Heal - A Breath of Song

Published on: February 2, 2022

35. Hymn To Loving with Guest Lisa Forkish

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?

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

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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: January 19, 2022

33. There Is A Love

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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.

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: December 22, 2021

29. Hope Lingers On

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Song Hope Lingers On
Words & Music by Lissa Schneckenburger

Lyrics

1. My mother, when love is gone (2x),
in our darkest hour, hope lingers on.
My father, when peace is gone (2x),
in our darkest hour, hope lingers on.

Chorus:
I will not hate, and I will not fear;
in our darkest hour, hope lingers here.

2. My sister, when equality’s gone…
My brother, with tolerance gone…

3. My love, when honor is gone…
My country, when justice is gone…

Notes: "Hope lingers on"... I love singing this to myself as a reminder that a pandemic is not the only thing lingering around. There are so many beautiful recordings of this piece online, I encourage you, like always, to use this podcast as a way to learn the song, and then if it speaks to you, follow the links and sing along with gorgeous professional recordings! Sometimes, honestly, it makes me uncomfortable to put my voice with loops out there when there are such polished renditions available (that honestly might sound better!) -- but then I remind myself that I'm not here performing for you... I'm here sharing a song that makes a difference to me when I sing it to myself -- and maybe it will do that for you, too? Planting songs for wellness...
Next week I'm hugely excited to share a songwriter conversation with the composer of this song, Lissa Schneckenburger. We talk about some of the differences between voice and violin as instruments, music as a way of distilling learning and helping heal from trauma, how not to lose heart as a change-maker, touring on a bicycle and more.

Songwriter Info: Lissa Schneckenburger is a fiddle player and singer whose roots are in folk music in Maine. She lives in Brattleboro, Vermont, now, and says, “To me, music creates community. Music is what people sing along to, dance to, fall in love to… music brings people together." Giving concerts on her own or as part of the trio, Low Lily, as well as supporting other musicians with practice challenges (and jokes) through her website, Lissa consistently does her part to build community. Her solo album, Thunder In My Arms, is a tender, powerful collection of songs about attachment, parenting, and trauma. We talk about its origin and development in the next episode's conversation.

Links:
Lissa's website: lissafiddle.com
Low Lily's recording of Hope Lingers On: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lv9R60CSQ54
The totebag with the chorus lyrics: https://lissafiddle.com/store/hope-lingers-on-tote-bag/
Learn more about Thunder in My Arms : https://lissafiddle.com/store/thunder-in-my-arms/
Vancouver Youth Choir singing Hope Lingers On: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0bmhcvPwTI
A combination of a college and middle school choir made one of the infamous virtual choir videos of Hope Lingers On:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=506zikTDSMs

Nuts & Bolts: 4:4, Ionian, 3 verses & harmonized chorus

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: December 15, 2021

28. Drifting Dark

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Song Drifting Dark
Words & Music by Patricia Norton

Lyrics
Drifting dark, cold and spark;
floating dream, holiday scene.
I know this world keeps on turning,
spinning songs of hearts in yearning.

....dark....spark...dream....scene....world....turning...
spinning candescent, spinning candescent,
spinning hearts in yearning

Notes: This song began to appear Sunday morning, December 4th, as I was making breakfast, thinking about snowy drives through our town, looking at Christmas lights. It was one of those warmish, wet days with snow on the ground, so there was a mist lifting up from the snow, and the sky was the same color as the fields. December is a complicated month for me, with rich memories of so much happiness as a child, and difficult loss as an adult... the longing to connect with and create happiness for all whom I love -- the rueful recognition that I can't "make" anyone happy. Thinking of all the stories in December about light in dark, fraught journeys, seeds, births, miracles -- all the hope and determination we try to share with each other in lights and decorations and candles. For me, the song is a good companion to the bittersweet, reflective mood I often find myself in in December.

Songwriter Info: Patricia is the fourth of five siblings, with eight years from oldest to youngest. Growing up in Boulder, Colorado, and western New York State, a snowy Christmas was virtually guaranteed, and the house was filled with beautiful traditions, from a fat Christmas tree we would go cut at a local farm decorated with white paper doves, tinsel, red balls, and lights, to much gift planning, making & secret, careful wrapping. Christmas cookies left out for Santa, waking up to go to midnight mass, the Westminster Choir College singing Britten's Ceremony of Carols on the turntable, holiday songs on the radio and the whole family watched whatever holiday specials were on tv. A special meal with tablecloth and candles on the table, sledding and snow forts and tunnels, plastic bread bags in the boots and over the mittens to try to keep us warm and dry... my childhood memories are of magical, generous, happy Christmases with music everywhere.
Of course, the world appeared more complex and nuanced as I grew, and the loss of loved ones I wanted to celebrate with, ugly commercialism, knowledge of economic disparity and the dark history and abuses of religious belief also became part of December.... and, as a church musician, holiday performance pressure -- the collision of expectations and what actually happens. This song is one of the ways I can be present with the whole catastrophe, as Jon Kabat-Zinn might say.

Song Learning Time Stamps:
Start time of teaching: 00:02:35
Start time of reprise: 00:14:20

Links
My web center... juneberrymusic.com

Nuts & Bolts: 6:8, Aeolian, unison with harmonized accompanying line

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: October 27, 2021

21. Song Deep In Your Bones

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Song Song Deep In Your Bones
Words & Music by Elise Witt
© Non Si Sa Mai Music ASCAP

Lyrics
When you're feeling dry, there's water in the well. (4x)

No rain from the sky, just a tear in your eye,
all alone, far from home, you roam.
Feeling tired, uninspired, like you're drifting away
from your heart and the part you play.

Notes: I met creator Elise Witt online during the pandemic, when we were both in a course led by the extraordinary improviser Rhiannon… I was honored, because I already knew of Elise as a composer of unusual choral work that I had explored doing with my community chorus. In fact this piece was conceived as a choral piece, and Elise very generously let me excerpt a bit of it to be a pocket song. I love the way the rhythm wakes me up from an uninspired, tired place -- whenever I sing this, I almost always end up moving somehow. And now that I know Elise a little, I can see why -- her brain is the definition of fertile, and she exudes energy and joyfulness you can almost touch through her little Zoom rectangle. Elise says, "I believe that if we listen deeply, we can hear music in the wind, the water, the earth, and deep in our bones. And no matter how disconnected we get, that music is always there, when we are ready to return and listen."

Songwriter Info: Elise’s concerts of Global, Local & Homemade Songs™ and her Impromptu Glorious Chorus™ workshops create and connect singing communities around the world. Born in Switzerland, raised in NC, and living in Atlanta since 1977, Elise speaks 5 languages fluently and sings in at least a dozen more. The Elise Witt Choral Series features choral arrangements of her original compositions and she recently published All Singing, a songbook with 58 original songs including music notation, lyrics and chords, stories and photos. In addition to her global touring, Elise serves as Artist-in-Residence & Director of Music Programs at the Global Village Project, a non-profit, special purpose middle school for teenage refugee girls in Decatur Georgia.

Links:

www.EliseWitt.com -- Learn more about Elise on her website

"Song Deep in Your Bones" as recorded by Malcolm Dalglish’s Ooolation Singers in rehearsal at Yosemite National Park

Live performance by Trumansburg Community Chorus, directed by Alice Ploss: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZvDt89jsmzM&list=RDZvDt89jsmzM&start_radio=1

Recorded on "We're All BORN SINGING" EMWorld Records 1012

Available for SATB, SSAA, TTBB in the Elise Witt Choral Series

Included in ALL SINGING: THE ELISE WITT SONGBOOK

Song Learning Time Stamps:

Start time of teaching: 00:02:38

Start time of reprise: 00:12:47

Nuts & Bolts: Mixed Meter (5:8, 3:8, 3:4 or 6:8), Mixolydian mode, and in this teaching, 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!

Published on: October 6, 2021

18. The Truth

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Song The Truth
Music by Velma Frye
Words adapted from Macrina Wiederkehr, O.S.B.

Lyrics
I will believe the truth about myself,
no matter how beautiful it is.

Notes: I was so surprised when I first learned this song from Roy Willey by how difficult it was for me to actually sing these words to myself. One of the beautiful things about mantra singing -- short phrases, repeated over and over -- is that you have time to notice how it feels to sing these particular words. You have time to get distracted and come back. And if you hear yourself singing the words often enough, maybe they become less surprising? I sent the email list a description of how I think this particular melody supports -- ensounds? -- these words. (You can join the list, too, by signing up on the homepage. (Scroll a bit...))
Macrina Wiederkehr, O.S.B., wrote a book called Seven Sacred Pauses: Living Mindfully Through the Hours of the Day. Velma chose texts and moments from this book to create a collection of 28 songs to sing during these pauses, which is available in CD and book form on her website, www.velmafryemusic.com. I love the way this particular song invites me to look at myself anew.

Songwriter info: Velma's mother gave her the choice of washing the dishes or practicing the piano, so Velma became a musician! With six years of college music training, she was confident to diversify into singing, teaching piano and leading choral groups, performing (including 9 times on "A Prairie Home Companion"), and recording six solo CDs. As she was ripening into middle age, she wrote this song, "The Truth," using words by Macrina Wiekerkehr, for singing circles. For the past year, Velma taught piano and Song Salons weekly on zoom, and was a guest two times on Heather Houston's online singing classes. Particularly fun was a Happy Hour that Velma and Becky Reardon offered to a national audience on zoom. More to come!

Links:
Velma's website https://www.velmafryemusic.com/
Velma on facebook https://www.facebook.com/velmafryemusic
Seven Sacred Pauses https://www.facebook.com/SevenSacredPauses
Velma on youtube https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=velma+frye

Nuts & Bolts: 4:4, unison or round, mixolydian flat-6 scale (sometimes called major-minor scale because the first half is major, and the second half is minor.)

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!

Tags

35. Hymn To Loving with Guest Lisa Forkish

33. There Is A Love

29. Hope Lingers On

28. Drifting Dark

21. Song Deep In Your Bones

18. The Truth