Notes: Kaitie and I talk about how we get to practice skills in singing that help us show up in full right size to help build the kind of culture we want to live in. This includes stories about cockroaches, childraising, computer-savvy friends... and Kaitie brings it all "earthside" by teaching this powerful layer song which is intimately connected with the South African song "Senzenina". We talk about cross-cultural connections, and how we try to continually update our learning -- what it is to be in right relationship, the illness of wetiko, how to be "other" in a non-inclusive dominant culture. If any of this sparks your curiosity, join us!

Songwriter Info: Kaitie Ty Warren (any pronouns) grew up on Tongva and Ohlone lands, by the ocean and often dreams in fishes and songs. She is a songwriter, songleader, writer, collage artist, cartoonist, minister, and performing artist. She is the founder of Living Room Choir, Be Heard! Voice for Parkinson's, and East Bay Song Fest, all on Ohlone lands in the Bay Area CA. She has a background in theater and music. She goes by Mama to the most awesome little songleader. KaitieTyWarren.com for more; follow on Patreon and socials @KaitieTy.

Sharing Info: Kaitie's songs are available for free to humans for the sole purpose of using it with their choir(s) and song circles. For commercial and for-profit uses, please contact Kaitie via LivingRoomChoir.com. This is not for AI training or use.

Links:

Where to find What Have We Done:

https://livingroomchoir.com/what-have-we-done/

https://www.patreon.com/kaitiety/posts/song-what-have-143827793

https://kaitietywarren.bandcamp.com/track/what-have-we-done

Living Room Choir's Instagram: www.instagram.com/livingroomchoir

Living Room Choir's Website: LivingRoomChoir.com/song-library

Kaitie's Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/kaitiety

Kaitie's Website: https://kaitietywarren.com/

Kaitie's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kaitietywarren/

Senzenina – The Joy covering it: https://youtu.be/0ye19cENvY4?si=okLZ6YrsQrXwHJb4

Vukani Mowethu South African choir in Oakland: https://www.vukani.com/

Kele Nitoto: https://www.instagram.com/kelenitoto/

Ahimsa – concept of non-violence: https://www.britannica.com/topic/ahimsa

Heather Houston retreats: https://heatherhoustonmusic.com/retreats-old/

Laura Sandage: https://www.lauraschapel.com/

“I Am” by Tom Shadyac (available on Netflix) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Am_(2010_American_documentary_film)

Wetiko: Algonquin term for a cannibalistic spirit that is driven by greed, excess and selfish consumption (in Ojibwe it is windigo, wintiko in Powhatan) - https://www.lapishealingarts.com/lapidary-blog/wetiko-and-the-collective-dark-night-of-the-soul

East Bay Songfest April 16-18, 2027: https://eastbaysongfest.com/

Nuts & Bolts: 4:4, layer, major

Join this community of people who love to use song to help navigate life? Absolutely:

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(feel free to sing "your body is perfect" or "my body is perfect" according to the needs of the moment.)

This song is a good zipper song. Here are some suggestions:

my health is perfect

my timing is perfect

my offer is perfect

my singing is perfect

my voice is perfect



Notes: Kaitie started quite a discussion around our house with this song. What is perfect? Who gets to decide? And why is it so darn comforting to be told you're perfect, anyway? But when I first sang this song with Kaitie at Heather Houston's Global Summit many months ago, I was struck by how much better I felt after singing it to myself -- and I have continued to sing it through a flare of pain that I'm still seeking answers for and is constricting my way of life -- and I continue to find it comforting! Maybe you will, too? Next week, I get to talk with Kaitie directly about all kinds of things, including the ways we're trying to move away from the harm done by white colonial cultures and toward a vibrant, inclusive kind of presence that hums with life and generativity.

Songwriter Info: Kaitie Ty Warren (any pronouns) grew up on Tongva and Ohlone lands, by the ocean and often dreams in fishes and songs. She is a songwriter, songleader, writer, collage artist, cartoonist, minister, and performing artist. She is the founder of Living Room Choir, Be Heard! Voice for Parkinson's, and East Bay Song Fest, all on Ohlone lands in the Bay Area CA. She has a background in theater and music. She goes by Mama to the most awesome little songleader. KaitieTyWarren.com for more; follow on Patreon and socials @KaitieTy.

Sharing Info: Kaitie's songs are available for free to humans for the sole purpose of using it with their choir(s) and song circles. For commercial and for-profit uses, please contact Kaitie via LivingRoomChoir.com. This is not for AI training or use.

Links:

"My Body is Perfect" on Kaitie's Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/kaitiety/posts/new-song-my-body-137978799

Kaitie's Patreon: www.patreon.com/kaitiety

Living Room Choir's Instagram: www.instagram.com/livingroomchoir

Living Room Choir's Website: LivingRoomChoir.com/song-library

Kaitie's Website: https://kaitietywarren.com/

Kaitie's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kaitietywarren/

Kaitie's Bandcamp: https://kaitietywarren.bandcamp.com

Nuts & Bolts: 4:4, call and response, major

Join this community of people who love to use song to help navigate life? Absolutely:

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Help us keep going: reviews, comments, encouragement, plus contributions... we float on your support. https://www.abreathofsong.com/gratitude-jar.html

Notes: Singing a song of my own with my long-time mentor and vocal coach was a huge honor... and brought out some vulnerable moments around my own history of working with my voice. I also made some mistakes, which is funny, since I chose these words and notes myself... but can't always come up with them in the moment!!! But Judi and I have fun settling into this song about constant change -- hope you do, too!

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:

Judi Vinar –

Email for newsletter: judivinar@gmail.com

Website: https://www.judivinar.com/

ABS episode: https://www.abreathofsong.com/p/53-wish-for-we

Video of I Can See Clearly: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cXeY696gZW4

Heather Houston: https://heatherhoustonmusic.com/

(Heather on A Breath of Song: https://www.abreathofsong.com/p/75-easy-does-it-with-guest-heather-houston)

Visual of Bryce Canyon from Rt 66: https://www.relaxednomad.com/grand-canyon-zion-bryce-canyon-route-66/

Unity churches in Minneapolis area: https://www.unityminneapolis.org/

Bobby McFerrin and Gimme 5/Voicestra: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mX4UWy7X4SY

Nuts & Bolts: 4:4, major, 2-part round

Join this community of people who love to use song to help navigate life? Absolutely:

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Notes: It was both an honor and illumination to meet with Sarina Partridge and Annie Schlaefer to talk about Singing Resistance (they were both in it at inception…) and learn two of the songs in the Singing Resistance Songbook – and I left feeling so much encouragement for community and relationship. Annie said, “People want to come to the streets if we’re singing together.” Sarina shared her slogan: “More song circles than gas stations!” We talked about weaving the learning from one event into the next crisis you face – the wisdom of long-standing organizers who help grass-roots eco-systems evolve. The role of singing in building community, showing people what we are FOR and welcoming them in, dispelling the belief that we are powerless and isolated, easing numbness, creating a container of beauty we can be in together during these times. And these songs – soooo beautiful!

Song 1: We Belong To Each Other

Words by: Nikita Gill

Music by: Annie Schlaefer

Songwriter Info: Annie Schlaefer (she/her), a community song-leader, has been collecting songs and facilitating song circles for 13 years in various communities (Northern Minnesota, Maine, Wisconsin) and has more recently been co-facilitating a weekly local community song circle in Minneapolis with a dear friend, Linnea Champ, for nearly 5 years. She continues to be awed by the beautiful ways that singing together brings connection and community. She learned about this style of singing in 2012 in Decorah, Iowa from a local song-leader and now mentor, Liz Rog. 

Sharing Info: Annie says: "Please freely share this song in community gathering spaces. If you want to share this song and are making a bunch of money, I would appreciate some of these funds to come my way in the form of a one-time venmo donation @Annie-Schlaefer, or by joining my Patreon as a monthly subscriber. Thank you!"

Links:

Annie's Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/cw/AnnieSchlaefer 

Nikita Gill: https://www.instagram.com/nikita_gill/ 

Nuts & Bolts: 4:4, round, major

Song 2: Grief and Love

Music by: Sarina Partridge

Songwriter Info: Sarina Partridge is a musician, songleader, educator, and activist in Minneapolis, Minnesota. She feels most alive when learning, creating and sharing songs. Sarina sings with a wide variety of music projects: community song-leading; harmony-rich original music with folk trio Heartwood; and performing and teaching of Eastern European and Yiddish song.  Sarina has a passion for connecting people with their own creativity and with community, and uses singing as a modality to help folks develop a sense of wonder and belonging in this wild world

Sharing Info: Sarina says: "Please sing the song with your group! You can buy sheet music for it through my website (link below). If you’d like to have tracks of the separated harmony layers, please contact me. One meaningful way to support me is to join me on patreon for whatever monthly donation amount feels right to you. I post a new song - with separated out tracks for harmony parts, lyrics, the story of the song - on patreon every other week. Thank you!"

Song Learning Time Stamps:

Start of teaching: 00:11:05

Start of reprise: 00:49:36

Links:

Sarina's website: www.SarinaPartridge.com 

Sarina's Patreon: www.patreon.com/sarinapartridge 

Sarina's Bandcamp: www.sarinapartridge.bandcamp.com 

Nuts & Bolts: 2:2; 3-layer, minor

Extra links: 

Barbara McAfee ABS episode: https://www.abreathofsong.com/p/195-get-up-with-guest-barbara-mcafee 

Lia Falls: https://marinemillsfolkschool.org/lia-falls/ 

Liz Rog: https://marinemillsfolkschool.org/liz-rog/ 

Linnea Champ - Sing As You Are: https://www.patreon.com/cw/SingAsYouAre 

Sara Thomsen: “Hearts awakened are unstoppable.”: https://www.echoesofpeace.org/vision 

Frankie Armstrong: Founder of Natural Voice Network in England (NVN): https://www.naturalvoice.net/about/history-of-the-network/ 

Join this community of people who love to use song to help navigate life? Absolutely:

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Help us keep going: reviews, comments, encouragement, plus contributions... we float on your support.

https://www.abreathofsong.com/gratitude-jar.html

Notes: Our first road trip stop is Kingston, Ontario in Canada, where I got to meet up with three delightful songleaders – and we sang SO many good songs over the weekend! It was impossible to narrow down to one, so this episode is a three-fer, and you get three very different songs, one from each songleader. You hear us playing; making up harmonies on the spot, trying to get the words in the right order – this is an unrehearsed, “what-can-happen-when-you-put-four-people-who-love-songs-into-one-room?” kind of moment. We had such a good time doing it and hope you get to catch our joy as you sing with us.

Song 1: Lifted

Music by: Wendy Luella Perkins

Songwriter Info: Wendy Luella Perkins founded SOULFUL SINGING (singing meditation for all) in 2002. An ordained Unitarian Universalist minister, she shares "short-on-words, long-on-meaning; easy-to-learn, hard-to-forget" songs in the oral tradition. Soulful Singing fosters depth and uplift, resonance and healing, connection and community. 

Enjoy singing in community? Had a fourth grade teacher who told you to mouth the words? Dedicated shower singer? Shy about singing out loud? Love to belt it out? Committed chorister? Everyone is warmly welcomed into the circle of song. Wendy Luella strongly believes that connecting with our singing voices has beneficial effects on many, many areas of life, including enhancing our capacities to trust ourselves and to learn and grow with others. 

Back in March 2020, Wendy Luella, who is based in Kingston, Ontario, Canada responded to the call of our times by taking Soulful Singing online "for a couple of weeks until this whole pandemic thing blew over". She has been singing via zoom every single morning at 9am, and Thursdays at 6pm (ET) since then. EVERYONE is welcome to attend these gatherings. More than 200 of her original Soulful Singing songs are available on tiktok @wendyluellaperkins. She is also working on an online song library of her original songs. Find out more at info@wendyluellaperkins.com. 

Sharing Info: The song is free to share in oral tradition groups, but please contact Wendy for recording and/or performing permission. When sharing in a money-making venture, like a workshop, class, or performance, please contact Wendy for permission and rates.

Song Learning Time Stamps:

Intro: 00:04:42

Start of teaching: 00:09:40

Start of reprise: 00:47:37

Links:

Wendy's website: www.wendyluellaperkins.com

Soulful Singing with Wendy Luella: info@wendyluellaperkins.com

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

Song 2: Present Moment, Sacred Moment

Music by: Steph Drouin

Songwriter Info: Steph Drouin (she/her) is a community song leader, singer, songwriter, and Expressive Arts Therapist based in Kingston, Ontario, Canada. For over a decade, she has guided people of all abilities into easeful, joyful, and healing singing experiences. She has helped sow the seeds of community singing throughout Toronto and across Ontario with groups such as Sing for Joy, and in 2019 founded her own social enterprise, Fiercely OK.

Through Fiercely OK, Steph offers weekly in‑person and online song circles with her partner, Paul Barton, as well as special events with visiting artists such as Coco Love Alcorn and Luke Wallace - all in the spirit of nourishing a vibrant, connected singing community. Her most recent project includes co‑creating Kingston Pop Choir with Paul.

Informed by a lifelong relationship with anxiety, Steph writes and teaches songs that help people embrace their full, messy humanity and stay connected to their sense of being OK. She is known for her warm, playful presence and her ability to create spaces where people feel safe to show up exactly as they are.

Steph completed the Community Choir Leadership Training program and Lisa Littlebird’s Flight School in 2018, and is a graduate of the three‑year Expressive Arts Therapy program at the CREATE Institute. In 2024, she moved back to Kingston to be closer to family and to share her gifts with her home community.

Sharing Info: Steph says:

"I encourage (and am trying to remember to practice) a slow culture of learning and sharing songs - taking time to embody the notes, rhythms, and stories behind them, and to build relationships with the people who wrote them. Please take your time and enjoy singing this song, and if you feel moved to share it, please do. You have my permission! 

Keep it as close to the original as you can to start. If your group wants to play with adding other layers or harmonies later, this is most welcome. This songs invites being in the present moment; whatever comes out being in the moment while singing this song belongs in it! I just ask that the song be taught first as it came to me (and my nephew). If you would like to teach it differently from what you heard on A Breath of Song, please reach out.

I encourage forms of reciprocity that align with your gifts and context. Here are some I love:

- Tell me or show me what it was like to share the song with your community. It's fun to see how songs travel! 

- Come sing with us (Paul and me), in person or online. Learn the songs directly from us and hear their stories. This feels important - it means so much when folks carry the songs with an intimate sense of their origins and intricacies.

- Song swaps! If you also write songlets, let’s exchange. I love being in meaningful song‑sharing relationships with other song leaders. This kind of reciprocity feels alive and good.

- Financial reciprocity. If you have room in your budget or are making oodles of money (more than a living wage), we'd love for you to send a little our way. For non-performing groups, folks generally send $25-50 per song or $1 per singer (whichever is greater). Performing or recording rates would be a little higher. For Canadians, e‑transfer works well; otherwise, Wise is my preferred option.

- Follow and share our work. Join the Fiercely OK mailing list, follow us on social media, and help spread the word to folks who would enjoy what we offer.

- Patreon. I’ll be adding my songs to Patreon this year, and I’d love for you to join me there as a monthly patron.

If you have any other ideas, send them my way!"

Song Learning Time Stamps:

Intro: 00:14:01

Start of teaching: 00:20:03

Start of reprise: 00:48:30

Links:

Join the Fiercely OK Mailing List!

https://forms.gle/97Y9hQn55HHL1kHP7 

Website: https://www.fiercelyok.ca/ 

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@stephdrouin3973 

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fiercelyok/ & https://www.instagram.com/therestlessinchoirer/ 

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FiercelyOK/ 

Join our online song circles! The next series begins May 11th, 2026.

https://www.fiercelyok.ca/online-weekly-song-circles 

If you're ever in the Kingston-Toronto area, come sing with us in person! We offer weekly song circles and a monthly pop choir in Kingston, and occasional workshops in Toronto.

I'll be getting my songs up on Patreon this year. There's nothing up there yet, but you can be the first to get updates here:

https://patreon.com/fiercelyok?utm_medium=unknown&utm_source=join_link&utm_campaign=creatorshare_creator&utm_content=copyLink 

Nuts & Bolts: 4:4, mixolydian, 3-layer song

Song 3: I Am Grateful Deep Down

Music by: Paul Barton

Songwriter Info: Known by some as a musical “wizard,” Paul makes clever use of his education in Jazz guitar and experience as a professional musician to help song circles run seamlessly. His songs, infused with his passions for the environment, community, and mental health, are among the most requested songs in the Fiercely OK singing community. His simple melodies carry deep truths right to the heart.

Sharing Info: The song is free to share but Paul always welcomes financial and/or networking support if/when folks are so moved. The best way to support Paul's songwriting is on Patreon.

Song Learning Time Stamps:

Intro: 00:31:56

Start of teaching: 00:32:45

Start of reprise: 00:49:04

Links:

Paul's website: https://www.paulbarton.ca/ 

Paul's Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/paulbartonmusic 

Nuts & Bolts: 2:2, major, harmonized

Extra links: 

Lone Wolf by Steph Drouin and Aimee Ringle: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2SFrSkZ-0Hs 

Thich Nhat Hanh: “Present moment, wonderful moment” https://www.penguinrandomhouse.ca/books/710946/present-moment-wonderful-moment-revised-edition-by-thich-nhat-hanh/9781952692239 

500 Days in the Wild https://tctrail.ca/dianne-whelan-documentary/?gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=21899380530&gbraid=0AAAAABzGiwLd2QCJzToHLUN4HbIpFlKx_&gclid=CjwKCAjwtcHPBhADEiwAWo3sJpemebM5-j0FsOefQ1hxcS4-spp7nBB2-QlQnybCRxiX9UxcfU5bQxoCO68QAvD_BwE

Present Moment, Sacred Moment movement video! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cZedwiqraNQ

Join this community of people who love to use song to help navigate life? Absolutely:

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Notes: It seems fitting that Grace Oedel, who tells us she is “Not doing any of this alone," brings us a song caught by a friend of hers, Joanna Colwell... and that this song references the mentor and teacher Joanna Macy, who helped so many folk seek reconnection. Grace and I are joined by Rebecca Csuy to learn this three part song, and then we dive into a laughter-filled conversation that visits some hard questions and nourishing responses. Grace is doing vital work in the world in many different arenas, seeking ways to help us get comfortable with the enormous changes we are facing, hospicing modernity -- but she points out, “I eat chocolate chips in bed… I am not a holier-than-thou person!”  "We're all in it together," like the song says... "we are turning it around."

Songwriter Info: Joanna Colwell is a yoga teacher and song leader in MIddlebury, Vermont. She started the Yoga Equity Project and can generally be found tearing down the patriarchy with art, song, ritual, and good cheer.

Sharing Info: The song is free to share in oral tradition groups, but please contact Joanna for recording and/or performing permission.

Song Learning Time Stamps:

Start time of teaching: 00:03:03

Start time of reprise: 01:08:19

Links:

Grace's Substack: https://graceoedel.substack.com/ 

Joanna Colwell – Middlebury yoga teacher:

https://www.yogaequity.org/ 

www.ottercreekyoga.com 

https://www.instagram.com/ottercreekyoga/

Joanna Macy – The Work that Reconnects: https://workthatreconnects.org/ 

Octavia Butler: "Kindness eases change." "God is change.": https://www.octaviabutler.com/ 

Moira Smiley on A Breath of Song: https://www.abreathofsong.com/episodes--show-notes/39-stand-in-that-river#/ , https://www.abreathofsong.com/episodes--show-notes/40-render-a-remedy-with-moira-smiley#/ 

Heidi Wilson on A Breath of Song: https://www.abreathofsong.com/episodes--show-notes/139-bend-and-rebound#/ , https://www.abreathofsong.com/episodes--show-notes/140-the-feast-with-guest-heidi-wilson#/ , https://www.abreathofsong.com/episodes--show-notes/228-all-call-this-home#/ 

Singing Resistance: https://linktr.ee/singingresistance 

Kairos Center with Songs in the Key of Resistance: https://kairoscenter.org/projects/songs-in-the-key-of-resistance/ 

NOFA – Long-Handled Spoon Dinners: https://www.nofavt.org/about/blog/announcing-new-long-handled-spoons-dinners 

L’Chaim Jewish collective leadership in Burlington: https://www.lchaimcollective.org/ 

Ilyse Morgenstein Fuerst, UVM professor: https://www.uvm.edu/cas/religion/profile/ilyse-morgenstein-fuerst 

Elise Witt on A Breath of Song: https://www.abreathofsong.com/episodes--show-notes/21-song-deep-in-your-bones#/ , https://www.abreathofsong.com/episodes--show-notes/211-set-us-free#/ 

Nero’s Expedition Up the Nile by Moondog (Louis Thomas Hardin): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zpUIzHWB_zc 

James Baldwin “The children are always ours.”: https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/notes-house-bondage/ 

Aylie Baker – wayfinding in Micronesia: https://emergencemagazine.org/essay/wave-patterns/ 

Indigo Girls: https://www.indigogirls.com/ 

Batya Levine on A Breath of Song: https://www.abreathofsong.com/episodes--show-notes/166-breathe#/ 

Nuts & Bolts: 4:4, minor, 3-layers

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