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  • Published on

    37. Lead With Your Heart, Friends

    4:4 Be Present Empower Gratitude & Trust Heart Journey Power & Change Protection & Presence Release Ribbon Scale: Ionian (Major) Song Form: Round Trust
    Song Lead With Your Heart, Friends
    Words & Music​ by Ian Carrick
    Lyrics
    Lead with your heart, friends, the day is unfolding;
    the way is clear.
    You already know.
    Picture
    ​
    Notes: I love the bloom of trust I can feel inside myself after singing Ian Carrick's "Lead With Your Heart, Friends" for long enough to let it settle inside me. I find myself relaxing, trusting that my heart knows the way already, that the day can unfold and I can follow it without worry or fret. It's a generous gift of a song, and I'm happy to share it forward... including all my mess-ups and squidgely tuning (highly technical term right there!) I figure the point of this podcast is for YOU to do the singing and take this song away with you, make it your own, let yourself sing it when YOU need to hear its message; let the breath and the vibration take you where you want to go!

    Songwriter Info: Ian Carrick is a songleader, musician and songwriter based in his hometown of Bend, Oregon. He aspires to be a sort of modern-day bard, telling stories of the land, tending the heart of his people, singing for life with rhythmic refrains and refreshing harmonies. Ian has been honored to lead singing for students of all ages, educators, homeless shelter residents, recovering addicts, corporate groups and grief ceremonies. He is thrilled to have released his first album as a songwriter and is excited to carry the ethos of community singing into the conventional realm of performance music.

    Links: 
    https://www.iancarrick.net
    Original songs by Ian for singing together can be found both at https://soundcloud.com/iancarrick
    and https://www.openhubsinging.com/song-library
    Listen to Ian himself sing this at Lead with Your Heart
    Ian made a sing-along-able album of family-oriented music in 2023 - Check out Earthlings streaming wherever you listen!

    Nuts & Bolts: 4:4, Ionian, round

    Song Learning Time Stamps:
    Start time of teaching: 00:02:38
    Start time of reprise: 00:11:30

    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

    36. Brighter Days

    6:8 Grow Hope Praise & Wonder Protection & Presence Ribbon Scale: Ionian (Major) Song Form: Layer Trust
    Song Brighter Days
    Words & Music by Jennifer Cook
    Lyrics
    There's so much hope in a snowdrop,
    the promise of spring to come.
    Hold on, hold on
    through the cold,
    brighter days will come.
    Picture

    Notes: Whether or not you have snowdrops blooming right now, who doesn't recognize the promise we sometimes can sense in a bloom? The cycle of blooming, falling, disintegrating, resting, reforming, growing, blooming... this song has a beautiful criss-cross of lines, so the first line burrows into the second line, while the second line starts low and grounded, then rises hopefully above the first. The third line lets you sing out a sort of commentary and affirmation of the first two. I take time teaching the first part, especially, so you can feel really confident as the song develops...

    Songwriter Info: Jenny is a community singing leader and songwriter with a passion for using song to bring joy and build communities and friendships. She runs a-cappella harmony singing groups in Knaresborough and has two young children aged 7 and 4. She also writes beautiful, soulful and easy to teach songs often inspired by and celebrating her love of nature.

    Links: A license to teach the song along with the score and learning/ part tracks are available for £5 by sending an email to Jenny at Jenny.j.cook21@gmail.com
    You can also find more of Jenny's songs at her facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/jennycookmusic/ (you don't need to belong to facebook to look & listen)
    Jenny singing Brighter Days herself in a beautiful video with Patty's art, among other lovely snowdrops:     https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e1HBLiURzqI

    Nuts & Bolts: 6:8, Ionian, 2 layer, one harmonized

    Song Learning Time Stamps:
    Start time of teaching: 00:02:39
    Start time of reprise: 00:14:01
    ​
    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

    35. Hymn To Loving with Guest Lisa Forkish

    4:4 Be Present Empower Flex Heal Journey Power & Change Protection & Presence Scale: Mixolydian Song Form: Verse And Layer Songwriter Conversation Tend
    Song Hymn to Loving
    Words & Music​ by Lisa Forkish
    Lyrics
    1. What if falling felt like flying?
    What if flying felt like freedom?
    Will I be healed? Will I be healed? Will I be healed?

    2. What if freedom felt like living?
    What if living felt like loving?
    Will I be whole? Will I be whole? Will I be whole?

    3. So in living, I am you;
    And in loving, you are me, too.
    Will we hold, and be held? Hold and be held?

    Hold and be held. Is this what freedom feels like?
    Picture
    Notes: Lisa Forkish shares her song, Hymn to Loving, and talks about song titling, songwriting away from keyboards, deconstructing binaries, singing as a pure, liberating expression of the self, learning to love and be tender with our voice... and the surprise of connections through Zoom. Now, maybe that's all immediately appealing to you, or maybe it sounds complicated and brain-challenging! Let me tell you, Lisa has a gentle, welcoming presence and wide-open curiosity and questioning that makes this conversation a pleasure to eavesdrop on -- and whether her views raise questions for you, or drop easily into your pocket, I hope you will find useful connections through Lisa's explanations and in the links to help you follow up on whatever sparks your interest. She talks a lot about what she experiences as healing in voice work... and a tiny bit about her experience with the movie, Pitch Perfect, and her role in popularizing and opening up the collegiate acapella world.

    Songwriter Info: Lisa Forkish (she/they) is a queer singer-songwriter, community-builder, artivist, song-healer, and self-described "Love Warrior," infusing all she creates with fierce authenticity and heart. For the past 20 years, Lisa has been using song as both an expressive art and a tool for building connection. For Lisa, facilitating music spaces is much more than a job; it is a sacred calling. Lisa breathes humanity into their music and teaching with infectious joy and compassion, aiming to heal the wounds of music elitism and not-enoughness through an embodied, trauma-informed and heart-centered approach. For Lisa, Love is paramount and closeness is the antidote to cisheteropatriarchy, white supremacist delusion and cultural disconnection. Lisaʻs mission is to utilize music for personal and collective healing and liberation. 

    Links:
    Lisa's website: lisaforkish.com
    Lisa's singing offerings: wesingthebody.com
    adrienne maree brown (principles of emergent strategy): https://adriennemareebrown.net/
    Holistic Resistance (Black-led movement facilitating racial justice and other work to heal oppression): https://www.holisticresistance.com/
    white supremacy culture (what exactly does that mean?): https://www.whitesupremacyculture.info/
    Rev angel Kyodo williams (radical dharma): https://angelkyodowilliams.com/
    On Being podcast (Krista Tippett interviews with various people): https://onbeing.org/
    Brene Brown (wholehearted, daring living): https://brenebrown.com/
    Rhiannon (vocal art as vehicle for change; improvisation): https://rhiannonmusic.com/

    Nuts & Bolts: 4:4, Mixolydian, verse followed by 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 Gratitude Jar (whoo-hoo!!!!), or by making comments, leaving reviews, suggesting songs or songwriters (including yourself) ..... your participation matters!
  • Published on

    34. Possibility

    4:4 Be Present Empower Flex Gratitude & Trust Grow Hope Journey Open Power & Change Praise & Wonder Ribbon Scale: Dorian Song Form: Layer Trust
    Song Possibility
    Words & Music​ by Lisa Forkish
    Lyrics

    An end is not the end, it can be the beginning.

    Like a river, I flow.

    I am open to all the possibility.
    Picture
    Notes: I love a layer song which gives me options -- what do I feel like singing? Is singing low and warm feeling yummy? Or floating high? Or getting snuggled in the middle of a set of harmonies? Lisa Forkish's "Possibility" song offers all those choices, starting with a low, potentially gritty, determined line that says "An end is not THE end -- it can be the beginning." Then a fluid river line that requires some release to sing, as it flows among notes. Finally, when singing about being open, there is an amazing note on the word "open" that moves the whole song into a slightly unexpected place, giving a visceral experience of opening up to a different possibility. Love it. A song that helps me embody the knowledge of possibility that change brings.

    Songwriter Info: Lisa Forkish (she/they) is a queer singer-songwriter, community-builder, artivist, song-healer, and self-described "Love Warrior," infusing all she creates with fierce authenticity and heart. For the past 20 years, Lisa has been using song as both an expressive art and a tool for building connection. For Lisa, facilitating music spaces is much more than a job; it is a sacred calling. Lisa breathes humanity into their music and teaching with infectious joy and compassion, aiming to heal the wounds of music elitism and not-enoughness through an embodied, trauma-informed and heart-centered approach. For Lisa, Love is paramount and closeness is the antidote to cisheteropatriarchy, white supremacist delusion and cultural disconnection. Lisaʻs mission is to utilize music for personal and collective healing and liberation. 

    Links:
    lisaforkish.com
    wesingthebody.com
    www.patreon.com/lisaforkish
    Insta and Youtube / lisaforkish

    Song Learning Time Stamps:
    Start time of teaching: 00:02:23
    Start time of reprise: 00:12:56​

    Nuts & Bolts: 4:4, Dorian, 3 layer song with 2 layers harmonized, so 5 parts
    ​
    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

    33. There Is A Love

    3:4 Calm Gratitude & Trust Heal Protection & Presence Release Ribbon Scale: Ionian (Major) Song Form: Round Trust
    Song There Is A Love
    Words by Rev. Dr. Rebecca Parker
    Music by Elizabeth (Beth) Norton
    Lyrics
    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.
    Picture
    Notes: What does it take to allow you to fall to rest, deeply & completely? Rest is such a necessary component of healing, and sometimes can be tricky to come by -- unless I'm the only one awake at 2 in the morning sometimes, with my head spinning fruitless circles? Feeling completely safe -- completely loved -- is one of the things that lets me rest, slows the adrenalin responses, and lets my body and mind heal. This song does that for me... whew!!! The composer, Elizabeth Norton, points out: "Please note that there is no "you" verse. This is because Rev. Dr. Parker was very clear that this is a widening circle of Love and compassion that embraces all." We are each at the center of this song.

    Songwriter Info: A life-long church musician, Elizabeth (Beth) Norton has served First Parish in Concord, Massachusetts as Director of Music Ministry since 1994, leading a dynamic adult choir and guiding a vital and varied music ministry for singers and instrumentalists of all ages and stages. She has led UU singers on concert pilgrimages to Eastern Europe, building musical bridges with Unitarian churches in Transylvania (Romania), Hungary and the Czech Republic. Beth received her bachelor’s degree with a major in music from Smith College and a master’s degree in choral conducting from Hartt School of Music, University of Hartford. As a composer, she has written several songs, chants and choral anthems that are currently available by contacting EHNComposer@gmail.com. Beth says she had the great wisdom to marry into the Norton family in 1986. Her husband, Peter, is Tom Norton’s brother. Thus, she has the great good fortune (again, her own words!) to claim Patricia Norton as her sister-in-law and friend! Beth and Peter have two adult sons, who live in southern Vermont and near Boston Massachusetts. Beth and her family share a love of music, hiking, skiing, and birding. She usually has a knitting project on hand.

    ​Song Learning Time Stamps:
    Start time of teaching: 00:02:52
    Start time of reprise: 00:14:45

    Links:
    The score can be accessed through the UUA "Worship Web" here: https://www.uua.org/worship/words/music/there-love
    Hear a roomful of people singing There Is A Love (and catch a glimpse of Beth!): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UlY7Yf-l8rU

    Nuts & Bolts: 3:4, major, round
    ​
    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

    32. Seed Song

    4:4 Be Present Grief & Fear Grieve Hope Notice Ribbon Scale: Minor Song Form: Layer Tend Trust
    Song Seed Song
    Words & Music ​by Barbara McAfee
    Lyrics
    Oh the darkness has swallowed me whole,
    and I cannot remember the light.
    Oh, I feel I am losing my soul to the night, to the night.

    You are a seed.
    This is the waiting time.
    You hold a dream of green that will call you to the sky.
    Picture
    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

    Song Learning Time Stamps:
    Start time of teaching: 00:02:16
    Start time of reprise: 00:13:34​

    Nuts & Bolts: 4:4, minor, 3 layers, 2 with the same words.
    ​
    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!