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    115. Reciprocity with Guest Pam Blevins Hinkle

    3 Layer 3:4 Abundance Be Grateful Beauty Belonging Breathe Earth Flow Generations Generosity Grieve Grow Heal Motion Ribbon Scale: Dorian Song Form: Harmonized Songwriter Conversation Trees Trust
    Song: Reciprocity
    ​Music: Pam Blevins Hinkle
    Lyrics

    I breathe for the trees and they breathe for me.
    You and me and the tree, living in reciprocity.

    Rooted in the moment and reaching for each other.
    Rooted in the moment and reaching for the dream.
    Picture
    Notes: Hands down favorite moment of this conversation? When I asked Pam a question that made her tense, and she started to sing to help herself through the challenging moment. Pam says she often has to say difficult things to people in power, and this was an example of how she uses improvised song to root and empower herself. We caught Pam at a transitional point, and I deeply appreciate her reflections about how song has stayed consistent across her life and how it has changed, the evolving role of relationships, what singing in community actually does or can do, what self care might look like. Oh, but then there was another favorite moment, when she tells a story about her relationship with her father.... hmmm. Lots to love here, not least of which is the song, Reciprocity -- after singing this song, you'll be ever more keenly aware of trees and our breath exchange with them.

    Songwriter Info: Pam Blevins Hinkle–song leader, composer, arts administrator, tree-lover, and kazoo fanatic–has devoted her life to projects that blend creativity, community-building, and spirituality. With over 30 years experience leading community, college, and congregational choirs, she currently facilitates spontaneous group singing for conferences and events, co-leads SongSquad Indianapolis with her brother Adam, co-produces the annual Indy Winter Solstice Celebration, and more. Pam has received numerous awards including the Inspirational Woman Award from IUPUI and the Creative Renewal Arts Fellowship from the Indy Arts Council. Since 2006, she has served as director of Spirit & Place, which sparks civic change through a one-of-kind, 11-day festival and through year-round initiatives that leverage the power of the arts, humanities, and religion to catalyze creativity and conversation.

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

    Links: 
    Indianapolis, Indiana Indigenous Peoples: Miami, Kickapu, Shawnee, Delaware: https://www.ala.org/aboutala/diversity/land-acknowledgement/indgenous-tribes-indiana
    Trees as communal creatures: https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2021/05/04/993430007/trees-talk-to-each-other-mother-tree-ecologist-hears-lessons-for-people-too
    Laurence Cole, singing as “the oldest technology of belonging” https://www.laurencecole.com/
    Indianapolis Women’s Chorus: https://www.indianapoliswomenschorus.org/
    Winter Solstice Singing Ritual by Julie Forest Middleton, Stasa Morgan-Appel- published by Emerald Earth: https://www.allbookstores.com/Winter-Solstice-Singing-Ritual-Julie/9780966371550
    Indiana Forest Alliance: https://indianaforestalliance.org/
    Forests for Indy: Reciprocity (YouTube): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8rdj65H67Ww
    Lyndsey Scott: https://linktr.ee/lila.gaia
    Rhiannon: https://www.rhiannonmusic.com/
    Emergent Strategy- Adrienne Maree Brown: https://adriennemareebrown.net/book/emergent-strategy/
    Peter, Paul, and Mary “In The Wind” https://www.allmusic.com/album/in-the-wind-mw0000315197
    Hush-a-bye: ​​https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dM2VN2Hn-Z0
    Puff the Magic Dragon: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Y0ABZ0AJXY
    Very Last Day: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dmk6cf32HH4
    Episode 69: Sing Upon Joy (Livian's Song) Lyndsey Scott & Livian & helpers
    https://www.abreathofsong.com/episodes--show-notes/69-sing-upon-joy-livians-song
    Episode 70: “As I Relax” Lyndsey Scott
    https://www.abreathofsong.com/episodes--show-notes/70-as-i-relax-with-guest-lyndsey-scott
    Song Squad Indianapolis Website: songsquadindy.com
    Indy Winter Solstice Celebration Website: indysolstice.com
    Pam's Website: pamblevinshinkle.com

    Song Learning Time Stamps:
    Start time of teaching: 00:03:51
    Start time of reprise: 00:55:44
    ​​
    Nuts & Bolts: 3:4, Dorian, 3-layers with a harmonized ending

    ​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

    110. The Crow Calls with guest Maggie Wheeler

    4:4 Change Earth Empower Future Generations Grieve Grow Heal Ribbon Scale: Aeolian (minor) Sky Song Form: Call & Response Song Form: Layer Songwriter Conversation Sun Tend
    Song: The Crow Calls
    ​Music:     Maggie Wheeler
    Lyrics
    ​
    1. The crow calls
    The Sun falls
    They know the rhythm
    The rhythm of it all 

    2. Echo part 1

    3. We are the only ones
    Who have forgotten how to listen
    We’re the only ones
    Who have forgotten how to listen
    We’re the only ones
    Who have forgotten how to listen
    The earth is calling us to open up our ears

    4. Put your hands in the dirt
    Let’s heal the hurt
    The earth is waiting
    For us to do the work
    Do the work
    Picture
    Notes: It's been two years since Maggie Wheeler and I last talked on A Breath of Song. No one doubts these times are difficult. Maggie and I get into the grit here... how do you stave off despair? How do you show up in love? How can we, collectively, change the energy? How do we soothe hearts and souls so we are sustained to do the work? Can we give ourselves the same grace of forgiveness we give others? What happens after exhaustion? How can we stay longer in the space of not knowing? How can we stay longer in a song moment and let it develop? Can staying longer be its own practice?

    This song Maggie shares, The Crow Calls, is an opening to the rhythm, the connection of the natural world, and how that can nurture and change us. This song is a reminder, a call, a resource, and incredibly satisfying to sing. As we talked, Maggie described her heart as "cracked open" from two intense back-to-back experiences that had just happened. I was feeling a lot of pressure, with looming deadlines and large to-do lists, preparing for a big trip. Editing the episode, I was struck by how we practiced showing up as we are, releasing expectations, and paying attention to what is present in the moment... and I came away from our conversation with a welcome sense of clarity and commitment about the next right thing -- and huge gratitude for Maggie's generous, genuine way of moving through the world. I wonder what you will hear that resonates or challenges or invites you?

    Songwriter Info: Maggie Wheeler is best known in the U.S and internationally for her 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. She has been teaching her vocal workshop "Singing In The Stream" for over 30 years at retreat centers, universities, communities and schools to provide the experience of creating interpersonal harmony and internal harmony through the powerful act of creating vocal harmony. Maggie directs the 100-voice Golden Bridge Community Choir in Hollywood, an inter-generational, non-auditioned choir now in its 17th year. She is a prolific songwriter with a catalog of powerful and timely songs that have been sung by choirs worldwide. Maggie’s original music for choirs and communities is available on Apple Music and other music platforms. To accompany her CD entitled 'Walk With Me’, Maggie created a songbook available by request through her website www.goldenbridgechoir.com Throughout this time of change Maggie continued the Golden Bridge Choir online producing virtual concerts and videos as well as hosting a weekly online community gathering called Together In Song, bringing together over 4000 people from around the world to join in the healing power of singing. 

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

    Links: 
    Find Your Way Home, ABoS Ep 5: https://www.abreathofsong.com/episodes--show-notes/5-find-our-way-home
    Rising Appalachia: https://www.risingappalachia.com/
    Song Village: https://www.songvillage.net/
    Emile Hassan Dyer: https://www.eomega.org/workshops/teachers/emile-hassan-dyer
    Song Village Collaborators: https://www.songvillage.net/collaborators/
    Yam and Jessi: Bliss is Ordinary podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/bliss-is-ordinary/id1614727245
    Ebeneezer Finds a Reason children’s Book: https://ebeneezersneezer.com/
    Meredith Scott Lynn & Write Brain Books: https://writebrainbooks.com/view_page.php?pageid=3/
    M. Kyle Hollingsworth: https://www.kylecreativeart.com/
    Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney: https://wimpykid.com/
    Karly Loveling: https://eugeneweekly.com/2019/01/17/karly-loveling/​
    Together in Song: https://www.goldenbridgechoir.com/together-in-song-video-archive
    Flow Singing with Juneberry Music: https://www.juneberrymusic.com/sing-to-connect.html
    Rhiannon: https://rhiannonmusic.com/circlesing 
    Omega Workshop: 
    https://www.eomega.org/workshops/singing-stream?itm_source_h=search&itm_source_s=search&itm_medium_h=tile&itm_medium_s=tile&itm_campaign_h=searchcr&itm_campaign_s=searchcr
    Arnaé Batson: https://sivanandabahamas.org/presenter/arnae-batson/
    Sivananda Ashram Retreat: https://sivanandabahamas.org/course/songs-of-sustenance-february-2023/
    Aimée Ringle: http://www.aimeeringlemusic.com/
    Heather Houston: https://heatherhoustonmusic.com/
    Sweet Honey in the Rock, Live at Carnegie Hall: https://www.allmusic.com/album/live-at-carnegie-hall-mw0000652837
    Aimée Ringle Human and Tender: https://aimeeringle.bandcamp.com/album/human-and-tender
    Olivia Barton & Corook - “If I Were a Fish” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dx_vMONe3tM
    Ahlay Blakely: https://www.healingattheroots.com/about
    Golden Bridge Choir: https://www.goldenbridgechoir.com/
    Maggie’s Instagram: ​​https://www.instagram.com/maggiewheeler_official/?hl=en
    Maggie’s latest album that she was about to record after our interview: https://maggiewheeler.bandcamp.com/album/the-crow-calls
    Go​​lden Bridge Choir’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/goldenbridgechoir/?hl=en
    Maggie's Website: maggiewheeler.net

    Song Learning Time Stamps:
    Start time of teaching: 00:04:15
    Start time of reprise: 00:54:54
    ​    ​​
    Nuts & Bolts: 4:4, harmonic minor scale, call & echo and 3 or 4 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

    90. The Shame Song with Guest Ahlay Blakely

    12:8 Belonging Change Darkness Future Generations Grow Heal Legacy Pain Scale: Ionian (Major) Shame Song Form: Unison
    Song: the shame song
    Music & Words: Alexandra (Ahlay) Blakely
    Lyrics
    If I'm gonna fall
    and if I'm gonna change;
    may it serve the whole --
    may it turn a page.

    If I'm gonna fail,
    if I'm gonna learn,
    may it serve the whole --
    may it serve the future ones!

    I, too, deserve belonging.
    I, too, deserve to heal.
    I, too, deserve aliveness --
    I deserve to court the shadows here.
    (2x)
    Picture

    Notes: I loved the chance to hear Ahlay share both this song and its origin as a song that "slipped through," almost without effort, in response to hearing someone's deep shame over a Zoom call. Ahlay shares her excitement over her project, WAILS, in which community singing and grief ritual are merged. She talks about "Healing that ripples non-linearly, in a spiral," and says, "I'm channeling the exact medicine that I need for myself." We talk about elders, mentors, wisdom and the tools for remembering that which was meant to be forgotten -- the deep connections that are possible. How "I can't sing" comes from a commodification of voices, while "the inherent birthright of singing is about how it feels in our bodies." Whales, and their wisdom of rising and diving as the nature of things, and the transience of emotions. Brené Brown wrote, "True belonging doesn't require us to change who we are; it requires us to be who we are." Ahlay has a beautiful way of being who she is, and it was an honor to hold this conversation.

    ​Songwriter Info: Alexandra "Ahlay" Blakely (she/her) is a song carrier remembering that which was meant to be forgotten in her lineages: song technology as connective tissues of the communal body. She blends song, body percussion, dance, stillness, breath & silence with the deepest intention to support others in remembering their inherent birthright to singing and rhythm. Her ancient ancestors of Old Europe (Ashkenazi, Scandinavian, Finnish, English, Scottish, Irish) sang while building, creating, birthing, working & being in reciprocity and bring with the Land. She understands song to be fundamental in the expansion of ones internal capacity to participate in the collective shift towards life-affirming conditions. An underlying prayer in her song offerings is that they may contribute to the shared effort to transform white culture into being more connected with our bodies, emotions, Land & the animate world around us. ​ These songs are swirls of spells for cracking open, falling humbly to our knees and cultivating more access to the conversations our souls are aching to have with us about their most intimate longings. They are dedicated to the more than human world, the Waters and our Kin in both the seen and unseen realms. We sing to shame, courage, for breaking cycles of intergenerational trauma and for the preparation of being ready for these times we are living in, all while sending these song-beings in ripples through to the ancient and future ones. The songs sung have come directly through Ahlay.​ ​ Some of her mentors: Whale, Mycelium, Rue, Lightning, Rain, Oak, Redwood & Rosemary
    ​
    Sharing Info: Yes -- The song is free to share but Ahlay always welcomes financial and/or networking support if/when folks are so moved.

    Links: 
    Wails: Songs for Grief Fundraiser:  https://www.gofundme.com/f/community-singing-album
    Bandcamp digital album "SPELLS FROM THE UNKNOWN" https://ahlayblakely.bandcamp.com/album/spells-from-the-unknown
    Ahlay's Website/Newsletter https://www.healingattheroots.com
    Ahlay's Patreon - new music monthly, 1-3 songs per month: https://www.patreon.com/alexandrablakely
    Instagram @alexandra_blakely
    Ahlay's YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJiuxVf4FhGSkYT4K0zpGyA/videos?view=0&sort=p
    Joanna Macy &The Work that Reconnects: https://workthatreconnects.org/spiral/about-joanna/
    Dory Midnight : https://dorimidnight.com
    Kohenet Priestess Institute : https://kohenet.org
    Rabbi Jill Hammer: https://rabbijillhammer.com
    Taya Ma: http://taya.ma
    Rebekah Erev: https://rebekaherevstudio.com
    Nahko Bear: https://www.nahkobear.com
    Sobonfu Some: http://www.sobonfu.com
    Francis Weller 5 Gates of Grief: https://www.francisweller.net/entering-the-healing-ground.html
    Laurence Cole: http://www.laurencecole.com
    Leticia Nieto: http://www.cuetzpalin.com/Cuetzpalin/welcome.html
    Do whales hold their breath?  https://www.whalefacts.org/how-do-whales-breathe/
    Earth Practice: https://earthpracticemusic.bandcamp.com/community

    ​    Song Learning Time Stamps:
    Start time of teaching: 00:05:16
    Start time of reprise: 01:25:44
    ​
    Nuts & Bolts: 12:8, Major (Ionian), unison

    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!