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    69. Sing Upon Joy (Livian's Song)

    4:4 Accept Calm Celebrate Grieve Heal Hope Scale: Ionian (Major) Song Form: Layer Tend Trust
    Song: Sing Upon Joy (Livian's Song)
    Words & Music: ​Lyndsey Scott & Livian & helpers
    Lyrics
    Sing upon Joy; Sing upon Grief
    Sing upon the light of a new budding leaf

    What is broke can be mended; What is hurt can be healed
    What is lost can be found; Hidden, revealed
    Picture
    Notes: I love this song for the both-and-ness... both joy and grief; both broken and mending; both hurt and healing, lost-found, hidden-revealed. The song appeared in an including way, too... Lyndsey was tasked with finding or creating moments of beauty and surprise at 2017 Village Fire, and as she sat at a table with the youth, creating art and words to decorate the port-a-potties, she saw what 10-year-old Livian had written -- "Sing upon joy". Lyndsey heard it as a song, and sang the first phrase... then the folk at the table created the interlocking part together. Both music and art, both words and song, both older and younger, both-and, both-and. Next week's episode is a songwriter conversation with Lyndsey -- not only does she share one of the amazing songs from her new album, but we get to talk and explore. My heart feels wider, my brain click-ier, my spirit lighter after every interaction with Lyndsey -- I hope you can join us!

    Songwriter Info: Lyndsey Scott is an artist-goofball-yintennae devoted to priestesSing the Heartland, (literal and figurative).  She weaves community singing to empower earth-based spiritual consciousness, and gathers soul circles that, through Song and sacred listening, decompose oppressive scripts that get in the way of freely living the Love we are. With jams that get you skipping easily between the sacred, sexy, and sssssilly : your inner child, exiled banshee, and wise elder are all very invited to the circle. ​

    Song Learning Time Stamps:
    Start time of teaching: 00:03:11
    Start time of reprise: 00:14:30​

    Links: 
    The song is free to share but Lyndsey always welcomes financial and/or networking support if/when folks are so moved.
    Lyndsey's website: lyndseyscott.earth
    Everything Lyndsey! https://linktr.ee/lila.gaia
    We Belong Community of Song: https://www.facebook.com/webelongcommunityofsong
    Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/lyndseyscott
    Lyndsey's album on Bandcamp: https://lyndseyscott.bandcamp.com/album/well-held

    Nuts & Bolts: 4:4, Major, 2 harmonized layers
    ​
    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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    67. Gandalf's Blessing

    4:4 Empower Farewell Flow Friendship Journey Moon Scale: Dorian Song Form: Layer Sun Trust
    Song: Gandalf's Blessing
    Words: J.R.R. Tolkien (The Hobbit & Lord of the Rings)
    Music​: Joshua Blaine
    Lyrics
    May the wind, may the wind, may the wind under your wings
    Bear you where, bear you where the sun sails and the moon walks.

    Not all who wander are lost.
    Picture
    Notes: Ever feel stuck in a really bad place? The hobbits got stuck, and Gandalf blesses the eagles who rescue them. I chose to start this episode with a quote by Cynewulf (9?th century), one of the four Old English poets whose works survive today, because that was a time period J.R.R. Tolkien, (20th century) was deeply influenced by -- and here's Joshua Blaine setting this blessing in the 21st century. This makes for a great "setting-off" song -- and also a song of trust in that wind carrying. As I sing this, I love to feel a connection with something ancient in my own bones. I played with it as I shared it with you, making up extra parts at the end -- please, explore -- let the wind bear you! -- as you sing with me.

    Songwriter Info: Joshua Blaine (he/him) is a community songleader, Jewish ritualist & storyteller, and resonant healing facilitator & coach. His work as a songleader began as an inquiry into the state of protest songs after the 2016 election, which sent him out on the road to interview dozens of musicians and song leaders for a project called “Finding Our Voice.” Since then, he’s been a humble servant of song, singing in capitol rotundas, at meetings & marches and around dinner tables across the country. Whether as a songleader, organizer, or resonant healing facilitator, he draws upon the rich tradition of both his recent and ancient Jewish ancestors of seeding resistance and resilience through song. After spending eight years in the heart of Texas, Joshua now resides in Providence on the oceanic lands of the Narragansett and Wampanoag, also known as Rhode Island.

    Links: 
    The song is free to share but Josh always welcomes financial and/or networking support if/when folks are so moved.
    http://linktr.ee/joshuahblaine
    Joshua's live recording with a group (and his own Gandalf voice!)

    Nuts & Bolts: 4:4, Minor (Dorian implied), 3 layers
    ​
    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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    66. We're Not Walking Alone

    4:4 Earth Empower Friendship Heal Journey Scale: Mixolydian Song Form: Layer Trust
    Song: We're Not Walking Alone
    Words & Music​ by Ríomas Amini (formerly Shireen Amini)
    Lyrics
    We're not walking alone, we're just walking upon our home.
    ​This is where we belong -- nature sing us a healing song.
    Picture
    Notes: This is the determined, comforting chorus of Ríomas Amini's song, "We're Not Walking Alone". I love 'walking music' -- and this is one of my go-to's when I'm looking for an up-tempo walk. I'll sing the different parts consecutively, and if I can rope a co-walker into singing one of the parts, even better! Ríomas says nature is the "enwrapping companion" that lets their own answers arise. The first verse of this song is, "When we stop trying to force all the answers -- 'cause they never will come from the mind -- they will come from a place that is peaceful; take a walk on the land, they will arise." I love the sense that the land itself is willing to care and tend us, and is, in the deepest sense, our home.
    ​
    Songwriter Info: Ríomas Amini (non-binary human using they/them pronouns) is a queer, Puerto Rican-Iranian, Earth-loving singer-songwriter, performer, percussionist and teaching artist. With a BA in Ethnomusicology from UCLA and a certificate in Sound, Voice, and Music Healing from CIIS in San Francisco, Ríomas has also come to believe strongly in music as a tool for personal and collective transformation. As a songleader, Ríomas loves to share medicine songs with healing and empowering messages, infectious grooves, and soulful melodies, often engaging their participants in rhythmic play and movement while singing. They also offers music classes, facilitation, and coaching for their local and virtual communities through their project Shireen Amini Music Medicine.

    Links: 
    Listen to Ríomas's recording of the whole song from their album, "Break Myself Free": https://youtu.be/UWlLZ_36iVI
    Ríomas website
    Ríomas's community singing website
    Ríomas on facebook
    Ríomas on Instagram (@shireenaminimusic)

    Nuts & Bolts: 4:4, Mixolydian, 3 layers

    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

    63. Awaken Me

    4:4 Be Present Celebrate Grow Notice Open Scale: Mixolydian Song Form: Harmonized Song Form: Layer Song Form: Verse & Chorus
    Song: Awaken Me
    Words & Music​ by Abigail Spinner McBride
    Lyrics
    1. Open my eyes to the miracles around me,
    wake me up, wake me up.
    (2x)
    2. Shake me from my sleep and stir me from my dreaming.
    wake me up, wake me up.
    (2x)
    ​
    Chorus: Awaken me. (4x)
    Picture
    Notes: Abigail Spinner McBride has one of those stories -- a choir director once told her, "Don't sing, honey, because no one wants to hear your voice." This year she was chosen as Best Female Vocalist of the Year 2022 at the International Pagan Music Awards. I love me a story that says that though we may have had messages like that in the past -- interactions that shut us down either with dismissal or by sky-high expectations -- those messages say nothing real about us or our potential. Our excitement can be to wake to our own voices, come out of a dream state and notice what is actually real, around us, right now. I love this song for its high energy of opening and possibility.

    Songwriter Info: Abigail Spinner McBride has been creating pagan chants in the Earth-Spirit community since the late 1980s and is deeply involved in transformation and transmutation work through drumming, chanting, fire circles, and magic. She is a High Priestess of the Family of Fire, a musician, dancer, and massage therapist, based in Las Vegas, Nevada.

    Song Learning Time Stamps:
    Start time of teaching: 00:03:08
    Start time of reprise: 00:13:45​

    Links: 
    Fire of Creation album (with Awaken Me) on Apple Music (2007)
    ​Abigail's facebook page (you don't have to be a Facebook member to look at this)
    The Vegas Vortex: a website of the transformational fire work that Abigail offers

    Nuts & Bolts: 4:4; Mixolydian, 2-layer song with harmonies, verse & chorus

    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

    62. Let Me Be The Love

    4:4 Be Grateful Be Present Generosity Grow Heal Ribbon Scale: Aeolian (minor) Song Form: Layer
    Song: Let Me Be The Love
    Words & Music ​by Karly Loveling,
    ​quoting John Rio Casey
    Lyrics
    ​Doin' my best to be the Love my deepest heart is dreamin’ of

    With every breath I take, Let me be the Love

    Letting my cup overflow
    Picture
    Notes: Compassionate presence and meditation facilitator, John Rio Casey, said, “Doin' my best to be the love my deepest heart is dreamin of,” and Karly set this longing unforgettably. One of the ways I choose songs for these podcasts is that they let me soak in words that I want to believe, that I want to inhabit. What I love about this song is the transition from working hard to be this Love my deepest heart can dream of to understanding that I actually AM the Love already -- with every breath I take -- and all I need do is let it overflow. As it gets to the end and focusses on "Letting my cup overflow," you can either keep singing one of the earlier lines, if that resonates with you, or join me in one of my harmonies, or create your own harmony that feels yummy. I hereby give you full free permission to sing every "wrong" note possible! :) I know that it's through leaning into the notes that don't sound right at first that we get to the ones that feel best!
    ​
    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.

    Songwriter Info: Karly Loveling brings songs to life, singing what she needs and loves to hear; playing with, writing, and leading songs online and in-person in what we call Eugene, OR, the ancestral land of the Kalapuya peoples. Online she enjoys the brain-bending and bridge-building of learning how to use sign language as she sings, thanks to beloved singer, Dawn Song. In-person, she enjoys being surrounded by harmonies, lively rhythms, and humans who do their best to be the Love.

    ​    Song Learning Time Stamps:
    Start time of teaching: 00:02:36
    Start time of reprise: 00:10:17

    Links: 
    Listen to and support Karly by buying her album and learning her songs at https://karlyloveling.bandcamp.com/music
    Sign up for Karly's newsletter to stay up to date on news and events: https://singingheartharmonies.com
    Join the Online Sing & Sign most Tuesday's from 10:30-11:45am Pacific time at     https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81680823837

    Nuts & Bolts: 4:4; Aeolian (minor), 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

    54. Surrender

    3:4 Accept Be Present Empower Flex Flow Gratitude & Trust Grief & Fear Grieve Pain Power & Change Scale: Aeolian (minor) Song Form: Layer Trust
    Song: Surrender
    Words & Music:​ Kaitie Ty Warren
    Lyrics
    What if I just stop struggling?
    What if I just stop struggling?
    ​What if I let it go?
    Can I surrender?
    Picture
    ​Notes: When choosing the searchable categories for this song, "Surrender," I found myself surprised by the juxtapositions -- I picked "Empower" and "Grieve", "Pain" and "Trust", "Accept" and "Flex". I realized how I find the most strength and power and freedom in myself at the moments when I surrender to how I feel, how my body is in the moment, my limitations. I love this series of questions that help me remember the possibility of surrender. Don't miss the back story to this song, told in Kaitie's own words at https://thelivingroomchoir.com/surrender/. Next week, Kaitie and I dive into a songwriter conversation, and Kaitie shares a delightful new song about the awkwardness of change and growth... and we talk about finding both continuity and fluidity in music and life, the Ubuntu philosophy, and much, much more.

    Songwriter Info: Kaitie Ty Warren (she) is a Bay Area-based songleader, teacher, writer, cartoonist and performer. Passionate about creating joyful experiences through music, Kaitie uses simple yet luscious harmonies to build bridges within communities and bring people together in song. In early 2020, Kaitie's Living Room Choir moved online, and that fall her first child was born. Living Room Choir continued online, and in 2021 Kaitie added Simple Harmonies: Songs for Babies & Their Grown-Ups. Nowadays, Kaitie is still leading online but also exploring pandemic-conscious opportunities to sing together in person. Her dream, pandemic-willing, is to host a vibrant, in-person, intergenerational choir for babies, children and adults of all ages to sing together. ​

    Links: 
    To contact Kaitie directly: kaitietywarren@gmail.com
    To learn more of Kaitie's songs: https://thelivingroomchoir.com/original-music/
    To sing with Kaitie: thelivingroomchoir.com
    Kaitie's cartoons: https://www.instagram.com/kaitietywarren/
    For cartoons & things for sale: https://society6.com/kaitietywarren
    For more about "Surrender":     https://thelivingroomchoir.com/surrender/

    Nuts & Bolts: 3:4, Minor. 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!