Tags

  • Published on

    74. Equinox Blessing (Shadows & Light)

    4:4 Accept Darkness Dawn Flex Flow Light Moon Night Notice Ribbon Scale: Dorian Shadow Song Form: Layer Sun Trust
    Song: Equinox Blessing (Shadows & Light)
    Words & Music​ by Heather Houston
    Lyrics
    ​
    Honoring the darkness, Honoring the light,
    Honoring the day, Honoring the night

    All things find their way into balance

    Suspended in time

    Shadows and light
    Picture
    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.

    ​Song Learning Time Stamps:
    Start time of teaching: 00:03:14
    Start time of reprise: 00:13:05

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

    73. Love Flows In

    2:2 Be Present Calm Flow Heal Lullaby Release Rest Ribbon Scale: Ionian (Major) Song Form: Harmonized Tend
    Song: Love Flows In
    Words & Music​: Roberta Kirn
    Lyrics
    Take a moment to quiet the mind,
    to settle down deep in the body.
    Love flows in, love flows in, love flows in.
    Like the waves, like the tide, like the everlasting spring,
    love flows in.
    Picture
    Notes: I love that after I sing this a few times, I begin to feel more fluid inside -- as though everything under my skin is softening into a tidal pulse of flow. It's a beautiful song to sing with a drone... the words "the mind", or the "in" from "flows in" join the drone note -- a way of subverting any annoying repeated note into becoming accompaniment for your singing. This podcast isn't about me producing a polished recording -- it's about you singing, you playing, and you having a new song that you can invite into your life... and knowing that hundreds of other people are singing this song, too. Maybe they're on the melody, or the harmony, or maybe they're experimenting like I did today? And when they finish singing, everyone may feel different than when they started to sing... a little more settled, a little more flow, a little more love?

    Songwriter Info: Roberta Kirn is a song leader, percussionist, and dancer who has been living, working, and raising a family on the island of Martha’s Vineyard off the coast of Massachusetts since 1989. She is the founder of BeWellSing and The Song Exchange Project, through which she brings singing in community to as many people as she can. Inspired by the teaching of Dr Ysaye Maria Barnwell, Roberta has been leading community singing for over 25 years. She believes, and has experienced, that singing together brings us into deeper connection with ourselves and each other. Raising our voices, having a communal experience of rhythm, melody, and harmony is a deeply healing experience that can be shared across age, gender, race, class, and culture.

    Links: 
    Roberta's Website: https://www.bewellsing.com

    Song Learning Time Stamps:
    Start time of teaching: 00:03:35
    Start time of reprise: 00:15:13

    Nuts & Bolts: 2:2, Major, 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 Gratitude Jar (whoo-hoo!!!!), or by making comments, leaving reviews, suggesting songs or songwriters (including yourself) ..... your participation matters!
  • Published on

    72. Unknown (Finding Home)

    2:2 Accept Be Present Change Flex Flow Grieve Hope Release Ribbon Scale: Dorian Song Form: Harmonized Song Form: Layer Trust
    Song: Unknown (Finding Home)
    Words & Music​ by Anni Zylstra
    Lyrics

    ​Finding home
    in all that is unknown.
    Release
    ​what is gone.
    Picture
    Notes: This song, about settling into the unknown and experiencing that as home, is one that has been singing in my head throughout this last year of transition for me. The delight of letting my voice slide helps me physically experience the release, and the complex harmonies keep my sense of focus and unsettledness... as though I'm practicing finding that home in the middle of the unknown. I think this is a great song for becoming very aware of how your voice feels in your body as you sing, because you'll get used to the words fairly quickly -- and then you can shift the focus to the sensations as you sing. (A sneaky form of somatic meditation, but you don't need to notice that, unless you want to!)

    Songwriter Info: (Snitched directly from Anni's website) Anni Zylstra (she/they) is a folk singer, basketmaker, farmer, and weaver of community based in the traditional homelands of the Oceti Sakowin and Ho-chunk in SW so-called Wisconsin. She has been teaching, writing, and collecting new and old polyphonic songs in the aural tradition for a decade. In the spirit of folk, they believe that everyone can sing, and that using our voices to make beauty together is one of most pleasurable, accessible, and world building activities people can do together. Anni's facilitation is rooted in anticapitalist values, play, a queer nature-based lens, and more than a decade of classical musical training, ethnomusicology, and community leadership. They currently farm on the West Fork of the Kickapoo River, where they grow basket willow, perennial food crops, raise ducks, host events and classes folk education style, and lead Ember, a community choir that sings Balkan, Georgian, and polyphonic English music in La Farge, WI.

    Links: 
    Heartland Harmony | Singing for Joy and Connection
    Here is a 45-minute interview with Annie, hosted by Kate Valentine of Singing Mama's choirs, all about song writing and sharing. Meet Annie Zylstra - Choir composer extraordinaire! - YouTube
    @zestinferna -- Anni on Instagram

    Song Learning Time Stamps:
    Start time of teaching: 00:03:15
    Start time of reprise: 00:13:24

    Nuts & Bolts: 2:2, Dorian, harmonized paired melodies
    ​
    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 (whoo-hoo!!!!), or by making comments, leaving reviews, suggesting songs or songwriters (including yourself) ..... your participation matters!
  • Published on

    71. Lullaby My Sweetness with singer Rebecca Csuy

    3:4 Calm Flow Lullaby Release Rest Scale: Ionian (Major) Song Form: Harmonized Tend Trust
    Song: Lullaby My Sweetness
    Words & Music​ by Patricia Norton
    Lyrics
    Lullaby my sweetness, rock me forever;
    cradle me deep in an ocean of blue.
    Lullaby my sweetness, hold me so gentle;
    this is the song that I sing for you.

    White birds winging above me,
    calling wild and calling free.
    White thoughts, wheeling away now;
    loose and alight and afloat on the sea.
    Picture

    Notes    : I am thrilled to announce a 3-generational podcast!!! Our daughter, Rebecca Csuy (pronounced, "Soo-ee"), was kind enough to join me to record this lullaby I started singing to myself a few months ago.... and then Rebecca managed to catch Claire, their almost 3-year-old daughter, singing it to herself the next day! (If you wanted to skip ahead to that, it's at the very, very end of the podcast, as a bonus, and of course, I would completely understand!) Do you ever sing with someone who makes you feel better about your own voice just by the way they sing with you? That's how I feel about singing with Rebecca -- her voice is so true and released -- it helps me find the center in my own in some way. I wrote this song because I'm not always an easy sleeper... so one day after a rough night, I was trying to sing to myself to unwind and relax -- and this is what came. The white birds were seagulls, making a racket outside our apartment window... and just before I fall asleep, it feels like my thoughts turn white and begin to float -- and so the white thoughts.

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

    Links: 
    abreathofsong.com
    juneberrymusic.com

    Song Learning Time Stamps:
    Start time of teaching: 00:02:43
    Start time of reprise: 00:15:43

    Nuts & Bolts: 3:4, Ionian, melody with harmony

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