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    13. Replenish

    4:4 Be Present Heal Moon Power & Change Protection & Presence Scale: Aeolian (minor) Song Form: Harmonized Sun Water
    Song Replenish
    Music & Words by Elisa S. Keeler
    Composed in​ 2020
    Lyrics

    Drink in the healing waters, bathe in the pure sunlight/moonlight. (2x)

    Replenish your body, replenish your soul, Breathe in light/peace and be made whole.

    Drink in the healing waters, bathe in the pure sunlight/moonlight.

    Ba doonga doom, doom (3x)
    Ba doonga doom.
    Picture
    Notes I love the way songsharers around the country during the pandemic dug into music as a way of healing, comforting, hoping. So much new music came out of this time that helps us uncover the wellness that's already there, inside us. Now you might think those songs would all at tempo=comfort, or heartbeat pulse, or something else that soon feels trite. But this song, for instance, has a driving urgency as well as the sense of smiling just a bit, which feels fresh to me... and as it is unexpected, I can hear the message in a new way.

    Songwriter info
    Elisa S. Keeler is a composer, song leader and retreat facilitator who has taught voice workshops since 2003. She holds degrees in Music Education and Vocal Performance from Ithaca College and a Masters in Transpersonal Psychology from Sofia University with a focus on the therapeutic benefits of singing in groups. Elisa is the founder of Freeing Your Voice program for adults and the Music for Unity and Social Change program for public schools. As a songleader she has worked with Threshold Choirs, the American Association of Choral Directors, religious organizations, community choruses, colleges, universities, and staff community-building retreats. Since 2011, Elisa has facilitated personal and spiritual growth retreats for adults as a co-teacher of the Hidden Treasure Program at Light on the Hill Retreat Center. She lives with her family in Ithaca, NY. 

    Songwriter contact
    www.elisamusic.com for music, scores and information about workshops and retreats
    www.patreon.com/elisaskeeler for Patreon account

    Nuts & Bolts 4:4, harmonized song with a bass line, Aeolian (natural minor)
    ​
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    11. Dust Dry

    4:4 Change Empower Grief & Fear Grow Power & Change Scale: Aeolian (minor) Song Form: Zipper Water
    Song Dust Dry
    Words & Music​ by Patricia Norton
    ​Composed in 2020
    Lyrics
    Dust, dry, looking for *some water*;
    Dust, dry, my soul.
    Dust, dry, looking for *some water*;
    Rain down on us all.
    Us all.

    *zipper song; you sing the words you want here.
    ​If it's a single syllable, I often use the word "now" after to balance the rhythm.
    If it's a two syllable word, I use "some" or "a" before it.
    Some options: *a vision*, *some breath now*, *some justice*, *acceptance*, *some healing*
    Picture

    Notes: Written at a time when my soul felt dry and fragile in response to wildfires, drought, racial injustice, pandemic, climate and political crises... I needed a song that recognized how I felt, but could also call on hope, water, justice, breath, vision -- and a song I could bring to groups which could be quickly taught and singers could name what they wanted to call for themselves. I love the determination and sharpness I feel at the beginning, followed by a peaceful settling when the rain "falls down" on us all.


    Check out the home page or the shownotes to Episode #10 to join the "in-group" that gets a colorful, thoughtful weekly email.


    If you'd like to bring this song to your own groups, simply let me know at abreathofsong@gmail.com.


    Song Learning Time Stamps:

    Start time of teaching: 00:02:20

    Start time of reprise: 00:11:53


    Nuts and Bolts: 4:4, Aeolian (natural minor) zipper song with body percussion.


    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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    10. I Trust My Roots with guest Samara Jade

    4:4 Change Empower Gathering & Welcome Gratitude & Trust Grow Scale: Aeolian (minor) Scale: Ionian (Major) Song Form: Zipper Songwriter Conversation Trees Trust
    Song I Trust My Roots
    Music & Words by Samara Jade
    Lyrics
    Verse: (usually sing 2 verses, then chorus)
    I trust my roots
    *to know where to go*     (3x)
    I trust my roots
    *to know where to go*
    down, down into the earth.

    Chorus:
    Down, down into the earth, intertwining with all beings,
    I'm seeing in every direction; going down, down into the earth,
    I'll send a message on the world-wide-web of interconnection.

    ​    Other verse options include:
    *to anchor me deep*
    *to reach what I need*
    *to share what I got*
    *to lead me to love*
    *to connect us as one* ("our" roots)

    Samara encourages songleaders to create their own verses to insert in between the **.
    Picture
    Notes  Samara Jade and I talk embodied intuition, the musical Rent, vocal health, names, mycelium, Moonshadow and trust... and Samara shares "I Trust My Roots". I sing along, periodically smudging the words, as I often do when I first learn a song (maybe you do, too?). A squidge of laughter, a dollop of wonder... it was a fabulous hour!

    Music referenced in the show:
    Cat Stevens, Moonshadow
    the musical Rent by Jonathan Larson
    Pink Floyd The Dark Side of the Moon
    singer/songwriter Johanna Warren

    Songwriter Info A modern folk troubadour, Samara is dedicated to the art of listening deeply and crafting soul-centered songs that are medicine for the moment. Inspired greatly by the wild wisdom of nature and the landscape of the human psyche, her songs ride the crest of the unknown and balance between shadows and light.
    Coming from a musical background as diverse as classical, jazz, folk, Broadway musical and progressive rock, Samara stitches together a unique tapestry of sounds with a quality of musicianship distinctly her own. As heart-opening as they are intellect-stimulating, A fan once coined the term "Philosopholk" to describe Samara's tunes, and no one has ever described it better in a one-word nutshell.
    Samara lives in her van, Vincent VanGo, and is committed to sharing her song-beings around like thousands of spiraling maple helicopter seeds - which is, not coincidentally, what a samara is.

    You can find her in all these places:

    On Patreon: www.patreon.com/samarajade
    On Bandcamp: https://samarajade.bandcamp.com/
    On her website: www.samarajademusic.com
    On Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/samarajademusic
    On Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/WildPamplemousse/videos

    Nuts and Bolts Zipper song in 4:4, Aeolian (natural minor).

    Song Learning Time Stamps:
    Start time of teaching: 00:02:45
    Start time of reprise: 00:53:15​

    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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    7. Spiral

    4:4 Accept Change Flex Gratitude & Trust Grow Heal Journey Power & Change Release Scale: Aeolian (minor) Song Form: Harmonized Song Form: Layer Trust
    Song Spiral
    Music & Words Patricia Norton
    Composed in​ 2020
    Lyrics

    I'm letting myself move in a spiral,
    I'm flexing and I'm swaying and I'm bending with the wind.

    I'm coming down to where I want to be.

    Gotta let me grow, gotta let me grow,
    you know.... I've got to grow.
    Picture
    Notes I wrote this song a few months into the pandemic, at a point when I was disappointed with how I seem to know all this wisdom in my head, but have so much trouble translating it into body knowledge... I was tearful & fearful – and so frustrated with myself. Then I realized – oh, right -- this what it feels like to grow! Moving from comfortable to uncomfortable in a spiral of growth. Which started me thinking about prairie grass – the beauty of acres of grasses swaying and moving in the wind. Roots in the dirt and touching the sky... both growing up and coming down. Natural patterns that occur and recur -- including the spiral.

    ​    Be one of the first to know as new episodes are 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. Click here.

    You can learn more about me and what influences my choices and work here​.

    ​    Song Learning Time Stamps:
    Start time of teaching: 00:02:26
    Start time of reprise: 00:14:08

    Nuts and Bolts 4:4, Layer song, Aeolian (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!
  • Published on

    4. Let It Blow Through

    4:4 Accept Change Flex Gratitude & Trust Grief & Fear Open Power & Change Release Scale: Aeolian (minor) Song Form: Layer Trust
    Song Let It Blow Through
    Music & Words Maggie Wheeler
    Composed in 2019
    Lyrics
    Let it blow through, let it blow through.
    Open up the windows of your soul, and let it blow through.

    Hard times come, and hard times go, let it blow through.
    Open up the windows of your soul, and let it blow through.

    Hard times come and hard times go, let it blow.
    Open up the windows of your soul, and let it blow through.
    Picture
    Notes Let's highlight a song by next episode's guest artist Maggie Wheeler, Maggie said she wrote this on her birthday on a gray day by the beach in 2019. She told her husband and daughters to just hang on, because a song was coming through… I thought, ah, she treats her creative urges with honor. Both my cat and dog contribute to this particular recording, but although the purring and dream yips seemed really loud as I was recording, they're quite faint in the final product.... I decided to just let them blow through.

    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 going in its 16th 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 iTunes and other music platforms. To accompany her most recent CD entitled 'Walk With Me’, Maggie has created a songbook available by request through her website www.goldenbridgechoir.com Throughout this year of change Maggie hosted a weekly online community gathering called Together In Song, bringing together people from around the world to join in the healing power of singing.

    ​Links: To learn more about Maggie’s work please visit: www.goldenbridgechoir.com and maggiewheeler.net

    Song Learning Time Stamps:
    Start time of teaching: 00:01:51
    Start time of reprise: 00:12:42​

    Nuts & Bolts This layer song is a slow 4:4, Aeolian mode (natural 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!
  • Published on

    2. Put Your Roots Down

    4:4 Be Grateful Empower Gathering & Welcome Heal Notice Power & Change Protection & Presence Ribbon Scale: Aeolian (minor) Scale: Dorian Song Form: Harmonized
    Song: Put Your Roots Down
    ​Music & Words: Molly Hartwell
    Composed in: unknown
    Lyrics
    Put your roots down, 
    put your feet on the ground,
    can you hear what she says
    when you listen?

    'Cause the sound of river
    as it moves across the stones is the
    same sound as the blood in your body
    as it moves across your bones.

    Are you listening?
    Picture
    Notes: This is a grounding song that's popular in the community singing movement, and in August 2021, I learned from Heather Houston that she had just learned it is a Molly Hartwell original. As a white, European American cis female in my 50s, raised to value formal education, let me tell you, my brain is littered with words like, evaluate, compare, weigh, measure, process, careful…. For me, it can be a real challenge to get out of my head and into my body! But, oh the difference when I do… the connection, the power, the sense of being enough. I love the way this song reminds me of the soles of my feet and to sense the blood rushing through my body. Trillions of cells working together so I move and breathe… and I can just watch and feel all that with amazement.

    Links:   
    Here's the Thrive Choir singing it;
    I learned it in person from Lisa Littlebird, a vital, generous songleader whose course, Flight School, helped me expand my musical world in 2019.
    And here's an update in September 2021: Molly Hartwell shared her own original version in Heather Houston's song library (which is a magical internet spot to learn fabulous songs!).
    Molly also generously gave permission for songleaders to continue sharing the song however it came to them, since the song took on a life of its own after she created it!

    Song Learning Time Stamps:
    Start time of teaching: 00:02:35
    Start time of reprise: 00:13:04

    Nuts and Bolts: It’s harmonized, in 4:4, Aeolian & Dorian modes (minor with shifting harmonies....)
    ​
    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!