Power & Change - A Breath of Song

Published on: September 23, 2026

249. Doesn't Mean

Song: Doesn't Mean

Music by: Ríomas

Song Learning Time Stamps:

Start of teaching: 00:03:20

Start of reprise: 00:18:24

Lyrics:

Pt. 1

What if it doesn’t mean what you think it means?

Doesn’t mean what you think it means

Pt. 2

It’s just a hole in the soul

Trying to bring you back down in the darkness

This is not a darkness you need to go

Been there, done that,

no need to go back

This is not a darkness

you need to go

This is not a darkness you need

Pt. 3

Bringing yourself down

Is not your protection anymore

The story is much more

Than your mind could ever hold

Notes: What if there are other stories we can tell ourselves, other ways to protect ourselves? What if it doesn't mean what we think it means? The kind of flexibility that asks of us -- the openness to consider that the solution our mind is so neatly presenting might actually not be the most accurate or the most helpful? Wow. It's a game changer when we don't have to hold our stories or our past techniques so tightly -- and Ríomas has given us a song to ask these questions, to remind us that old ways of coping aren't always working so well in the here and now. Next episode, we get a sweet, intense conversation that touches in on navigating change, ancestors, rhythms, and more -- PLUS a new song Ríomas shares that's all about changing patterns...

Songwriter Info: Ríomas (RiYo or Río for short, they/them), previously known as Shireen Amini, is a queer, trans masculine, Puerto Rican-Iranian artist and immigrant settler based in Portland, Oregon creating at the intersection of music, healing, and cultural change. Drawing upon pop and folk soul textures, gratefully and respectfully from Black and Afro-Latin lineages, they craft artful, participatory songs that invite realness and transformative energy. Bridging contemporary music mediums with ceremonial ways and resistance efforts, Ríomas creates soulful and joyful community singing experiences that reconnect people to their power and place. In spring 2026, they released their first community song album, Gather Your Resilience: Medicine for Liberation.

Sharing Info: Yes -- The song is free to share in oral tradition contexts like song circles, but please contact me for permission and rates if interested in teaching this song as part of greater money-making ventures like multi-week choirs, workshops, classes, or performances or if interested in recording this song.

Links:

Album on Bandcamp: https://riomas.bandcamp.com/album/gather-your-resilience-medicine-for-liberation

Patreon: https://patreon.com/riomas

Instagram: @riomasmusic

Linktree: https://linktr.ee/riomas

Nuts & Bolts: 4:4, minor, 3 layer with extra harmonies

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Published on: July 8, 2026

240. What Have We Done with guest Kaitie Ty Warren

Song: What Have We Done

Music by: Kaitie Ty Warren

Song Learning Time Stamps:

Start of teaching: 00:03:18

Start of reprise: 01:14:26

Lyrics:

What have we done?

What can we do?

And I fear we’ve gone so far, I fear we can’t get back to who we are, and who we are is simple: we remember we’re all one

And I know there’s a story, waiting for me to write the ending

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

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Published on: May 6, 2026

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

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

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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Published on: April 22, 2026

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

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)

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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Published on: April 15, 2026

229. We Will Not Stand Down

Song Learning Time Stamps:
Start time of teaching: 00:03:44
Start time of reprise: 00:15:29

Lyrics:

We will not stand down
we will not go home
our love will move us on
in love we're not alone

I do not need permission to be brave

I can do it scared
I will do it scared

Song: We Will Not Stand Down
Music by: Grace Oedel

Notes: This song came directly out of protective action, as Grace was asking herself how to develop a chant into a song -- it's got a groove, it's alive, and it's adaptable. Sing it with only a few words, or add some lyrics. Get people moving on the parts they resonate with and help them hear the collective pulse that underlies it all. Add what feels good in your body and voice -- and next week, join Grace and me for a wide-ranging conversation that asks questions about how can we keep showing up with and for each other for the long haul? How can we use rage as a fuel that doesn't burn us out, but helps us to not stand down, to not go home, to do what scares us because love is underneath that rage, moving us on!

Songwriter Info: Grace is a doula for change and an enthusiast for collective action. She's an ordained rabbi who organizes with the L'Chaim Collective and serves as the executive director of NOFA-VT, building power for a just and delicious future. She sits on the boards of Rights and Democracy, Milk with Dignity, National Family Farm Coalition, National Sustainable Ag Coalition, the Better Selves Fellowship, and is an affiliate for the Institute for Agroecology. She leads a monthly community sing for resistance and hope that is a real banger, is a fan of desserts, and is mama to three little ones.

Sharing Info: The song is free to share in oral tradition groups - use it anywhere it can be helpful! - but please contact Grace for recording and/or performing permission.

Song Learning Time Stamps:
Start time of teaching: 00:03:44
Start time of reprise: 00:15:29

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

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

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Published on: January 28, 2026

220. Pray With Our Feet with guest Paul Vasile

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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.

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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Tags

249. Doesn't Mean

240. What Have We Done with guest Kaitie Ty Warren

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

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

229. We Will Not Stand Down

220. Pray With Our Feet with guest Paul Vasile