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    223. The Reach

    4:4 Cycles Earth Generations Gratitude & Trust Grow Hope Praise & Wonder Scale: Ionian (Major) Seasons Song Form: Harmonized Song Form: Round Trust
    Song Learning Time Stamps:
    Start time of teaching: 00:02:50
    Start time of reprise: 00:14:29
    Lyrics:

    The earth
    opened in the spring, opens
    in all springs. Nameless,
    ancient, many lived, we reach
    through ages with the seed.

    – Wendell Berry, “Rising”
    New Collected Poems
    ​(Counterpoint Press, 2012)
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    Song: The Reach
    Words by: Wendell Berry
    Music by: Malcolm Dalglish

    Notes: I learned this beautiful round from the amazing Moira Smiley, who connected me with Malcolm Dalglish to request his permission to share on this podcast. I continue to be amazed by the seeds we sow when we befriend and tend each other, unfolding understanding and trust. It's not always easy to reach forward or back -- but these seeds we plant with each other open, even if the winter is long and icy! At least that's where this poem is taking me today. And let me tell you, I practiced deep love and care for all of you whose voices are comfortable in higher ranges than mine! I taught it where I'm comfy -- but I did the reprise where Malcolm actually set the sheet music (nice tenor/soprano range) -- so if you want to buy the sheet music from him and sing along with it, that's where you should head...

    Songwriter Info: Malcolm Dalglish is a hammer dulcimer player and composer from Bloomington Indiana, whose many vocals celebrate a love of our natural world. He has set many poems by Kentucky author, and farmer, Wendell Berry. 

    Sharing Info: Please buy sheet music on Malcolm's website if you plan to share this song as a songleader.

    Song Learning Time Stamps:
    Start time of teaching: 00:02:50
    Start time of reprise: 00:14:29

    Links:
    Malcolm's website: https://oooliticmusic.com/ 

    Nuts & Bolts: 4:4, major, round with optional descant

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    222. Ribbon 15: All Kinds of Love

    Ribbon
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    ​The Sunday after this episode is released, February 15th, 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!
    Lyrics ​& Links to the original episodes for the songs in this ribbon.
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    ​33. There Is A Love


    Words by Rev. Dr. Rebecca Parker

    Music by Elizabeth (Beth) Norton


    There is a Love holding me; There is a Love holding all that I love;

    There is a Love holding all; I rest in this love.

    There is a Love holding us; There is a Love holding all that we love;

    There is a Love holding all; We rest in this love.

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    210. In This House with MaMuse
    by Karisha Longaker

    In this house, we lead with love.
    In this house, we lift each other up.
    In this house, we learn to fly with the dove.
    Oh, this is the house we've been dreaming of.
    Oh, this is the house we've been dreaming of.
    So come on over (come on over),
    Welcome in (welcome in),
    Come on over (come on over).
    Let's be friends (let's be friends).
    Come on over (come on over).
    There is enough.
    Oh, this is the house we've been dreaming of.
    Oh, this is the house we've been dreaming of.

    ​
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    101. Sacred Breaking
    by Hannah Jeffery

    The only way to be here is to be constantly breaking open
    How else do we make sense of this human experience?

    Beauty, break me open
    Tragedy, break me open
    Humility, break me open
    Love, crack open my heart

    Heartbreak is our birthright 
    It's the only way to be here
    Heartbreak is our birthright
    It's the only way we can heal

    ​
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    ​158. Quiet At First


    Music by Eileen Webb

    Lyrics by Kai Skye


    It's quiet at first,

    this song of love

    for all the living things.

    But once you start to hear it,

    it's quite impossible to pretend

    there's something better

    you could be doing.

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    ​178. My Body

    By Alexandra Sarton Love


    My body is fly

    My body is beautiful

    My body is bold

    My body is mine

    ​

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    ​123. Arms of Love

    By Alexa Sunshine Rose


    Come now child, lay it down

    Just breathe

    Just be

    Come be cradled in the arms of love

    Just breathe, just be.

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    221. Heading Home

    4:4 Birds Farewell Home Journey Light Moon Night Protection & Presence Rest Scale: Ionian (Major) Song Form: Harmonized Sun
    Song Learning Time Stamps:
    Start time of teaching: 00:04:04
    Start time of reprise: 00:18:29
    Lyrics:

    Home, we're heading home,
    Home, we're heading home,
    With an ache in my bones, and a song in my heart
    Home, we're heading home.

    Verse: 
    The birds have paused their singing, and the day is almost done.
    The moon reflects a gentle light, and silences the sun.
    And now I'm called to my place of rest, where I close my eyes to the night,
    And lay my head, before I'll wake in the morning light.
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    Song: Heading Home
    Music by: Ben & Dom

    Notes: I read a commentary by Ailey Jolie, saying, "You cannot breathe your way out of patriarchy." She was observing that regulating the body's emergency responses is good to do as a way of caring for ourselves -- but not if it means simply increasing our ability to tolerate a situation that is causing our bodies to cry "emergency." We need to breathe and steady ourselves, as this song of Ben & Dom's does so beautifully -- and the reason is to bring ourselves even more fully into the present, ready to respond effectively to what actually is because we have the capacity to look directly at what is not working. So let this song bring you home to yourself -- whole, rested, and ready.

    Songwriter Info: Ben & Dom are a singing duo, weaving their voices around songs old and new. Ben takes the high notes and Dom takes the low notes (most of the time). Their lyrics touch on friendship, nature and what it means for two men to sing together in this modern day. 

    Sharing Info: Ben & Dom say: "We would love this song to be sung and shared in any circle. It is a parting song suitable for lots of different situations and occasions. If you feel like you want to share the song we have sheet music and teaching tracks available on our website. There is a tiered pricing structure to suit groups of different sizes and setups. If the cost is any kind of challenge for you then please be in touch and we can send you the materials free of charge. "

    Song Learning Time Stamps:
    Start time of teaching: 00:04:04
    Start time of reprise: 00:18:29

    Links:
    Ben & Dom's website: www.BenAndDom.com
    Ben & Dom's Bandcamp: https://benanddom.bandcamp.com
    Buy score for Heading Home: https://benanddom.bandcamp.com/ 
    Essay of Ailey Jolie: https://www.facebook.com/share/p/16LcZ7iR43/ 

    Nuts & Bolts: 4:4, major, 3-part harmony

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    220. Pray With Our Feet with guest Paul Vasile

    2:2 Change Determination Empower Hope Power & Change Prayer Scale: Aeolian (minor) Song Form: Unison
    Song Learning Time Stamps:
    Start time of teaching: 00:04:35
    Start time of reprise: 01:15:00
    Lyrics:

    It's not enough to offer thoughts and prayers.
    It's not enough to say that we care. 
    It's not enough to hope that things will change. 
    We've got to pray with our feet,
    pray with our feet, pray with our feet
    and get out, out on the street.
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    Song: Pray With Our Feet
    Words by: Paul Vasile, based on a quotation by Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel
    Music by: Paul Vasile

    Notes: This is what folk in Minneapolis are doing -- praying with their feet, getting out on the street. They're singing songs to bless each other, the people they're protecting, and the ICE agents who are so misguided. And this is not the only place in the world where people of "middle power" gather -- not super-powers, not uber-wealthy -- just people who care about living in a world where we feed and educate our children, hold jobs with purpose. Paul Vasile describes it as "belonging belovedness -- you are safe, you are seen, you are heard." In this conversation, we dive into the sometimes knotty weeds of faith and how someone who is deeply connected in a faith tradition might want to expand into questions of what world we want to create together. Big trees. "Talk less, sing more." "As a queer person, I experienced a faith that helped me be a bigger, better me."

    Songwriter Info:
    Paul Vasile (he/him) is a church musician, teacher, coach, and composer who finds his greatest joy in collaborative and community-centered work. Committed to modeling expansive, imaginative, and hospitable experiences of music making wherever he goes, Paul's leadership builds trust, invites spaces of creativity, vulnerability, and play, and supports practices of reflection and holistic learning.
    For the past decade he has offered short- and long-term transitional leadership, consulting services, and creative resources to faith communities in seasons of discernment, challenge, and transformation. From 2016 to 2023, Paul served as the Executive Director of Music that Makes Community, a non-profit that shares "paperless" (oral tradition) leadership practices and songs. He traveled across North America modeling distinctive approaches to communal singing and learning at retreat centers, conferences, denominational gatherings, seminaries, and in congregations of all sizes.
    Paul also composes music that invites communities to express and explore their connection to sacred stories, their bodies, and the ecosystems that sustain us. His music is represented in Glory to God, All Creation Sings, and Voices Together, as well as The Hymn Society’s resource, Songs for the Holy Other: Hymns Affirming The LGBTQIA2S+ Community.

    Sharing Info: Please buy sheet music on Paul's website if you plan to share this song as a songleader.

    Song Learning Time Stamps:
    Start time of teaching: 00:04:35
    Start time of reprise: 01:15:00

    Links:
    Paul's website: https://www.paulvasile.com/ 
    Paul's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lovedintobeing/ 
    Sheet music for Pray With Our Feet: https://www.paulvasile.com/products/pray-with-our-feet
    Feb 7th workshop at Lutheran church in Ft. Washington, MD with Maren Marchesini: https://www.sharingthesong.org/
    Inspiration for lyrics, including quote by Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel: https://www.tbemaine.org/praying-with-hearts-and-feet 

    Music that Makes Community: https://www.musicthatmakescommunity.org/ 
    Rev. Donald Schnell, a 2012 interview as Music Makes Community was beginning: https://www.conversations.org/story.php?sid=329
    Bobby McFerrin: https://bobbymcferrin.com/ 
    Taizé chants: https://www.taize.fr/en/the-songs 
    Chanda Rule: https://www.chandarule.com/
    Hold Me by Nina Wise: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yxU_egWayc4&t=16s
    Nina Wise: https://ninawise.com

    East Coast songleader trainings:
    Mila Redwood in Toronto: https://www.milaredwood.ca/song-leader-training
    Patricia in Burlington, VT: https://www.juneberrymusic.com/songleader-training.html 

    Alice Parker:     https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alice_Parker
    Liz Rog -- here's a place to find her book on songleading: https://www.centerforbelonging.earth/
    Arvo Pärt – Passio: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passio_(P%C3%A4rt) 
    Spencer LaJoye: https://www.spencerlajoye.com/ 
    Spencer's song Plowshare Prayer: https://youtu.be/MhOZv5i7CHY?si=S5bbjdBDJP2cU_4I

    Nuts & Bolts: 2:2, minor, unison

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    219. Trust the Work

    4:4 Calm Gratitude & Trust Love Scale: Aeolian (minor) Song Form: Round Song Form: Unison Trust
    Song Learning Time Stamps:
    Start time of teaching: 00:03:43
    Start time of reprise: 00:16:07
    Lyrics:

    Trust the work.
    Trust the slow work.
    Trust the slow work of God     [or love] within you.
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    Song: Trust the Work
    Words by: Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, S.J.
    Music by: Paul Vasile

    Notes: Trusting the work of love inside us, as excruciatingly slow as it seems sometimes.... this is a mantra I can fold right into my life, singing it on the regular to remind me back into the power of inner trust. Next episode is a conversation with Paul where we talk about the choice (he ok'd) to replace the word "God" with "love" -- and what it is we all seek. I offer this as a somatic check in as well -- as you sing it in different ranges, how does your voice and body respond?

    Songwriter Info:
    Paul Vasile (he/him) is a church musician, teacher, coach, and composer who finds his greatest joy in collaborative and community-centered work. Committed to modeling expansive, imaginative, and hospitable experiences of music making wherever he goes, Paul's leadership builds trust, invites spaces of creativity, vulnerability, and play, and supports practices of reflection and holistic learning.
    For the past decade he has offered short- and long-term transitional leadership, consulting services, and creative resources to faith communities in seasons of discernment, challenge, and transformation. From 2016 to 2023, Paul served as the Executive Director of Music that Makes Community, a non-profit that shares "paperless" (oral tradition) leadership practices and songs. He traveled across North America modeling distinctive approaches to communal singing and learning at retreat centers, conferences, denominational gatherings, seminaries, and in congregations of all sizes.
    Paul also composes music that invites communities to express and explore their connection to sacred stories, their bodies, and the ecosystems that sustain us. His music is represented in Glory to God, All Creation Sings, and Voices Together, as well as The Hymn Society’s resource, Songs for the Holy Other: Hymns Affirming The LGBTQIA2S+ Community.

    Sharing Info: Please buy sheet music on Paul's website if you plan to share this song as a songleader.

    Song Learning Time Stamps:
    Start time of teaching: 00:03:43
    Start time of reprise: 00:16:07

    Links:
    Paul's website: https://www.paulvasile.com/ 
    Paul's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lovedintobeing/ 

    Nuts & Bolts: 4:4, minor, optional round

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    218. The River

    2:2 Flow Heal Night Pain Protection & Presence Rain Scale: Ionian (Major) Song Form: Harmonized Song Form: Verse & Chorus Tend Water
    Song Learning Time Stamps:
    Start time of teaching: 00:02:49
    Verses taught slowly: 00:11:55
    First run through: 00:15:50
    Start time of reprise: 00:20:53
    Lyrics:

    Bass part:
    Dum t-ka dum dum dum k
    Dum t-ka dum dum dum k
    Dum t-ka dum dum dum dum
    Dum t-ka dum dum dum k

    Melody:
    1. The river is a healer, the river is a sage.
    The river knows no end and the river feels no age.
    The river is a leader every single day,
    It's living in the moment and it always finds a way.

    Chorus:
    Water heal my body, water heal my soul.
    When I go down down to the water,
    by the water I feel whole.

    2. The river calls me over, it's calling out my name
    In the day and in the night I hear that river all the same.
    It's calling me over, calling out my pain,
    oh a river gathers tears just like a river gathers rain.

    3. The river is a traveller, always on the go
    A river never worries if it's fast or if it's slow
    River take me to where I need to go,
    Oh and I will just relax and let the river flow.
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    Song: The River
    Music by: Coco Love Alcorn

    Notes: Coco is entering a long and challenging journey with an aggressive cancer diagnosis. She’s hopeful and grounded, but as an independent musician, she doesn’t have access to benefits like employment insurance or sick leave. With her treatment schedule, she’s had to cancel every concert, every tour, and even postpone the recording of her new album. She also had to pause her local choir until further notice. This means she’s facing at least a year ahead with almost no income — while focusing all her strength on healing. Supporting her directly through buying her music, or donating to the GoFundMe will make this time easier. In the meantime, you can sing this song of Coco's, bringing river healing energy into the world!

    Songwriter Info:
    “Coco is the ultimate musical spark plug... an electrical connector through which the creative energy flows. In my 30 years of touring around the world, I have never seen another performer able to bring people together like Coco does.” ~ James Keelaghan - Artist Director, Summerfolk and renowned Canadian singer/ songwriter
    The first thing you notice about Coco Love Alcorn, is the voice. It's a rich, dynamic, supremely soulful instrument – hailed by the press as extraordinary, beautiful, and stunning – that has a way of touching your heart and making you care. 
    As a performer, Alcorn is always in the moment, joyful, and genuine. She combines diverse musical influences including jazz, R&B, pop, folk, and Gospel. Her playful and witty character, love of improvising, and willingness to engage fearlessly with the audience has made Alcorn an established presence on the Canadian music scene. 
    Born in Antigonish, Nova Scotia and now based in Owen Sound, Ontario, Alcorn’s career has spanned more than 20 years, 12 (9 solo) albums, cross-Canada tours, collaborations, festival appearances, award nominations, and notable success in TV and film licensing. And it took someone with a spirit like Alcorn's to navigate this path. 
    "Throughout my career I have explored across many genres, collaborations and projects, taking a winding path to get to here,” she says. “But I’ve loved every step of my journey and trusted my inner curiosity to take me where it wanted to go.” 

    Sharing Info: Please support Coco directly if you are sharing this song, either by buying the music on her website here: https://cocolovealcorn.com/store or supporting her GoFundMe here: https://www.gofundme.com/f/SupportCocoThroughCancer 

    Song Learning Time Stamps:
    Start time of teaching: 00:02:49
    Verses taught slowly: 00:11:55
    First run through: 00:15:50
    Start time of reprise: 00:20:53

    Links:
    Coco teaching the song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xgmg1K7BFxo&t=133s 
    Coco's GoFundMe: https://www.gofundme.com/f/SupportCocoThroughCancer
    Lisa Littlebird teaching tracks: https://thebirdsings.com/the-river/
    Sheet music for The River: https://cocolovealcorn.com/store 

    Nuts & Bolts: 2:2, major, verses & chorus, harmonize

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    ​
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