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    99. Turning Wheel

    4:4 Change Cycles Determination Empower Grow Heart Justice Love Ribbon Scale: Minor Song Form: Layer
    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
    Notes: A 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!
  • Published on

    96. Beautiful Rain With Singer Rebecca Csuy

    3:4 Be Grateful Calm Celebrate Earth Flow Gentle Grow Heal Rain Scale: Ionian (Major) Song Form: Layer Water
    Song: Beautiful Rain
    Music & Words: unknown origin, 2nd section by Patricia Norton
    Lyrics
    ​
    Rain, rain, rain, rain, beautiful rain.
    Rain, rain, rain, rain, beautiful rain.
    Rain falling down on the plains,
    On the roofs of our towns,
    Beautiful rain.

    Rain, rain, rain, rain, beautiful rain.
    Rain, rain, rain, rain, beautiful rain.
    Rain falling down on the plains,
    Rooftop raindrops, rooftop raindrops falling,
    Beautiful rain.
    Picture
    Notes: Rain is not always the easiest weather for me to delight in... seems to come with dark days and wet, slippery footing -- I often get a little cranky in response! I love the delight in the rain this song evokes -- reminds me of how crucial water is, what a gift to have it falling fresh from the sky. The original melody reminds me of the whoosh of rain, and as we sing "Rain falling down on the plains," the melody falls, too. Then in the response melody, I put the plink of the rain drops on the rooftops -- so the whole song is an onomatopoetic celebration of rain that enchants me out of crankiness into delight.

    ​Songwriter Info: I got to record this one live with my daughter and dear friend, Rebecca, which affirmed for me the magic of singing with someone you love. Just as relationships of love grow and shift and change, some songs seem to grow organically, shifting shape and adapting to their circumstances. I always want to respect and hear the intent of the composer, and there are times when a song adapts in relationship to the singer. When sharing songs that have grown or changed, or songs of unknown provenance, I think it’s really important to name what we do know, what we guess, what we've changed (after requesting permission if there's a living composer), and welcome learning more. So: I learned the melody of this song from Micky Hickey, who offers a beautiful set of pocket songs on Instagram. (See the links below.) She learned it from Bennett Konesni, a songsharer in Maine. It has definite echoes, and maybe even quotes from the Joseph Shabalala song, Rain, Rain, Beautiful Rain, that Ladysmith Black Mambazo released in 1987, but it’s not exactly that song. I added the response melody… so what we’re singing today is a song of accretion and adaptation. Maybe you will add to it or adapt it as it enters your life? And if you have more information about the origin of the song, I would love to hear!​

    Sharing Info: Free to share, but please credit the full history as we know it.

    Links: 
    Micky Hickey's Pocket Song project: https://www.instagram.com/pocketsongproject/
    Bennett Konesni:     http://www.duckbackfarm.com/
    Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Rain, Rain, Beautiful Rain: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ke6RF3IH45g

    Song Learning Time Stamps:
    Start time of teaching: 00:03:24
    Start time of reprise: 00:14:12

    Nuts & Bolts: ​3:4, Major, melody & countermelody

    ​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

    84. May I Be Open

    4:4 Accept Be Present Flex Grow Heal Notice Open Ribbon Scale: Ionian (Major) Song Form: Layer Tend
    Song: May I Be Open
    Words & Music ​by Heather Pierson
    Lyrics
    May I be open to things as they are right now,
    because this is how things are right now.

    Remember the breath, remember the body,
    ​remember the goodness that you carry.
    Picture
    Notes: I love the way this song pulls me into the very present moment of right now, really right now, with concrete reminders of the breath and body... and then also lightens my spirit with the rhythmic play as I sing about the goodness that I carry. Heather has found ways through steady, attentive practices to help herself heal from childhood trauma, and she carries this intentional tending with clarity and care into her music. Next week, we can settle into a songwriter conversation with Heather about all this, and more!

    Songwriter Info: Heather Pierson is a pianist, singer/songwriter, songleader, and performer based in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. She has released 14 albums, two songbooks, and several singles of her original music ranging in style from folk to jazz to vocal chants. Since 2018, she is the co-creator with fellow songleader Bernice Martin of Heart Songs & Circle Songs, a community singing project dedicated to the cultivation of harmony, wellness, connection, joy, and peace through music and song. When she isn’t making music, Heather enjoys her meditation practice, hiking, cooking, writing, reading, and watching the birds.

    Links: 
    'May I Be Open' is from Heather's album 'Wishes of Lovingkindness', available for free or by donation at her Bandcamp: https://heatherpierson.bandcamp.com/album/wishes-of-lovingkindness
    For more information about Heather's community singing project with Bernice Martin, please visit https://www.heartsongsandcirclesongs.com.
    For more information about all of Heather's musical offerings, please visit: https://www.heatherpierson.com.
    Heather's growing community on Patreon enjoys early and exclusive access to new songs, videos, and poetry every week. Learn more at https://www.patreon.com/HeatherPierson

    ​Song Learning Time Stamps:
    Start time of teaching: 00:03:00
    Start time of reprise: 00:12:15​

    Nuts & Bolts: 4:4, major, 2-part 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

    77. Winter Song

    4:4 Change Earth Flow Grieve Hope Journey Ribbon Scale: Dorian Song Form: Layer Trees
    Song: Winter Song
    Words & Music: Dirk Mont Campbell
    Lyrics​
    All things come and go, summer sun and winter snow.
    Blow wind, fall, rain; all things die and live again.

    Fallen leaves lie on the ground so cold and dead.
    Oak tree stands bare, and the holly green and red.
    Robin sings of love and loss for Jenny Wren.
    ​All things that die will return to life again.
    Picture
    Notes: I'd like to highlight the custom art created for each episode by Patty Piotrowski. If you're following this on a podcast app that shows only the A Breath of Song logo, and not the artwork, then please go here to feast your eyes! Patty sang in a chorus with me for several years before the pandemic and included me in the friends with whom she shared an Advent calendar of one painting a day via email -- and I loved the experience of opening my email to see something beautiful. During the pandemic, she sang Pocket Songs with me, and we both leaned into song as resource. When I decided to start sharing songs that were making it easier for me to navigate life through this podcast, I wondered if Patty would be willing to share this creative process with me. For each song, she listens ahead of time, sings with it, lets it soak in... and then waits for an image to appear. She emails me a photo of the custom art, which delights me, and makes the process of preparing the podcast for release exponentially more pleasurable.
    About this piece, she said:
       "Here is a tree for all of the seasons of this song
       I’ve been passing this tree along I91 and talking with it for two years
       It looks different depending on your orientation:
       when I approach it from the north on the highway, I see it whole and round with branches,
       but as I pass it, I see then actually there are no branches on the south side."

    Dirk says about the song: "Winter Song was written for amateur groups to sing at the winter solstice. I chose the traditional English round form so the repetition can have a meditative effect and people can sing it for as long or short a time as they wish... It was my late wife Adrienne who suggested to me ten years ago that there was a need for new songs to celebrate the eight-fold year celebrations of solstices, equinoxes and cross-quarters that Druids traditionally observe. I did write some others but they were not as good as Winter Song and have passed deservedly into obscurity! 2012 was the last year of Adrienne’s life. She heard the song performed for her birthday in July that year. She was pleased with it. My awareness of her impending death is probably what gives the song its emotional charge."

    Songwriter Info: Dirk Campbell has put this song into the public domain, so we are welcome to share it. Dirk was born in 1950 in the British military hospital in Ismailia, Egypt, and lived in Kenya till 1962, so was exposed to indigenous Arab and African music before its acculturation by western influence. He went on to a successful career as a composer for films, radio, stage, etc, His website is a fascinating dive (and I mean HOURS worth!!!) into many instruments from a wide variety of cultures around the world on which he has gained skill. He teaches musicians about ways of incorporating ancient and non-western music into contemporary composition.

    Links: 
    Dirk Campbell

    Song Learning Time Stamps:
    Start time of teaching: 00:03:43
    Start time of reprise: 00:16:39

    Nuts & Bolts: 4:4, Dorian, 2-part layer song with optional 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!
  • Published on

    76. I Am Listening

    4:4 Accept Empower Friendship Listen Notice Scale: Ionian (Major) Song Form: Call & Response Song Form: Harmonized Song Form: Layer Tend
    Song: ​I Am Listening
    ​Words and Music: Patricia Norton
    Lyrics:
    Are you crying to be heard?
    I am listening.
    Are you dying (needing) to be known?
    I'm attending to you.

    I am listening,
    when you're crying.
    I'm attending
    ​when you're dying.
    Picture
    Notes: After being sick for several weeks, I was lying in bed and trying to come to terms with the fact that I still felt crummy. I was trying to listen to my body, and this is the song that came into my head. The melody is pretty closely related to a Happy Birthday song which I learned from Liz Rog, but I don't know the origin of the song, and neither did Liz at that point. If anybody happens to know it, I'd love to learn! The song can be sung just as the first part, in which case I think "needing to be known" is more satisfying to sing, but when I added the second part it suddenly made sense to me to use the word "dying." It feels to me like a song that spans caregiving from infancy to deathbed. I'm moved by what a powerful feeling it is to be heard and seen.

    Songwriter Info: That would be me, so both of the websites below have stuff...

    Links: 
    abreathofsong.com
    juneberrymusic.com

    Nuts & Bolts: 4:4, Major (Ionian), call and echo with second harmonized part
    ​
    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

    74. Equinox Blessing (Shadows & Light)

    4:4 Accept Darkness Dawn Flex Flow Light Moon Night Notice Ribbon Scale: Dorian Shadow Song Form: Layer Sun Trust
    Song: Equinox Blessing (Shadows & Light)
    Words & Music​ by Heather Houston
    Lyrics
    ​
    Honoring the darkness, Honoring the light,
    Honoring the day, Honoring the night

    All things find their way into balance

    Suspended in time

    Shadows and light
    Picture
    Notes: This is song is a taste of Heather Houston's creative, connecting powers -- Episode #75 will feature an intimate conversation with Heather. After she shares another of her songs, we'll delve into why song matters, why voices matter... and a really good soup! Meanwhile, I love this song for noticing the balance of shadow and light -- to me, it's a beautiful song to sing on cusps, like dawn or dusk. Recently, as I've been healing from tick-borne illness, I've hummed it to myself as I watch the shadows and light cross my bedroom wall, encouraging my body to find its way into balance.

    Songwriter Info: Heather Houston is passionate about uplifting hearts, freeing voices, transforming lives, and building strong, loving communities through the power of singing. She spreads her magic through her 20+years of international song circle leading, private vocal coaching, and her online offerings - The Art of Mindful Singing, S.H.E. Sings, Singing as Sanctuary, and Sisters in Harmony Song and Chant Leader Training. You can now join her every Monday night on Zoom for a 2-hour Sisters in Harmony Global community song circle with guest artists!

    Heather recently released her second solo album, Sisters of the Moon, which features the ethereal voices of her 40-voice women’s choir Yala Lati. Her first solo album, Prayers for the Water is a ZMR Top 10 album. You can find Heather’s music and her a cappella group SIRENZ on all of the streaming platforms and for download on her website.

    ​Song Learning Time Stamps:
    Start time of teaching: 00:03:14
    Start time of reprise: 00:13:05

    Links: 
    Website: https://heatherhoustonmusic.com
    Albums
        Download: https://heatherhoustonmusic.com/recordings/
        Streaming on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/4gw79r7NGOw6WF2bytPW5a?si=E0mvdKMpQ9ObjpRnhViDYQ
    Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/heatherhoustonmusic
    IG: HeatherHoustonMusic
    YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPr_m3bi0-TqhBFvJlD4pFA

    Nuts & Bolts: 4:4, Dorian, 5-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!