up in Boulder, Colorado, and western New York State, a snowy Christmas was virtually guaranteed, and the house was filled with beautiful traditions, from a fat Christmas tree we would go cut at a local farm decorated with white paper doves, tinsel, red balls, and lights, to much gift planning, making & secret, careful wrapping. Christmas cookies left out for Santa, waking up to go to midnight mass, the Westminster Choir College singing Britten's Ceremony of Carols on the turntable, holiday songs on the radio and the whole family watched whatever holiday specials were on tv. A special meal with tablecloth and candles on the table, sledding and snow forts and tunnels, plastic bread bags in the boots and over the mittens to try to keep us warm and dry... my childhood memories are of magical, generous, happy Christmases with music everywhere.
​  Of course, the world appeared more complex and nuanced as I grew, and the loss of loved ones I wanted to celebrate with, ugly commercialism, knowledge of economic disparity and the dark history and abuses of religious belief also became part of December.... and, as a church musician, holiday performance pressure -- the collision of expectations and what actually happens. This song is one of the ways I can be present with the whole catastrophe, as Jon Kabat-Zinn might say.

Links
My web center...juneberrymusic.com 

Nuts & Bolts: 6:8, Aeolian, unison with harmonized accompanying line

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Notes: I stumbled upon Wendy Luella Perkins a few weeks before recording this episode, when I was browsing in facebook groups of songleaders, looking for new music I loved and wanted to share. I heard "What Am I Rushing To?", and went hunting online to learn more. Several Soulful Singing sessions later, I can say that this intuitive songleader and gracious, gentle song and space creator has become a great gift in my life. Not only do the most beautiful, varied songs seem to pour through her with ease and fluidity, but she understands how to tend herself and those around her with laughter, loving-kindness, and acceptance.
  Wendy Luella tells the painful origin of this song in a time of grief and conflict... and also how she and small groups of singers have sung it in bus depots, shopping malls, and other public spaces in the month of December, and the delighted reaction from passers-by. Wendy Luella has always dreamed of having this song pop-up in other communities, led by other folks, so if there are podcast listeners who are inspired to offer What Am I Rushing To? in your communities, please do and let her know about it!
  It can be sung beautifully as a unison song -- and today, I add harmonies to it that were created by members of my family. Rebecca Csuy, Elyse Wadsworth, and Elizabeth Norton joined me in singing it over the American Thanksgiving holiday, and as we played with different harmonies, this combination struck me as particularly suited to the song. It was magical, and gave me a way to imagine you all in the room, too... if I'd been really on top of it, I'd have brought a microphone and recorded us all together! 

Songwriter Info: Wendy Luella Perkins has been singing and making up songs since she was a very young child. When she was three years old, her older brother, Tim, took her to school as his Show+Tell item saying “this is my sister Wendy Lu, listen to her sing!” She's been going strong ever since.  
  As a singer-songwriter, Unitarian Universalist community minister, and founder, in 2002 of Soulful Singing (singing meditation for all) Wendy Luella leverages the power of song to build authentic, healing and joyful communities. A prolific writer of folk songs and meditative chants and supportive guide who helps others to create their own songs, Wendy Luella's greatest joy is to bring friends and strangers together in the transformational circle of song. Wendy Luella has produced three CDs of original music, which you can find on her website.   
  As a response to pandemic restrictions, and recognizing the need to keep on singing in community, especially in difficult times, Wendy Luella transitioned Soulful Singing to online sessions in March 2020. Soulful Singers from all over have been gathering online EVERY SINGLE DAY since then and once a week on THURSDAY evenings. Everyone is welcome to join Soulful Singing via Zoom. 
  Singing daily over the last 600+ days with wonderful folks from Kingston and around the world has encouraged Wendy Luella to share her original songs more broadly in what she calls her “Song Liberation Project” (The SLiP). She has written hundreds of songs and with The SLiP is sharing them one by one on TikTok. 
   Wendy Luella grew up in rural Nova Scotia, and has lived in Kingston Ontario for over 25 years with her sweetheart and fellow musician, Charlie Walker. She loves waking early, walking daily, eating communally, crafting publicly, sharing deeply, gardening bountifully, laughing abundantly and of course, singing soulfully!

Links:
Contact Wendy directly to join Soulful Singing, or to let her know how this song moved you at info@wendyluellaperkins.com
Find Wendy on TikTok and sing a duet with her! https://www.tiktok.com/@wendyluellaperkins
Explore Wendy's website: https://www.wendyluellaperkins.com

Nuts & Bolts: 4:4, major, unison, harmonies optional
​
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Notes: I asked the people who have signed up for the A Breath of Song mailing list to share words they'd like to hear in this song... and I got SO many responses!!! Narrowed down to 21 words... so we sing this song in three different ways, each time with seven different words. As you sing to uncover your own wellness, you may find a song feels better slower or faster on different days, or sung with high energy or very calmly. I explore three different options with this song -- you may find more. You'll hear my voice crack and squeak -- and you'll hear many of me at one point, because this is a great song for a crowd (and hey, sometimes it IS crowded in my mind with my own voices!) It is not simple to create a song that is easy to learn, and also is a strong container for many different emotions and recognitions. I love the way this song invites us to notice what we see in ourselves and each other, and then stretches us both up and down -- an alignment in song.

Songwriter Info: Mazal Etedgi (they/them/theirs) is a trans and Mizrahi ritualist, Drama Therapist, and herbal medicine maker living on Ohlone Land (so-called Berkeley, California).

Links:
Website: bsamimapothecary.com
Instagram: @bsamim.apothecary
Tiktok: @bsamimapothecary

Nuts & Bolts: 4:4, Minor (Aeolian with harmonies in 2nd go-round), zipper song

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Notes: I told Heidi that when I learned this song from her recording, I had misheard it, and sang, "My inner child sings wild." She laughed with delight, and said, "Maybe you tapped in to what it is actually supposed to be!" Heidi is at home with change and improvisation and trusting her inner voice -- and the inner voice of others. Heidi shares the sound of her singing bowls, talks about being both shy with her voice and in love with music and singing, and where that led her. An overview of the physical benefits of singing, an exploration of how to connect singing with other arts, and more in this conversation which follows learning The Song Inside.
​
Songwriter Info: Heidi McCurdy is a singer, songwriter and sound healer with a passion for teaching, sharing and creative collaboration. Having cultivated her own intimate relationship with the Muse, Heidi is a believer in the profound medicine and magic of Music – its power to heal, transform, elevate and connect us all.  

She draws from a diverse tapestry of soul, jazz, folk and new age influences for her unique blend of Global Soul original music. Her songs have received awards and have been featured on TV and Canadian radio, and she has performed at jazz, wine and music festivals throughout Canada and Europe as well as local venues. She is known for her warm, soulful voice, and her love of tuning into the music of the moment through improvisation. Her lyrics resonate with the beauty of dreams, a vital connection with nature, and our collective power to create positive change. Recently she has been exploring songwriting styles designed specifically for song circles, singing meditation and encouraging vocal expression.

As well as creating and performing, Heidi also leads transformational voice programs and community song circles. Guided by the Muse, she specializes in helping others to free their authentic voice and wild, creative spirit. ​

Links:
Heidi's website: www.heidimccurdy.com
Heidi's facebook: www.facebook.com/heidimccurdymusic
Songroots -- https://songroots.ca/songroots-summer-camp2021/
Avalon: Web of Magic by Rachel Roberts
Stevie Wonder: Songs in the Key of Life -- the link goes to the Wikipedia article about the album; you can buy or listen wherever you choose
Amber Lily: Wild
Dominique Fils-Aimé: The Red

Nuts & Bolts: 12:8, Mixolydian with flat 6 (and sometimes a flat 3!), and a round.
​
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Notes: I met creator Elise Witt online during the pandemic, when we were both in a course led by the extraordinary improviser Rhiannon… I was honored, because I already knew of Elise as a composer of unusual choral work that I had explored doing with my community chorus. In fact this piece was conceived as a choral piece, and Elise very generously let me excerpt a bit of it to be a pocket song. I love the way the rhythm wakes me up from an uninspired, tired place -- whenever I sing this, I almost always end up moving somehow. And now that I know Elise a little, I can see why -- her brain is the definition of fertile, and she exudes energy and joyfulness you can almost touch through her little Zoom rectangle. Elise says, "I believe that if we listen deeply, we can hear music in the wind, the water, the earth, and deep in our bones. And no matter how disconnected we get, that music is always there, when we are ready to return and listen."

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. In addition to her global touring, Elise serves as Artist-in-Residence & Director of Music Programs at the Global Village Project, a non-profit, special purpose middle school for teenage refugee girls in Decatur Georgia.

Links:
www.EliseWitt.com -- Learn more about Elise on her website
"Song Deep in Your Bones" as recorded by Malcolm Dalglish’s Ooolation Singers in rehearsal at Yosemite National Park
Recorded on "We're All BORN SINGING" EMWorld Records 1012
Available for SATB, SSAA, TTBB in the Elise Witt Choral Series
​Included in ALL SINGING: THE ELISE WITT SONGBOOK

Nuts & Bolts: Mixed Meter (5:8, 3:8, 3:4 or 6:8), Mixolydian mode, and in this teaching, unison.

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Notes: I was so surprised when I first learned this song from Roy Willey by how difficult it was for me to actually sing these words to myself. One of the beautiful things about mantra singing -- short phrases, repeated over and over -- is that you have time to notice how it feels to sing these particular words. You have time to get distracted and come back. And if you hear yourself singing the words often enough, maybe they become less surprising? I sent the email list a description of how I think this particular melody supports -- ensounds? -- these words. (You can join the list, too, by signing up on the homepage. (Scroll a bit...))
​  Macrina Wiederkehr, O.S.B., wrote a book called Seven Sacred Pauses: Living Mindfully Through the Hours of the Day. Velma chose texts and moments from this book to create a collection of 28 songs to sing during these pauses, which is available in CD and book form on her website, www.velmafryemusic.com. I love the way this particular song invites me to look at myself anew.

Songwriter info: Velma's mother gave her the choice of washing the dishes or practicing the piano, so Velma became a musician! With six years of college music training, she was confident to diversify into singing, teaching piano and leading choral groups, performing (including 9 times on "A Prairie Home Companion"), and recording six solo CDs. As she was ripening into middle age, she wrote this song, "The Truth," using words by Macrina Wiekerkehr, for singing circles. For the past year, Velma taught piano and Song Salons weekly on zoom, and was a guest two times on Heather Houston's online singing classes. Particularly fun was a Happy Hour that Velma and Becky Reardon offered to a national audience on zoom. More to come!

Links:
Velma's website https://www.velmafryemusic.com/
Velma on facebook https://www.facebook.com/velmafryemusic
Seven Sacred Pauses https://www.facebook.com/SevenSacredPauses
Velma on youtube  https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=velma+frye

Nuts & Bolts: 4:4, unison or round, mixolydian flat-6 scale (sometimes called major-minor scale because the first half is major, and the second half is minor.)
​
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Notes: Today’s song is by Gabriel Paul, of the Crow and Eel Clan of the Penobscot, whose homelands are located along various waterways in Maine and the Canadian Maritimes. The song is a song to thank and honor water. I encourage you to learn and take it to water near you to sing -- and then maybe create your own water song and connect to the water that is near you!

Gabe describes the song's origins on this webpage, and he and his niece, Leigh, have given permission for this song to be sung and shared freely. It is a privilege to be invited to sing in the language of the Penawahpskek nation, and I’ll help you learn it with care – but know that we are guests, and I'm sure I have an accent – it’s okay to be uncomfortable, and honored at the same time. Then visit the Penobscot nation site to respectfully learn more about these people who claim one of the oldest continuous governments in the world.
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A people who have lived in one place for 11,000 years have a very different perspective than mine, as a child of immigrants. In this episode, I quote Weh'na Ha'mu' Kwasset (She Who Brings the Light), an Indigenous writer and visionary who was raised on Penobscot land, and is also known as Sherri Mitchell. Her book is Sacred Instructions: Indigenous Wisdom for Living Spirit-Based Change.

Links:
Youtube recording of Leigh Neptune singing this song.

Nuts and Bolts: This song is unison, unmetered, Ionian (major).

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.

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Notes To be open to the possibility of something wonderful happening seems both counter-intuitive in the middle of the pandemic and multiple crises, and also surprisingly comforting and hopeful. And indeed, wonderful things are happening in addition to what's hard and perplexing and dismaying. I love how I feel lighter after singing this -- I wonder how you feel?
Debbie said she wrote this song to help a couple people in her life that were going through difficult times. She says it is a great song to help manifest a dream into being -- you can think of something you want to come into your life and sing that into being, to embody it as you sing and to really see it happening, to call it in for yourself.

Songwriter info Debbie Nargi-Brown started singing and dancing on the day she was born! A gifted community song leader, an award-winning dance teacher, and a talented songwriter, she offers her songs with love, compassion, and the hope of bringing joy and healing to others. Debbie’s lyrics and melodies are sung all over the world. She writes songs for the heart, healing, transformation, love, grief, and all that connects us as human beings. Bringing people together in dance and song is one of her greatest joys in life!

​Be one of the first to know as new episodes are 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. Click here.

You can connect with Debbie and her work at debbienargi-brown.com

Nuts and Bolts 2 harmonized sections which can be sung as a round or layered, in 2:2, Ionian (major) mode.

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Notes: This is a grounding song that's popular in the community singing movement, and in August 2021, I learned from Heather Houston that she had just learned it is a Molly Hartwell original. As a white, European American cis female in my 50s, raised to value formal education, let me tell you, my brain is littered with words like, evaluate, compare, weigh, measure, process, careful…. For me, it can be a real challenge to get out of my head and into my body! But, oh the difference when I do… the connection, the power, the sense of being enough. I love the way this song reminds me of the soles of my feet and to sense the blood rushing through my body. Trillions of cells working together so I move and breathe… and I can just watch and feel all that with amazement.

Links:   
Here's the Thrive Choir singing it;
I learned it in person from Lisa Littlebird, a vital, generous songleader whose course, Flight School, helped me expand my musical world in 2019.
And here's an update in September 2021: Molly Hartwell shared her own original version in Heather Houston's song library (which is a magical internet spot to learn fabulous songs!).
Molly also generously gave permission for songleaders to continue sharing the song however it came to them, since the song took on a life of its own after she created it!

Nuts and Bolts: It’s harmonized, in 4:4, Aeolian & Dorian modes (minor with shifting harmonies....)
​
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Exchange energy with A Breath of Song with dollars at the Tip Jar (whoo-hoo!!!!), or by making comments, leaving reviews, suggesting songs or songwriters (including yourself) ..... your participation matters!