Scale: Aeolian (minor) - A Breath of Song

Published on: May 27, 2026

235. Road Trip: Minneapolis with guests Sarina Partridge and Annie Schlaefer

Song Learning Time Stamps:

We Belong To Each Other

Start of teaching: 00:03:10

Start of reprise: 00:51:46

Grief and Love

Start of teaching: 00:11:05

Start of reprise: 00:49:36

Lyrics:

We Belong To Each Other

Words by Nikita Gill

Music by Annie Schlaefer

Every one oh every one oh every one of these people are ours,

just like we are theirs.

We belong to them and they belong to us.

Grief and Love

by Sarina Partridge

Grief moving through me

Let my body feel the waves of love and grief

Grief, grief and love

Let me feel it all,

let me feel it all

Notes: It was both an honor and illumination to meet with Sarina Partridge and Annie Schlaefer to talk about Singing Resistance (they were both in it at inception…) and learn two of the songs in the Singing Resistance Songbook – and I left feeling so much encouragement for community and relationship. Annie said, “People want to come to the streets if we’re singing together.” Sarina shared her slogan: “More song circles than gas stations!” We talked about weaving the learning from one event into the next crisis you face – the wisdom of long-standing organizers who help grass-roots eco-systems evolve. The role of singing in building community, showing people what we are FOR and welcoming them in, dispelling the belief that we are powerless and isolated, easing numbness, creating a container of beauty we can be in together during these times. And these songs – soooo beautiful!

Song 1: We Belong To Each Other

Words by: Nikita Gill

Music by: Annie Schlaefer

Songwriter Info: Annie Schlaefer (she/her), a community song-leader, has been collecting songs and facilitating song circles for 13 years in various communities (Northern Minnesota, Maine, Wisconsin) and has more recently been co-facilitating a weekly local community song circle in Minneapolis with a dear friend, Linnea Champ, for nearly 5 years. She continues to be awed by the beautiful ways that singing together brings connection and community. She learned about this style of singing in 2012 in Decorah, Iowa from a local song-leader and now mentor, Liz Rog.

Sharing Info: Annie says: "Please freely share this song in community gathering spaces. If you want to share this song and are making a bunch of money, I would appreciate some of these funds to come my way in the form of a one-time venmo donation @Annie-Schlaefer, or by joining my Patreon as a monthly subscriber. Thank you!"

Links:

Annie's Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/cw/AnnieSchlaefer

Nikita Gill: https://www.instagram.com/nikita_gill/

Nuts & Bolts: 4:4, round, major

Song 2: Grief and Love

Music by: Sarina Partridge

Songwriter Info: Sarina Partridge is a musician, songleader, educator, and activist in Minneapolis, Minnesota. She feels most alive when learning, creating and sharing songs. Sarina sings with a wide variety of music projects: community song-leading; harmony-rich original music with folk trio Heartwood; and performing and teaching of Eastern European and Yiddish song. Sarina has a passion for connecting people with their own creativity and with community, and uses singing as a modality to help folks develop a sense of wonder and belonging in this wild world

Sharing Info: Sarina says: "Please sing the song with your group! You can buy sheet music for it through my website (link below). If you’d like to have tracks of the separated harmony layers, please contact me. One meaningful way to support me is to join me on patreon for whatever monthly donation amount feels right to you. I post a new song - with separated out tracks for harmony parts, lyrics, the story of the song - on patreon every other week. Thank you!"

Song Learning Time Stamps:

Start of teaching: 00:11:05

Start of reprise: 00:49:36

Links:

Sarina's website: www.SarinaPartridge.com

Sarina's Patreon: www.patreon.com/sarinapartridge

Sarina's Bandcamp: www.sarinapartridge.bandcamp.com

Nuts & Bolts: 2:2; 3-layer, minor

Extra links:

Barbara McAfee ABS episode: https://www.abreathofsong.com/p/195-get-up-with-guest-barbara-mcafee

Lia Falls: https://marinemillsfolkschool.org/lia-falls/

Liz Rog: https://marinemillsfolkschool.org/liz-rog/

Linnea Champ - Sing As You Are: https://www.patreon.com/cw/SingAsYouAre

Sara Thomsen: “Hearts awakened are unstoppable.”: https://www.echoesofpeace.org/vision

Frankie Armstrong: Founder of Natural Voice Network in England (NVN): https://www.naturalvoice.net/about/history-of-the-network/

Join this community of people who love to use song to help navigate life? Absolutely:

https://dashboard.mailerlite.com/forms/335811/81227018071442567/share

Help us keep going: reviews, comments, encouragement, plus contributions... we float on your support.

https://www.abreathofsong.com/gratitude-jar.html

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

Join this community of people who love to use song to help navigate life? Absolutely:

https://dashboard.mailerlite.com/forms/335811/81227018071442567/share

Help us keep going: reviews, comments, encouragement, plus contributions... we float on your support.

https://www.abreathofsong.com/gratitude-jar.html

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

Join this community of people who love to use song to help navigate life? Absolutely:

https://dashboard.mailerlite.com/forms/335811/81227018071442567/share

Help us keep going: reviews, comments, encouragement, plus contributions... we float on your support.

https://www.abreathofsong.com/gratitude-jar.html

Published on: March 4, 2026

224. We All Need A Little Love

« Previous Next »

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

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

Join this community of people who love to use song to help navigate life? Absolutely:
https://dashboard.mailerlite.com/forms/335811/81227018071442567/share

Help us keep going: reviews, comments, encouragement, plus contributions... we float on your support.
https://www.abreathofsong.com/gratitude-jar.html

Published on: January 28, 2026

220. Pray With Our Feet with guest Paul Vasile

« Previous Next »

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

Join this community of people who love to use song to help navigate life? Absolutely:
https://dashboard.mailerlite.com/forms/335811/81227018071442567/share

Help us keep going: reviews, comments, encouragement, plus contributions... we float on your support.
https://www.abreathofsong.com/gratitude-jar.html

Published on: January 21, 2026

219. Trust the Work

« Previous Next »

Song Learning Time Stamps:
Start time of teaching: 00:03:43
Start time of reprise: 00:16:07

Lyrics:

Trust the work.
Trust the slow work.
Trust the slow work of God [or love] within you.

Song: Trust the Work
Words by: Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, S.J.
Music by: Paul Vasile

Notes: Trusting the work of love inside us, as excruciatingly slow as it seems sometimes.... this is a mantra I can fold right into my life, singing it on the regular to remind me back into the power of inner trust. Next episode is a conversation with Paul where we talk about the choice (he ok'd) to replace the word "God" with "love" -- and what it is we all seek. I offer this as a somatic check in as well -- as you sing it in different ranges, how does your voice and body respond?

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: 00:03:43
Start time of reprise: 00:16:07

Links:
Paul's website: https://www.paulvasile.com/
Paul's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lovedintobeing/

Nuts & Bolts: 4:4, minor, optional round

Join this community of people who love to use song to help navigate life? Absolutely:
https://dashboard.mailerlite.com/forms/335811/81227018071442567/share

Help us keep going: reviews, comments, encouragement, plus contributions... we float on your support.
https://www.abreathofsong.com/gratitude-jar.html

Tags

235. Road Trip: Minneapolis with guests Sarina Partridge and Annie Schlaefer

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

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

224. We All Need A Little Love

220. Pray With Our Feet with guest Paul Vasile

219. Trust the Work