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    51. I Release Control

    4:4 Accept Be Present Calm Flex Flow Gratitude & Trust Heal Praise & Wonder Protection & Presence Release Scale: Mixolydian Song Form: Harmonized Song Form: Unison Trust
    Song: I Release Control
    Words & Music​ by Alexa Sunshine Rose
    Lyrics
    I release control
    and surrender to the flow
    of love, that will heal me.
    Picture
    Notes: This song by Alexa Sunshine Rose has been a huge resource for me as I’ve gone through big transitions and grief this spring. I think that’s in part because it is so direct and short -- it settles inside me without worry or fret. And then the potential complexities of possible harmonies keep me interested, as well as the way it feels inside as I sing. You might start by humming one of the drone notes… then maybe humming with the melody. Eventually, when the words start pushing inside you, wanting to come through, let them appear in your mouth. Feel how your tongue moves against your teeth, how the air moves against the roof of your mouth, the way f and v vibrate against your lips. So my invitation to you: let singing this song be a physical experience that draws you into your body -- how does it feel?

    Songwriter Info: Alexa Sunshine Rose describes herself as a singer-songwriter, mother, artist and mystic who has dedicated herself and her life's work to being a clear channel for peace on earth. Her songs are prayers, which bridge worlds; the inner and outer, the mind and heart, chaos and calm. She has been touring and teaching across the West Coast and Hawaii since 2009. I met her on Zoom through the amazing songcarrier Aimée Ringle during the pandemic, and knew immediately that more of her voice in my life would only be a good thing.

    Links: 
    Alexa Sunshine Rose's website
    One of Alexa's video recordings of I Release Control
    Alexa on Bandcamp (buying her music here means more of the money actually goes to her)

    Nuts & Bolts: 4:4, Mixolydian, Harmonized over drone

    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!
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    47. Shadow Listening

    4:4 Empower Grief & Fear Grow Heal Journey Protection & Presence Scale: Aeolian (minor) Song Form: Harmonized Song Form: Layer Trust
    Song: Shadow Listening
    Words & Music by Patricia Norton
    Lyrics
    Shadow of murmuring, spinning around.
    Sun-dusted listening; feel my heartbeat sound.

    I'm going back. I will catch you.
    No need to fear now. I'll be your ground.

    I can do this listening. I can do this healing.
    Picture

    Notes    : I didn't actually write this as a community singing song; I wasn't expecting anyone else to want to sing it. I wrote it because I was finding a way to comfort and strengthen myself through the process of sorting old journals... being placed back in some difficult times, times when I wasn't really able to treat myself compassionately. Going over to the piano and creating this song helped me listen to and love my younger, struggling self -- I really felt like I was catching myself. I shared it with a dear friend, who responded so strongly and positively, I began to share it with others, including eventually my Pocket Song singers... and now here.... because it seems I'm not the only one who gets to go back and tender gentle care to a previous self...
      So, you know how I say, "coming to you straight from my home in Vermont," with my voice just the way it is today? Well, I've got to admit with this episode, I fudged that... I couldn't loop the piano part (long story), so rather than record it live with my looper in one take, I had to layer the recordings to get you the whole song... which meant I could re-record when I didn't hit a note squarely in the middle, or squeaked or cracked. And it's still not perfect! Sigh.... I'm learning a lot from doing this podcast! Thanks for hanging out with me -- I hope this song can be a good companion to you, too.

    Songwriter Info: Um... I think you can find this on either website. (Different accounts, but basically the same person!) :)

    Links: 
    abreathofsong.com
    juneberrymusic.com

    Song Learning Time Stamps:
    Start time of teaching: 00:02:51
    Start time of reprise: 00:15:12

    Nuts & Bolts: 4:4, Aeolian, 3 layers, one harmonized

    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!
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    44. One Day At A Time

    4:4 Calm Gathering & Welcome Grief & Fear Grieve Heal Hope Journey Protection & Presence Rest Scale: Aeolian (minor) Song Form: Call & Response Song Form: Layer Tend
    Song One Day At A Time
    Music & Words by Penny Stone
    with the Serenity Singers of Edinburgh
    Lyrics
    One day at a time.
    ​Keep it simple.
    Picture
    Notes: Personally, I dread being trite or dull. And this hard-earned wisdom from the recovery community is so prevalent, it's tempting for me to dismiss it as "too common". Whenever I get obstreperous like that, it doesn't help me at all... just saying. I love the way this song voices my own experience with this wisdom in a way.... does that sound weird? Let me explain. The song seems almost annoyingly simple -- a call and response section with repetition and not many notes, and then two layers that use the same words and repeat the same phrase the same way three times in a row -- and part of me wonders is this going to hold my interest as a song, or am I going to get bored? Yet when you put it all together, it is seductively rich and complex and beautiful -- and I just want to sing it more. For me, it's kind of a hit-me-on-the-head-with-a-hammer similarity to when I hear the guidance itself. "Really, one day at a time??? Really, just keep it simple??? Sounds like a poster." But then if I actually do it, it works. Every time. Hmmm.....  For me, right now is a time of big shifting -- I recorded this two days after my father died, and five days before we leave our home of 22 years to move closer to our granddaughter and family. The excuse to sing this song and even explore a little at the end, off book, eased my day. Thanks for singing with me!

    Songwriter Info: Penny Stone is a musician and activist based in Edinburgh, Scotland. She believes that everyone can sing and that every voice is valuable and beautiful. Penny facilitates singing groups and writes accessible music for community groups. She is currently working on a feminist requiem. Listen to episode #45 for more about this!

    Links: 
    Penny's website (with a donation box)...: www.singlouderthanguns.com
    Learn and Sing along song videos: www.singlouderthanguns.com/singalong-songs/
    Sing this song with with Penny: One Day At A Time (learn and sing along) - YouTube
    Twitter: @singovertheguns
    ​The Serenity Singers of Edinborough

    Nuts & Bolts: 4:4, Minor, Call & response with 2 more layers
    ​
    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!
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    43. Music

    2:2 Calm Heal Hope Journey Power & Change Protection & Presence Scale: Ionian (Major) Song Form: Harmonized Trust
    Song Music
    Words & Music by Matthew Myer Boulton
    Lyrics
    We are going to a place where music
    falls and fills up everything;
    and though it might be a long time,
    know it's gonna be alright --
    ​'cause we've already started to sing.
    Picture
    Notes: This song has an Appalachian feel, and a wonderful way of rising and falling, gradually filling you up with the music that it's singing about as you sing it. Matthew says, “Great songs have great ideas in them, too. They are simple but they are not simplistic.” On the podcast, you'll hear me poking around with different rhythms and experimenting with harmonies and interspersing... and I encourage you to explore, too, as soon as you feel comfortable with the song. Let the music do its thing by filling us up, and let's enjoy the feeling of our voices today.

    Songwriter Info: Matthew Myer Boulton is an author, teacher, filmmaker, and proud papa of Jonah and Margaret. A graduate of Northwestern University, Harvard Divinity School, and the University of Chicago Divinity School, he has served on the faculty of Harvard Divinity School and seminaries in New England and the Midwest. He's also the Creative Director and Producer of the Salt project -- which is where I uncovered his bio!

    Links: 
    The original Butterflyfish recording can be found here: Christian Music for Children by Butterflyfish (saltproject.org) 
      You can buy sheet music here, too, or use the contact button to ask permission to use the song further.
    A shout out to Matt Myer (no relation), whose youtube video introduced me to the song: Music (We are going ) - YouTube

    Nuts & Bolts: 2:2, Major,  harmonized

    Song Learning Time Stamps:
    Start time of teaching: 00:02:23
    Start time of reprise: 00:12:32

    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!
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    42. Be Safe, My Love

    4:4 Be Present Calm Gratitude & Trust Heal Protection & Presence Release Rest Scale: Ionian (Major) Song Form: Harmonized Tend Trust
    Song Be Safe, My Love
    Music & Words by Juliana Murphy.
    Music inspired by the traditional song, "Katie Dear",
    ​and words by a passage in Diana, Herself by Martha Beck.
    Lyrics
    Be safe, my love; be well, my dear one.
    Live in joy and peace, my sweet friend.
    For we are here, we are awakened;
    ​fear no more, and take your rest.
    Picture
    Notes: Creativity is so often the process of connecting disparate things in a new way. Juliana Murphy crafted this sweet, reassuring wish for safety, wellness, and fearlessness by combining a text from a modern-day fable of awakening with a folk song that came with disturbing, murderous lyrics. She adjusted both and ended up with a song that to me, at least, sits easily in the voice, and lightly on the spirit. I can send this wish to myself, family members, friends, or strangers. I don't take "awakened" to be a politically-angsty, aggressive kind of "wokeness", but rather an eyes-opened kind of awareness and presence that lets me register the world immediately around me. As always, you get to take this song and make it your own now -- what is it that you wish for yourself and those around you that is actually already true? How much fear can we release as we sing?

    Songwriter Info: Juliana Murphy (she/her) comes to the circle with a lifelong love of singing and a library of original and collected songs that connect us to ourselves, nature, and the cycles and rhythms of being a human on this planet. She brings a deep desire to sing a more beautiful, inclusive, loving, sustainable, and delightful world into being. Juliana co-leads the Tucson Community Song Circle and is a graduate of the Littlebird Songleader Flight School for community songleading.

    Links: 
    Juliana's blogpost about this song, with her recording: ​Be Safe, My Love — juliana murphy
    Juliana's website: https://www.julianamurphy.com/waking-lullabies
    Instagram: @wakinglullabies

    Nuts & Bolts: 4:4, Major,  harmonized
    ​
    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!
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    40. Render A Remedy with Moira Smiley

    4:4 Empower Heal Hope Journey Scale: Aeolian (minor) Scale: Dorian Song Form: Harmonized Song Form: Layer Songwriter Conversation Tend
    Song: Render A Remedy
    Words & Music​ by Moira Smiley
    Lyrics
    mmm... Render
    mmm... a remedy.

    Each day you make a little light.
    Picture
    Notes: Conversations with songwriters can be illuminating. Moira and I talk about wanting our voices to make a difference, and how to evaluate that, how Moira's voice has protected and shaped her, rest as part of the job of being a creator, and so much more. She shares a song that is in the process of becoming, and we get a very special glimpse of this creative process, which includes a calling sound that fascinates Moira right now. As you sing along, you'll be able to really tune in to what feels good to you this day -- is it the commitment and determination of "each day we make a little light"? The seeking melodic curve of "mmm...render...mmm...a remedy?" The wild, aching cry of the calling sounds? Or something else that you feel called to bring to the song? As you're singing in your own space, I wonder if there will be movement -- stepping or dancing or swaying? 

    Songwriter Info: As a composer, Moira Smiley is known worldwide for choral arrangements like Bring Me Little Water, Silvy and originals, Stand in That River and How Can I Cry. Her music is sung by millions of singers worldwide. She’s credited with helping to bring body percussion into the choral mainstream and is in demand as a commissioned composer, writing multi-movement pieces including Time In Our Voices and In The Desert With You for the Los Angeles Master Chorale, evening-length secular liturgy, The Song Among Us and Tis A Fearful Thing for Craig Hella Johnson’s Conspirare and CVAE, Vonnegut Requiem: Light Perpetual for Voces Novae, Loud My Soul for Ad Astra Festival and I Have A Voice for ACDA Women's Choral Consortium. The European premiere of Time In Our Voices was performed by the voices and mobile phones of Ars Nova Copenhagen under the direction of Paul Hillier.
      In 2018-2019 Moira released the album and choral songbook, Unzip The Horizon as companion to her ‘The Voice Is A Traveler’ solo show. In 2021 she released the all-vocal social-justice centered album, In Our Voices with four powerful singers of diverse ethnic and cultural backgrounds.     She continues composing and improvising in collaboration with artists in film, video game production, theater and dance, and her work can be heard on feature film soundtracks, BBC & PBS television programs, NPR, and on more than 70 commercial albums.
      “Moira Smiley is marvel—an omnivorous singing and composing chameleon with a voice that can wail or caress at will!” -- Grant Gershon - artistic director, Los Angeles Master Chorale
      “Moira Smiley is a brilliant musician – an innovative composer and arranger, and a heartbreakingly beautiful singer. Her music transcends (and expands) boundaries.” -- Billy Childs - multi-grammy-winning composer/pianist
      “I’m so thankful I’ve had the privilege of performing and recording with Moira. She embodies the endless creative potential of the voice, and… (has made) a deeply moving body of work.” -- Merrill Garbus - Tune-Yards

    Links:
    www.moirasmiley.com for all info including sheet music, practice tracks!
    https://moirasmileysubscription.com/ to support Moira monthly for as little as $4/mo.
    https://www.instagram.com/moirasmiley/ for up-to-date personal and music pics
    https://www.youtube.com/c/MoiraSmileyMusic for official music videos, song and body percussion tutorials and live performances

    Lissa Schneckenburger -- the link goes to her interview on A Breath of Song, which includes her own site links and more
    Night Song - Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan & Michael Brook. The link goes to the title song of the album. Here is the album on Apple Music.
    Shara Nova - "My Brightest Diamond" -- This link goes to a live performance and interview (go to about 2'40" to get close to the start).

    ​    Song Learning Time Stamps:
    Start time of teaching: 00:03:12
    Start time of reprise: 00:54:45

    Nuts & Bolts: 4:4, Minor, Dorian & Aeolian, harmonized layers
    ​
    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!