Archive - A Breath of Song

Published on: October 21, 2026

253. Ribbon 21: Buddy-Up

The Sunday after this episode is released, October 25th, 2026, 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!

Register for online ribbon sing

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

134. Calling Us In

by Meg Chittenden

*May our path*

lead us towards one another.

*May our song*

guide us home to ourselves.

Calling us in.

Calling us in again.

*Help us remember

how to begin again*

2. May our hope

May our joy

Trusting our grief that is

our gateway to heal again.

3. May the sun

May the moon

Heeding the voice of

the true light within again.

4. May this land

May the seed

225. Walk Me Home

by Una McCann

Oh wind blow away the doubt

circling around my head instead

Let me know the blessing

of my feet upon the ground

Chorus (2x)

(And) walk me home,

(And) walk me home again

Oh moon shine a silver light

illuminating all that I would hide

Guide me through the shadows,

trusting in the steps before me

Chorus

.................

Over and over,

your touch at my shoulder,

guiding me homeward again

.................

Oh mountain, be kind to me,

shelter me from storms that would arise,

wise and silent,

you show me how to follow through

Chorus

174. Standing Stone

by Melanie DeMore

I will be

your standing stone.

I will stand

by you.

88. Land of Oden

unknown, folk tradition

In the land of Oden,

there stands a mountain,

ten thousand miles in the air.

A little bird comes winging

once ev’ry million years and

sharpens its beak

on the mountain

and quickly disappears.

And when that mountain

has worn away,

this til eternity

will be

one single day.

78. Thank You

by Barbara McAfee

based on quote by

medieval theologian Meister Eckhart

If the only prayer you ever said

was thank you, thank you…

that would be prayer enough

for the rest of your life!

43. Music

by Matthew Myer Boulton

We are going

to a place where music

falls and fills up everything;

and though it might be a long time,

I know it’s gonna be alright,

‘cause we’ve already started to sing.

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Published on: October 14, 2026

252. Turn

Song:

Turn, from The Book of Rounds

Lyrics by: Julie Flanders

Music by: Emil Adler

Song Learning Time Stamps:

Start of teaching: 00:03:26

Start of reprise: 00:17:37

Lyrics:

If you need a world

to belong to
Look around
You’re already home
And what you seek
You’ve already found
Turn around to me
You will see
No reason to be lonely

Notes: You can find different arrangements of this round, but here it is in its beautiful simplicity as a song you can carry on walks and in the middle of the night...learn it slowly with me, letting it sink in, and then let it sing inside you as it has for me over the past decade, connecting, settling, assuring me that I'm already home in some fundamental way. Then maybe go sing along with the Vancouver Youth Choir! Songs that help us navigate life, feel connected, remember into what can be beautiful with humans...

Songwriter Info: American Prize-winning Composer Emil Adler, Poet/Lyricist/Conceptor Julie Flanders and Vocalist/Producer Marina Belica of October Project offer a new repertoire of choral music with a message. Known to millions for the poetry and aural beauty of their recordings, The Book of Rounds: 21 Songs of Grace, conceived of and written by Flanders & Adler, has become a choral viral sensation.

Written to promote feelings of well-being, each of the 21 songs of The Book of Rounds is a fugue of positive messages set into musical rounds that strengthen and expand those messages with each repetition.

A post of the round “Turn,” performed by the Vancouver Youth Choir, the largest youth choir in Canada, to the one million followers of Daily Choirs online, resulted in an outpouring of interest from choirs across the globe. It has since been sung by thousands of singers and achieved significant acclaim.

The songs have moved beyond classrooms and concert halls to spiritual and healing communities including music therapy, hospice (The Threshold Choir), Alzheimer and dementia patients (Canada’s nationwide Voices in Motion organization) as well as in refugee camps around the world. Setting up a space of calm within the chaos, where children can have access to art, books and music, aid workers have shared The Book of Rounds at such refugee camps as Lesvos, Greece, the Sinjar district of Northern Iraq and at a camp for Ukrainian refugees in Moldova, where, in spite of the language differences, the beauty and comforting embrace of the rounds helps soothe displaced and traumatized children.

Recipient of the 2020 ACDA Genesis Prize, with Venezuelan-born composer, Carlos Cordero, Flanders’ earlier choral work, Holding Our Breath, was debuted in 2021 by Conspirare (Craig Hella Johnson) and has since been performed worldwide, including at the Kennedy Center (Eugene Rogers & EXIGENCE) and Carnegie Hall, also winning awards for young choirs across the world.

A #1 best-selling poet on Amazon, Flanders has authored four collections of poetry and originated the international October Project Annual Poetry Contest, now in its 9th year, attracting thousands of entries in conjunction with National “April is Poetry Month.”

With messages of hope, comfort, belonging and healing that resonate today with more urgency than ever before, Julie Flanders, Emil Adler and Marina Belica of October Project are on a mission to bring harmony to these dissonant times.

Says Ryan Heller, Conductor and Artistic Director of Chorus Austin, who premiered the work with close to 200 performers, “October Project has captured something that the world needs right now with The Book of Rounds. Each of the 21 rounds combines to form a composite whole that resonates with what it means to be human.”

Sharing Info: The song is free to share in oral tradition groups, but for recording and/or performing in a workshop, class, or performance, please visit https://www.octoberprojectmusic.com/the-book-of-rounds/sheet-music/the-book-of-rounds-sheet-music for permission and rates.

Links:

Contact email: octoberprojectmusic@gmail.com
Website for October Project: www.octoberprojectmusic.com
Website for The Book of Rounds: https://www.octoberprojectmusic.com/the-book-of-rounds/the-book-of-rounds-summary
Youtube: @OctoberProjectMusic
Facebook: @October Project
Instagram: @octoberproject
Spotify: @October Project

Vancouver Youth Choir version of Turn: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rMwc9wkgItk&t=3s

Nuts & Bolts: 2:4, major, round

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Published on: October 7, 2026

251. I Will Face the Light/Dark

Song: I Will Face the Light/Dark

Music by: Jeri Katherine Howell

Song Learning Time Stamps:

Start of teaching: 00:03:20

Start of reprise: 00:15:24

Lyrics:

I will face the *light

I won’t lean in or look away

I will face the *light

Here I am, here I’ll be,

here I’ll breathe

I will face the *dark

I won’t lean in or look away

I will face the *dark

Here I am, here I’ll breathe,

here I’ll stay

*change this lyric to fit the both/and that you need

Notes: I love this personal mantra of Jeri Katherine Howell's that can be harmony-rich or very simple, and helps me center back into my integrity when I'm trying to be present with opposites -- light and dark, for example. Or, as some of the different listeners who wrote to me with opposite things they're holding -- hope & fear, excitement & dread, bitter & sweet, lies & truth. This song holds it all with breath and presence and calm. We sing it different ways -- unaccompanied, then with some strings, then just a two-part vocal harmony -- maybe you add more harmonies, maybe you have more words? Make this song your own if it sings in you....

Songwriter Info: Jeri Katherine Howell — award-winning singer-songwriter, cultural organizer, songleader and educator — cultivates creative experiences that inspire us to live in complex and caring relationship with one another and the planet. Rooted in the oral traditions of folk, Bluegrass and Appalachian music, Jeri Katherine’s songwriting and songleading style is in relation with the land, in deep listening to the triumphs and struggles of everyday people, and embodies music as a communal act. As a facilitator, Jeri Katherine believes we’re all teachers and every moment is a practice ground for creating the world we want to exist. As a caretaker, Jeri Katherine centers equitable access to the arts and nature to support our individual and collective well-being and resilience. Jeri Katherine loves to collaborate with organizations, small businesses and artists to cultivate joy and healing and build community. Connect at jerikatherinehowell.com.

Sharing Info: Yes -- Please share this song in oral tradition groups, but please contact Jeri for recording and/or performing permission. If you plan to share this song as a songleader, particularly if you are a paid songleader, please consider making a donation. Thank you!

Links:

Donate on Venmo at https://venmo.com/code?user_id=2771302012157952132&created=1771099464

Join Jeri's email list and check out upcoming shows and workshops at https://jerikatherinehowell.com/

Buy original music downloads and merch at https://jerikatherinehowell.bandcamp.com/

Follow Jeri on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jerikatherinehowell

Follow Jeri on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jeri.katherine

Nuts & Bolts: 4:4, major, unison, optional harmonies

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Published on: September 30, 2026

250. Cycle Breakers with guest Ríomas

Song: Cycle Breakers

Music by: Ríomas (with some lyric support from Yesh Salz)

Song Learning Time Stamps:

Start of teaching: 00:03:40

Start of reprise: 01:32:12

Lyrics:

CHORUS

Cycle breakers, cycle breakers, we're the generation of cycle breakers (x2)

VERSE

Ancestral sorrows pouring down our faces

Heavy-laid patterns leaving no more traces

Bringing back respectful bounds

Our pleasure, joy, and freedom sounds

In this lifetime, in this lifetime

BRIDGE

We're the ones who can, so we're the ones who must

Stop from handing down this pain that was handed down to us

The hardest work we'll do brings hard-earned laughter

And becomes a dream now possible for those who come after

Those who come after

(will remember us as)

OUTRO

In this lifetime, in this lifetime

Notes: Ríomas gives us a conversation steeped in joy and acceptance of hard things -- in the middle of doing a hard thing, since we lost a recorded hour of our first conversation due to a tech glitch. We talk about what makes it possible to come back -- how to not get stuck -- and how that applies to breaking cycles, connecting with our ancestors of before and those to come after. I found myself inspired by their description of the culture of song circles as a way "to vision in and dream in what we’re actually trying to create that’s more beautiful and more free and more inclusive.” I was surprised and intrigued by their take on severance from rhythm and how regaining embodied, shared pulse is a resistance practice. Catch the whole interview to learn this song that Minnesota folk created a dance to, and hear how Ríomas found their new name and what it means!

Songwriter Info: Ríomas (RiYo or Río for short, they/them), previously known as Shireen Amini, is a queer, trans masculine, Puerto Rican-Iranian artist and immigrant settler based in Portland, Oregon creating at the intersection of music, healing, and cultural change. Drawing upon pop and folk soul textures, gratefully and respectfully from Black and Afro-Latin lineages, they craft artful, participatory songs that invite realness and transformative energy. Bridging contemporary music mediums with ceremonial ways and resistance efforts, Ríomas creates soulful and joyful community singing experiences that reconnect people to their power and place. In spring 2026, they released their first community song album, Gather Your Resilience: Medicine for Liberation.

Sharing Info: Yes -- The song is free to share in oral tradition contexts like song circles, but please contact me for permission and rates if interested in teaching this song as part of greater money-making ventures like multi-week choirs, workshops, classes, or performances or if interested in recording this song.

Links:

Liz Digitale Anderson: https://singingforliberation.com/

Onyx Li: https://www.instagram.com/pointsoflight_mu/

adrienne maree brown: Pleasure Activism: https://adriennemareebrown.net/book/pleasure-activism/

CIIS San Francisco: https://www.ciis.edu/

Plena music of Puerto Rico : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plena

Vernon Bush: https://www.goodlifeproject.com/podcast/vernon-bush/

Bobby McFerrin’s Circle Singing: https://circlesongs.com/

Vision fast: https://schooloflostborders.org/programs/vision-fast/

Doesn’t Mean by Riomas ABS Episode 249: https://www.abreathofsong.com/p/249-doesnt-mean

Mountain Song, Te Martin: https://www.lamafoundation.org/mountain-song/

Tracy Robertson: https://www.instagram.com/tracyljrobertson/?hl=en

Sarina Partridge, “I Am of This Earth”: https://sarinapartridge.bandcamp.com/track/of-this-earth

Dark as Night by Nahko And Medicine For The People: https://www.nahko.com/music

Persian Aush soup – a Samin Nosrat recipe is behind a NYTimes paywall, so here’s another one!: https://www.101cookbooks.com/new-year-noodle-soup/

Los Pleneros de la Cresta: https://losplenerosdelacresta.com/

Riomas’s recent album, “Gather Your Resilience,” on Bandcamp: https://riomas.bandcamp.com/album/gather-your-resilience-medicine-for-liberation

Patreon: https://patreon.com/riomas

Instagram: @riomasmusic

Linktree: https://linktr.ee/riomas

Artist Website: https://shireenamini.com/

Music as Medicine: https://shireenaminimusicmedicine.com/

Nuts & Bolts: 2:2, minor, harmonizable song form

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Published on: September 23, 2026

249. Doesn't Mean

Song: Doesn't Mean

Music by: Ríomas

Song Learning Time Stamps:

Start of teaching: 00:03:20

Start of reprise: 00:18:24

Lyrics:

Pt. 1

What if it doesn’t mean what you think it means?

Doesn’t mean what you think it means

Pt. 2

It’s just a hole in the soul

Trying to bring you back down in the darkness

This is not a darkness you need to go

Been there, done that,

no need to go back

This is not a darkness

you need to go

This is not a darkness you need

Pt. 3

Bringing yourself down

Is not your protection anymore

The story is much more

Than your mind could ever hold

Notes: What if there are other stories we can tell ourselves, other ways to protect ourselves? What if it doesn't mean what we think it means? The kind of flexibility that asks of us -- the openness to consider that the solution our mind is so neatly presenting might actually not be the most accurate or the most helpful? Wow. It's a game changer when we don't have to hold our stories or our past techniques so tightly -- and Ríomas has given us a song to ask these questions, to remind us that old ways of coping aren't always working so well in the here and now. Next episode, we get a sweet, intense conversation that touches in on navigating change, ancestors, rhythms, and more -- PLUS a new song Ríomas shares that's all about changing patterns...

Songwriter Info: Ríomas (RiYo or Río for short, they/them), previously known as Shireen Amini, is a queer, trans masculine, Puerto Rican-Iranian artist and immigrant settler based in Portland, Oregon creating at the intersection of music, healing, and cultural change. Drawing upon pop and folk soul textures, gratefully and respectfully from Black and Afro-Latin lineages, they craft artful, participatory songs that invite realness and transformative energy. Bridging contemporary music mediums with ceremonial ways and resistance efforts, Ríomas creates soulful and joyful community singing experiences that reconnect people to their power and place. In spring 2026, they released their first community song album, Gather Your Resilience: Medicine for Liberation.

Sharing Info: Yes -- The song is free to share in oral tradition contexts like song circles, but please contact me for permission and rates if interested in teaching this song as part of greater money-making ventures like multi-week choirs, workshops, classes, or performances or if interested in recording this song.

Links:

Album on Bandcamp: https://riomas.bandcamp.com/album/gather-your-resilience-medicine-for-liberation

Patreon: https://patreon.com/riomas

Instagram: @riomasmusic

Linktree: https://linktr.ee/riomas

Nuts & Bolts: 4:4, minor, 3 layer with extra harmonies

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Published on: September 9, 2026

248. Soften

Song: Soften

Music by: Patricia Norton

Song Learning Time Stamps:

Start of teaching: 00:03:40

Start of reprise: 00:16:45

Lyrics:

Lay it down, let it go.

Soften all the holding.

Soft and tender is fierce

and strong.

Knowing here is where

we belong.

Hano, hano.... here.

Notes: I caught this song more than a year ago, but it's been back in my brain, claiming space and being a helpmeet -- so I thought I'd share it with you. A reminder to release, to be present -- and that in that very softness is a fierce strength and belonging to help meet whatever moment you're in.

Songwriter Info: You can find out more about me in general here: https://www.juneberrymusic.com/about-patricia.html

Or the whole team that puts this podcast out here: https://www.abreathofsong.com/about.html

Sharing Info: Feel free to sing this song yourself and with your friends and family as often as you please! If you are using this song in a way that is making money for you, please contribute to the A Breath of Song gratitude jar at https://www.abreathofsong.com/gratitude-jar, and/or send me a note letting me know how the song is helping you, so the song brings us into relationship. Thank you!

Links:

Flow Singing: https://www.juneberrymusic.com/flow-singing.html

All of what I'm up to: https://www.juneberrymusic.com/

Kindred Voices Retreat: https://kindredvoicesretreat.com

Nuts & Bolts: 12:8, major, 3 part

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