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    110. The Crow Calls with guest Maggie Wheeler

    Song: The Crow Calls
    ​Music:
    Maggie Wheeler
    Lyrics

    1. The crow calls
    The Sun falls
    They know the rhythm
    The rhythm of it all 

    2. Echo part 1

    3. We are the only ones
    Who have forgotten how to listen
    We’re the only ones
    Who have forgotten how to listen
    We’re the only ones
    Who have forgotten how to listen
    The earth is calling us to open up our ears

    4. Put your hands in the dirt
    Let’s heal the hurt
    The earth is waiting
    For us to do the work
    Do the work
    Picture
    Notes: It's been two years since Maggie Wheeler and I last talked on A Breath of Song. No one doubts these times are difficult. Maggie and I get into the grit here... how do you stave off despair? How do you show up in love? How can we, collectively, change the energy? How do we soothe hearts and souls so we are sustained to do the work? Can we give ourselves the same grace of forgiveness we give others? What happens after exhaustion? How can we stay longer in the space of not knowing? How can we stay longer in a song moment and let it develop? Can staying longer be its own practice?

    This song Maggie shares, The Crow Calls, is an opening to the rhythm, the connection of the natural world, and how that can nurture and change us. This song is a reminder, a call, a resource, and incredibly satisfying to sing. As we talked, Maggie described her heart as "cracked open" from two intense back-to-back experiences that had just happened. I was feeling a lot of pressure, with looming deadlines and large to-do lists, preparing for a big trip. Editing the episode, I was struck by how we practiced showing up as we are, releasing expectations, and paying attention to what is present in the moment... and I came away from our conversation with a welcome sense of clarity and commitment about the next right thing -- and huge gratitude for Maggie's generous, genuine way of moving through the world. I wonder what you will hear that resonates or challenges or invites you?


    Songwriter Info: 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 in its 17th 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 Apple Music and other music platforms. To accompany her CD entitled 'Walk With Me’, Maggie created a songbook available by request through her website www.goldenbridgechoir.com Throughout this time of change Maggie continued the Golden Bridge Choir online producing virtual concerts and videos as well as hosting a weekly online community gathering called Together In Song, bringing together over 4000 people from around the world to join in the healing power of singing. 

    Sharing Info: Yes -- The song is free to share but Maggie always welcomes financial and/or networking support if/when folks are so moved.

    Links: 
    Find Your Way Home, ABoS Ep 5: https://www.abreathofsong.com/episodes--show-notes/5-find-our-way-home
    Rising Appalachia: https://www.risingappalachia.com/
    Song Village: https://www.songvillage.net/
    Emile Hassan Dyer: https://www.eomega.org/workshops/teachers/emile-hassan-dyer
    Song Village Collaborators: https://www.songvillage.net/collaborators/
    Yam and Jessi: Bliss is Ordinary podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/bliss-is-ordinary/id1614727245
    Ebeneezer Finds a Reason children’s Book: https://ebeneezersneezer.com/
    Meredith Scott Lynn & Write Brain Books: https://writebrainbooks.com/view_page.php?pageid=3/
    M. Kyle Hollingsworth: https://www.kylecreativeart.com/
    Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney: https://wimpykid.com/
    Karly Loveling: https://eugeneweekly.com/2019/01/17/karly-loveling/​
    Together in Song: https://www.goldenbridgechoir.com/together-in-song-video-archive
    Flow Singing with Juneberry Music: https://www.juneberrymusic.com/sing-to-connect.html
    Rhiannon: https://rhiannonmusic.com/circlesing 
    Omega Workshop
    https://www.eomega.org/workshops/singing-stream?itm_source_h=search&itm_source_s=search&itm_medium_h=tile&itm_medium_s=tile&itm_campaign_h=searchcr&itm_campaign_s=searchcr
    Arnaé Batson: https://sivanandabahamas.org/presenter/arnae-batson/
    Sivananda Ashram Retreat: https://sivanandabahamas.org/course/songs-of-sustenance-february-2023/
    Aimée Ringle: http://www.aimeeringlemusic.com/
    Heather Houston: https://heatherhoustonmusic.com/
    Sweet Honey in the Rock, Live at Carnegie Hall: https://www.allmusic.com/album/live-at-carnegie-hall-mw0000652837
    Aimée Ringle Human and Tender: https://aimeeringle.bandcamp.com/album/human-and-tender
    Olivia Barton & Corook - “If I Were a Fish” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dx_vMONe3tM
    Ahlay Blakely: https://www.healingattheroots.com/about
    Golden Bridge Choir: https://www.goldenbridgechoir.com/
    Maggie’s Instagram: ​​https://www.instagram.com/maggiewheeler_official/?hl=en
    Maggie’s latest album that she was about to record after our interview: https://maggiewheeler.bandcamp.com/album/the-crow-calls
    Go​​lden Bridge Choir’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/goldenbridgechoir/?hl=en
    Maggie's Websitemaggiewheeler.net

    Song Learning Time Stamps:
    Start time of teaching: 00:04:15
    Start time of reprise: 00:54:54
    ​​
    Nuts & Bolts: 4:4, harmonic minor scale, call & echo and 3 or 4 layer song

    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

    107. As A Seal Upon Thy Heart

    Song: As a Seal Upon Thy Heart
    ​Music: Alison Burns
    Text: from Song of Songs (Shir Hashirim) 8:6
    שִׁיר הַשִּׁירִים
    Lyrics

    Set me as a seal upon thy heart, as a seal upon thy arm.
    ​For love is strong, as strong as death


    שִׂימֵ֨נִי כַֽחוֹתָ֜ם עַל־לִבֶּ֗ךָ כַּֽחוֹתָם֙ עַל־זְרוֹעֶ֔ךָ כִּֽי־עַזָּ֤ה כַמָּ֨וֶת֙ אַֽהֲבָ֔ה קָשָׁ֥ה כִשְׁא֖וֹל
    Picture
    Notes: Ali Burns gives us a beautiful two-part song that can also be a round... it feels like very exposed singing to me, and there's a way in which committing to what feels vulnerable in my voice, both high and low, also feels powerful and affirming. The ancient words resonate with longing for connection beyond death with those whom we love... and to me, are a reminder that can't force anyone into accepting love -- we can only offer.

    Songwriter Info: Ali has built her reputation over the past 30 years as one of the UK’s prominent workshop leaders for community choirs. Many of her songs have found their way into the repertoire and hearts of singers across the UK, and increasingly, Canada, the USA and Australia. Her work is published by Faber, Sing Up! and Oxford University Press.

    Sharing Info: You can hear and buy a copy of the song for £5 from www.aliburns.co.uk 
    Please visit her online shop for information about permissions:
    https://aliburns.co.uk/shop/licensing/song-licence/

    Links: 
    Ali's Website: www.aliburns.co.uk

    Song Learning Time Stamps:
    Start time of teaching: 00:03:08
    Start time of reprise: 00:14:38

    Nuts & Bolts: 4:4 major, 2-part layer, round optional

    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

    104. Take My Hand

    Song: Take My Hand
    Music: VoiceExchange
    Lyrics

    Doomba doomba deh deh doomba
    Deh-deh doomba beh beh doomba
    Deh-deh doomba beh beh doomba
    Deh-deh deh doomba
    Doomba doobeh doombah

     Are you lost?
    Do you feel lost and broken?
    Let us walk and find a way together, find a way home.

    Take my hand. Take my hand.
    Take my hand. Let us walk.
     
    Take my hand. Take my hand.
    Take my hand.


    Picture
    NotesWhat does it mean to hold out a hand to someone, to offer to accompany them? How does it feel to find a way home, through the lost and brokenness? How do five people living in different places manage to write a song together in a pandemic? All important questions for this episode! This is maybe one of the most intricate songs, where you'll be challenged to tease out a part... and it's also a very sweet song, with a superbly satisfying bass line, a lovely, harmonized invitation, a haunting, harmonized question, and a beautiful reassuring affirmation. Next episode is a first for A Breath of Song -- a six-way conversation about collaboration and bringing one's individual voice to a group -- hope you can join us all!

    Songwriter Info: VoiceExchange initially formed as a practice group following a 2012 Bobby McFerrin Circlesongs workshop. As singers from disparate musical influences, they came together, connecting through a shared passion for vocal improvisation, and formed a unique a cappella group that blends diverse vocal styles into spontaneous harmonious arrangements. During the challenges of the pandemic VoiceExchange began a series of sequentially recorded collaborations for leading online circles. This resulted in a library of recordings, among them, Touch the Sky and Take My Hand. VoiceExchange members are Amado Ohland, Beth Lyons, Dina Torok, Joy Truskowski and Paris Kern. They can be found leading Circlesinging events in Maryland, Virginia, Massachusetts & Vermont as well as offering online and in-person workshops and providing spontaneous music to churches, temples and other community gatherings. 

    Amado Ohland began his semi-professional career as a jazz and blues vocalist shortly after graduating University of Maryland at College Park with a bachelor's in music composition and theory. He attended his first Circlesongs workshop in 2011, and has been leading circlesinging events since 2013 in Washington DC, Pittsburgh, and western Virginia. He has recently received a master's degree in music from Radford University. For his doctoral dissertation he is working on a participatory ethnography of circlesinging worldwide and a song cycle of pieces based on circlesinging techniques.

    Born into a musical family, Beth Lyons actually can’t remember a ‘before’ time when singing-in-community wasn’t a part of her life. She currently performs improvised musicals with iMusical, the house musical improv team for Washington Improv Theater, performs and leads Circles with VoiceExchange, and leads online immersive Song Dive workshops and a Monday morning online choir named Coffee Choir. You can learn more about her offerings and sign up for her “Heads Up” notification/invite list at www.RiverChoir.org.  

    Dina Torok has sung in and been musical director for various a cappella groups from college through adulthood. She was a professional film and television session singer, performed in various pop/rock bands in Los Angeles, and recorded an original solo album and a piano/vocal album of show tunes. Dina found VoiceExchange and circle singing in 2015 and has been a grateful member ever since.

    Joy Truskowski is a singer-songwriter and community songleader. She has performed as a solo artist in the Roanoke, VA area for 13 years. You can find her original songs on Bandcamp under the name “Joy Tru”. She started Star City Circlesinging in 2019 and has been leading circles with other co-leaders in Roanoke ever since. During the beginning of the pandemic she started contributing to VoiceExchange’s online circles. She fell in love with all of them, and they all asked her to marry them. She said, “I can’t marry you, but I’ll join your group!” And that was a fair compromise. So she officially joined in the summer of 2021.

    Paris Kern started performing traditional folk music at coffeehouses and concerts when she was 16 years old. She studied classical vocal performance in college, but her heart was always in the world of pure traditional folk traditions. In 2011, for reasons unknown to her, she was internally compelled to attend Bobby McFerrin’s CIrclesongs workshop. Feeling like a fish out of water, surrounded by mostly Jazz musicians, she nonetheless was hooked by the magic of Circlesongs and the sensation that her heart was being sung back to her. She has been leading circles in Washington DC, and Baltimore and is now starting circles in Southern Vermont.

    Sharing Info: VoiceExchange would love to know if you plan to teach or perform Touch the Sky or another of their songs; drop them a line at info@VoiceExchange.org. And if teaching/performing their song is a profitable business for you, please share a bit of the profit with them via their donation link at https://voiceexchange.org.

    Links: 
    VoiceExchange's Email: info@voiceexchange.org
    VoiceExchange's Website: https://voiceexchange.org
    VoiceExchange on Meetup: https://www.meetup.com/circlesinging-dc/


    Song Learning Time Stamps:
    Start time of teaching: 00:03:08
    Start time of reprise: 00:15:50

    Nuts & Bolts: 4:4, Major, 4-layers with 2 layers 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!
  • Published on

    103. Return

    Song: Return
    Music:
    Patricia Norton
    Lyrics

    Return. Come back. Return. Come inward. Return, return to now.
    Return (4x) Return and trust. Return. Return.
     Float through. Let it go. You are one and many; this is now.
     Float through. Let it go. You can tend and trust. Return. Return.

    Picture
    NotesA breakthrough in mindfulness practice for me was realizing that it's not about spending hours in blissed-out presence... it's about noticing that I'm not present and coming back, returning, again and again. I started to sing this when my mind was doing a particularly good imitation of a squirrel on amphetamines, and I needed to strengthen my ability to return! I particularly like that this song can be sung very simply, as a call & response, or have added layers of complexity -- I'm loving a bit of adaptability in my life right now.

    Songwriter Info: In addition to hosting this podcast and an online singing program, Pocket Songs, Patricia is excited to be developing an in-person community singing program in Burlington, Vermont. You can find more details about that at the Juneberry Music site. Patricia believes in singing as a part of vibrant well-being, experiencing wholeness, courage, connection and joy along with brokenness, fear, loneliness, and despair... trusting the whole messy catastrophe! She lives with her long-time beloved, Tom, in a single bedroom apartment close to their daughter's family (the better to play with their grand.) Patricia reads widely, and also spends time exploring the natural world on these Abenaki lands, knitting, and reluctantly strength-training.

    Sharing Info: You are welcome to share this song; please contact Patricia directly for sheet music or permission to record or perform. She always appreciates hearing about how the song travels.

    Links: 
    Full Program Website: juneberrymusic.com
    Patricia'sFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/juneberrymusic 
    Patricia's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/juneberry.music/

    Song Learning Time Stamps:
    Start time of teaching: 00:03:06
    Start time of reprise: 00:15:59

    Nuts & Bolts: 4:4, Major & Mixolydian, Call & Response or 4-layer song

    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

    101. Sacred Breaking

    Song: Sacred Breaking
    Music: 
    Hannah Jeffery
    Lyrics

    The only way to be here is to be constantly breaking open
    How else do we make sense of this human experience?

    Beauty, break me open
    Tragedy, break me open
    Humility, break me open
    Love, crack open my heart

    Heartbreak is our birthright 
    It's the only way to be here
    Heartbreak is our birthright
    It's the only way we can heal
    Picture
    NotesThis song of Hannah's rings so deeply true to me -- and it is reassuring to me to have heartbreak normalized. I'm not the only one who hears the news, reads the stories, looks around me, and feels heartbreak. What's beautiful and healing in Hannah's song is the turn of all that breaking into sacred -- something deserving of veneration -- something that blesses us and opens us to life in the most beautiful possible way.

    ​Longtime listeners (well, two years at least!) may notice I've shifted things up as we've moved into the second 100 episodes, in response to some ideas from you all. There's a clip of the song at the very beginning of the episode, and time markers for when I start teaching the song and the reprise in the shownotes. There's a little less talk at the beginning, but still the invitation to come into your body and breath and voice, which is part of this singing practice. Hope you find it ever more useful in navigating your own life, tending your own heart.... I continue to do it as my own tending, shifting work!


    Songwriter Info: Hannah Jeffery (She/They) is a songstress, composer, song-leader and mama living in the Upper Valley of Vermont (Abenaki land). Her creative venture, Deep Well Song, is a gathering vessel for people to come together in song, prayer and playfulness, to turn toward and embrace all that it IS to be human on Earth. The songs Hannah carries, catches and teaches are songs of the heart and soul, that touch joy, grief, gratitude, heartbreak, righteous anger, beauty, love and praise and connect us to each other, ourselves and the Beloved Mystery. Hannah leads song at the UU church in Norwich, Vermont and in the newly forming Well Song Choir. To learn more and get involved please check out their website and Patreon and be in touch!

    Sharing Info: When sharing, please name Hannah as the song catcher and acknowledge the place where the song was caught, Upper Valley of Vermont, Abenaki land. And if you can pass on the story that accompanies the songs and how they were inspired, bonus. Thanks!

    Links: 
    Hannah's Website: www.deepwellsong.org
    Hannah's Patreon: www.patreon.com/deepwellsong


    Song Learning Time Stamps:
    Start time of teaching: 00:03:42
    Start time of reprise: 00:18:50

    Nuts & Bolts: 4:4, Aeolian, 4-layer

    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

    99. Turning Wheel

    Song: Turning Wheel
    Music: Lisa G. Littlebird
    Lyrics

    Part 1: There’s a wheel that is turning, calling me in to my power
    There’s a wheel that is turning, calling me in to my voice

    Part 2: It’s turning, we’re learning to stand inside our hearts
    It’s turning, we’re learning to stand in love

    Part 3 & 4: I will not be silent

    Picture
    NotesA helpful therapist once said to me that feelings can help me understand how I perceive the world – I feel sadness when I experience loss; fear lets me know that I'm seeing a threat, anger flags where I see unfairness or injustice. What I love about this song is the way it lets the feelings roll into a grounding of power -- one's own voice and ability to stand in love -- and not be silent. Lisa wrote it in the aftermath of the violent white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia in August of 2017. I invite us to recognize where we see wrong, and let this song help find our powerful voices in response, aligned in heart and love.

    Songwriter Info: Lisa G. Littlebird facilitates group singing as a transformational personal practice, healing art, and to foster healthy communities. She is the creator of Littlebird Flight School, a community song leader training program with more than 400 graduates worldwide. She also founded the 160-member Wholehearted Chorus in Big Sur & Monterey, CA and has been on the faculty at Esalen Institute for 15 years. 

    Sharing Info: Yes -- The song is free to share in oral tradition groups, but please contact Lisa for recording and/or performing permission

    Song Learning Time Stamps:
    Start time of teaching: 00:04:21
    Start time of reprise: 00:14:15​

    Links: 
    Lisa's Website: https://thebirdsings.com/
    Lisa's Patreon: patreon.com/thebirdsings
    Lisa's song library:
    https://thebirdsings.com/song-library/
    Turning Wheel in Lisa's library: https://thebirdsings.com/turning-wheel/

    Nuts & Bolts: ​​4:4, minor, 4-layer song

    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!