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    232. Road Trip, Ann Arbor: Love Wears the Crown

    2:2 Change Determination Hope Love Power & Change Road Trip Scale: Aeolian (minor) Song Form: Call & Response Song Form: Unison Song Form: Unison With Separate Harmony Line

    Song: Love Wears the Crown

    Music by: Maggie Wheeler


    Song Learning Time Stamps:

    Start of teaching: 00:03:19

    Start of reprise: 00:27:13

    Lyrics:


    Let us all come together 

    Let us come together now 

    Let us sing sing sing 

    Till the walls of hate crumble down  (2x) 


    Let us sing, let us sing 

    Let us sing, let us sing, let us sing  (2x)


    Let us all come together 

    Let us come together now 

    Let us sing, sing, sing 

    Till the power of love wears the crown  (2x)


    Let us sing, let us sing 

    Let us sing, let us sing, let us sing  (2x)


    Let us all come together 

    Let us come together now 

    Let us sing, sing, sing 

    Till the power of love wears the crown


    Till the power of love, Till the power of love,

    Till the power of love, Till the power of love, power of love (6x)


    Let us all come together 

    Let us come together now 

    Let us sing, sing, sing 

    Till the power of love wears the crown

    Image description

    Notes: I'm visiting Carol Bardenstein and TatiAnah Thunberg, and Carol shares a song by Maggie Wheeler. "Love Wears the Crown" felt to Carol like the perfect song for a No Kings march, and as she teaches it to us, she talks a little about the ways she adapted it for singing in crowds without time to learn nuance... and TatiAnah and I learn it on the spot. I play with harmonies (some more successfully than others, natch!) -- and we reprise it with Carol's whole song circle, so if you're ready to join a crowd, it's time! I loved hearing about the ways these two songleaders are being led by love into interweaving their work and including folk in their circles. There's bounty here!


    Songwriter Info:

    Maggie Wheeler is best known in the U.S and internationally for her extensive work as an actress in film, television, and voice-over and most notably as the character of Janice on NBC’s hit series Friends. Maggie is a passionate singer, songwriter, choir director and workshop facilitator, teaching her vocal workshop Singing In The Stream for over 30 years. It is Maggie’s belief and experience that by singing together we build community, counteract loneliness, become inspired and energized and feel more deeply connected to others and to ourselves. Maggie is a prolific songwriter with a catalog of powerful and timely songs that have been sung by choirs and singing communities worldwide.

    Her original music for choirs and communities is available on Bandcamp, Apple Music and other music platforms.


    Carol Bardenstein is a beloved local song-catcher and song leader of numerous community song-circles and singing workshops/retreats, based in Ann Arbor, sharing her singing there, elsewhere in Southeast Michigan, and beyond! She also facilitates song circles for meaningful life-cycle events and milestones, as well as song healing for bedside, and hospice singing. More recently, she has become very involved in local iterations of the Singing Resistance movement bubbling up from the streets of Minneapolis, inspired to help facilitate the emerging synergy between community singing and singing resistance in rising to meet these times in heartful and empowering ways.

    Carol discovered heart-centered singing with others as a deep and transformative spirit portal some 15 years ago, and she’s been singing her heart out and in with others, facilitating many different kinds of song circles ever since! Grief, joy and everything in between, and all that you are, are warmly invited into her song circles, for expression, connection and communion in heart and song.  

    Contact Carol for information about her offerings via email at cbardens@umich.edu.


    TatiAnah Thunberg, LMSW (she/hers) is a somatic psychotherapist, singer, song catcher, expressive and improvisational artist, and a seasoned experiential facilitator with more than thirty years of experience guiding transformative group practice. Her work centers the voice as a path to belonging—an embodied, relational exploration of presence, creativity, and communal care.

    She is the founder of Spirit Moves LLC and co-founder of the Vocal Wilds Collective, Supper & Sing Community Jam, Ensemble Night, the Vocal Lab, Creatrix Lab, and TAZ, all circles of artists dedicated to the art of embodied improvisation in Ann Arbor, Michigan.  ​​​


    Sharing Info: The song is free to share but Maggie always welcomes financial and/or networking support if/when folks are so moved.


    Links:

    https://www.goldenbridgechoir.com

    https://maggiewheeler.bandcamp.com/album/the-crow-calls 

    https://maggiewheeler.bandcamp.com/album/the-world-is-turning 

    https://music.apple.com/us/album/walk-with-me/1441718449 

    SongFest with Maggie Wheeler in 2026: https://www.eomega.org/workshops/songfest 

    Maggie says: "This song was inspired by a talk given by cultural historian Josh Kun. He spoke about a composition for 50 trumpets titled 'Walls Will Fall - The 49 Trumpets of Jericho' by Mazen Kerbaj. 

    The musicians gathered in a defunct water reservoir in Berlin.

    Mazen says, 'According to the old testament, Jericho’s walls collapsed under the sound of seven trumpeters, blowing their horns for seven days while circling around the city. Far from the religious background of the story, it is the idea of music breaking walls and barriers that is central to this composition.'

    The participating trumpet players came from from Australia, Austria, Cuba, Denmark, England, Germany, Iran, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Lebanon, Poland, Russia, Serbia, Somalia, Spain, Sweden, Syria, Turkey and the United States. 

    This story and this work deeply inspired me. I wrote LOVE WEARS THE CROWN  to invoke the power of music, the power of voices gathered to dissolve barriers, and to dismantle the walls of hatred and injustice."

    https://mazenkerbaj.bandcamp.com/album/walls-will-fall-the-49-trumpets-of-jericho 

    TatiAnah's websites:

    https://www.VocalWilds.com

    https://www.SpiritMoves.Us


    Nuts & Bolts: 2:2, minor, unison with call and response section, optional harmonies


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    230. Great Turning with guest Grace Oedel and singer Rebecca Csuy

    4:4 Change Determination Empower Future Hope Power & Change Scale: Aeolian (minor) Song Form: Layer Trust

    Song: Great Turning

    Music by: Joanna Colwell


    Song Learning Time Stamps:

    Start time of teaching: 00:03:03

    Start time of reprise: 01:08:19

    Lyrics:

    Part 1
    We are turning, turning 
    We’re part of a great turning
    We are turning, turning
    We’re turning it around
     
    Part 2
    I will not fear you 
    I will not harm you 
    I will not fear you
    We are turning it around 

    Part 3
    We are all in it together 
    We are turning, turning it around 

    (Gratitude to Joanna Macy, for her teachings on The Great Turning)
    Picture

    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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    224. We All Need A Little Love

    4:4 Change Gathering & Welcome Heart Love Scale: Aeolian (minor) Song Form: Harmonized Uptempo
    Song Learning Time Stamps:
    Start time of teaching: 00:03:16
    Start time of reprise: 00:18:15
    Lyrics:

    ​Everyone:
    We all need a little love in our lives, we all need a little love
    We all need a little love in our lives, we all need a little love     

    Bass:
    We all need a little love in our lives, we all need a little love
    We all need a little love in our lives, we all need a little love
    SAT:
    Love, love, we all need it, love, love, we all need a little love
    Love, love, we all need it, love, love, we all need a little     

    (Bass: So) Make a change now, make a change, make a change right now,
    Fill your heart now, fill your heart, fill your heart with Love 'cos     *

    *back to start

    Coda
    Bass: We all need a little love in our lives we all need a little love
    SAT:  We all need a little love in our lives we all need a little, we all need a little love
    Picture
    Song: We All Need A Little Love
    Music by: Una McCann

    Notes: In this super-satisfying song, Una McCann stepped into the funk so we can all dig into a little more love in our lives -- not a bad thing to wish for filling our hearts. Doesn't matter what the regimes of the world are doing; we can invite a little more love into our hearts right now! Next week Una and I get to dive right into a conversation about the songwriting shift from singer-songwriter to community songs, how Una manages the energy of 300 singers every week, and more -- hope you can join us!

    Songwriter Info:
    Una McCann is based in Belfast, Northern Ireland where she works as a choir leader and songwriter.  She has been leading groups in harmony since her school days and has been working with adult choirs for 15 years.  
    Una is a proud and active member of the UK Charity The Natural Voice Network, and works in line with the principle that we are all born to sing.  She is passionate about the power of song and creativity to transform lives.
    Song writing is a part of life that sustains and supports Una.  She writes melodies and words that she needs to hear in that moment and is always delighted when they resonate with other people too.  
    In her spare time, Una enjoys running singing holidays and retreats.

    Sharing Info: Una says: "Please sing these songs; they were born to be sung. If you make money through singing the songs and would like to support me in my work as a song carrier, please purchase songs through my website or drop me an email for more options."
    ​
    Song Learning Time Stamps:
    Start time of teaching: 00:03:16
    Start time of reprise: 00:18:15

    Links:
    Website: www.unamccann.org
    Facebook: Una McCann Music
    Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/unamccann47/ 

    Nuts & Bolts: 4:4, minor, SATB

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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.
    Picture
    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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    214. Make Good Trouble with Family Singers

    3 Layer 4:4 Change Determination Empower Hope Scale: Aeolian (minor) Song Form: Harmonized Song Form: Layer Uptempo
    Song Learning Time Stamps:
    Start time of teaching: 00:03:56
    Start time of whole song: 00:09:21
    Lyrics:

    This is the struggle of a lifetime (2x)
    Never ever be afraid to make some noise, and make good trouble.
    Make good trouble; necessary trouble.

    From the words of John Lewis:
    ​“Do not get lost in a sea of despair. Be hopeful, be optimistic. Our struggle is not the struggle of a day, a week, a month, or a year, it is the struggle of a lifetime. Never, ever be afraid to make some noise and get in good trouble, necessary trouble.”
    Picture
    Song: Make Good Trouble
    Music by: Angela Gabriel

    Notes: I had the privilege of recording this song together with many members of my familiy -- and something happens on this recording that is very common in community singing -- I started in the key of A minor, and group wisdom decided that the key of A-flat minor, slightly lower, felt better in our collective voice! So you'll hear us readjusting together to reach an agreed sound, and what's cool is we all get there. Rather than rerecord to get an ordinary "perfectly pitched" recording, I decided to stay with the energy of the moment -- that really beautiful feel of connection that we had in that room -- because that's what this song is encourages. We support each other to speak up, to disrupt when needed, to make good, necessary trouble! You'll hear the six-year-old in the room leading some warm ups, and even a blooper at the end (never telling whose phone it was....)

    Songwriter Info: Angela is a performer, a teacher, a facilitator, and a lifelong learner. Her mission in life is to facilitate expressive creative, musical, and vocal experiences and to encourage folks of any age and background to replace judgement with curiosity and open themselves to their unique, creative flow.

    Sharing Info: The song is free to share but Angela always welcomes financial and/or networking support if/when folks are so moved.

    Song Learning Time Stamps:
    Start time of teaching: 00:03:56
    Start time of whole song: 00:09:21

    Links:
    Angela's website: www.angelagabriel.me 

    Nuts & Bolts: 4:4, minor, 3 layers, each harmonized

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    209. We Shall Be Known with Flow Singers

    2:2 Change Earth Fire Friendship Future Hope Love Scale: Ionian (Major) Song Form: Harmonized Strength
    Song Learning Time Stamps:
    Melody: 00:04:20
    High harmony: 00:07:16
    Low harmony: 00:11:34
    Whole song: 00:15:05
    Lyrics:

    We shall be known by the company we keep
    By the ones who circle round to tend these fires
    We shall be known by the ones who sow and reap
    The seeds of change alive from deep within the Earth
     
    It is time now
    It is time now that we thrive 
    It is time we lead ourselves into the well
    It is time now
    And what a time to be alive
    In this "Great Turning" we shall learn to lead in love
    In this "Great Turning" we shall learn to lead in love
    Picture
    Song: We Shall Be Known
    Music by: Karisha Longaker of MaMuse

    Notes: I could not be more delighted than to bring you this beloved song in a real-life song-sharing situation. My Flow Singing folk were singing "We Shall Be Known" for the third week -- so we simply recorded! You'll sing with them as they review the main melody, learn the upper harmony for the first time -- and then I inserted a quick teach of the low harmony -- and then we get to sing "in the room" with the Flow Singers, who were leaning into the song in such a beautiful way. I feel so lucky with the company I get to keep... and next week, I find myself in a Zoom room with Karisha Longaker and Sorah Nutting themselves, talking about the "insanely fun, incredibly connected" first years, and what it means in practical terms to "believe in kindness as our common wealth." 

    Songwriter Info: MaMuse (“Ma” as in Mamma; “Muse” as in the one who inspires) was born out of a collaboration between songwriters Karisha Longaker and Sorah Nutting. 2008 was a year of great alchemy. Fires erupted in Northern California, a great wind of inspiration blew through, catalyzing a series of songs written from the soil and rivers, ash and heat of Chico where these two musicians met.
    In the early days these troubadours toted instruments around town by bicycle and shared their songs at farmers markets, community gatherings, small cafes and festivals. Not too long after, these two voices became iconic to the Chico community, representing idyllic values of friendship, community, love for nature and care for Self and World. The love spread, sisterhood held strong through two decades of LIFE: children, relationships arriving and dissolving, making home in many new places. 
    MaMuse songs such as “We Shall Be Known” and “Hallelujah” have sprouted wings and are now sung at the bed sides of birthing mothers, round campfires, at weddings and funerals... All places where people are gathered to celebrate and to mourn. These are songs born of the Folk lineage; songs for all of us.

    Sharing Info: The song is free to share but Karisha and Sorah always welcome financial and/or networking support if/when folks are so moved.

    Song Learning Time Stamps:
    Melody: 00:04:20
    High harmony: 00:07:16
    Low harmony: 00:11:34
    Whole song: 00:15:05

    Links:
    Show info, bookings and newsletter signup: www.mamuse.org
    Instagram: www.instagram.com/mamusemusic 
    Patreon: www.patreon.com/mamuse
    Download and contribute to recorded music funds: mamuse.bandcamp.com 
    Lisa Littlebird's page for We Shall Be Known: thebirdsings.com/we-shall-be-known/
    Burlington, VT Flow Singers: ​www.juneberrymusic.com/flow-singing.html

    Nuts & Bolts: 2:2, major, 3-part harmony

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