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    31. Voices Rising

    4:4 Celebrate Change Empower Gather Hope Power & Change Ribbon Scale: Ionian (Major) Song Form: Unison With Separate Harmony Line Song Form: Zipper Trust
    Song Voices Rising
    Words & Music​ by Lisa Doscher
    Lyrics
    ​All our voices are rising up...oh, my soul
    Voices sing, voices ring
    Sounding out, echoing!
    Quiet voices are rising up
    Wild voices are rising up
    Sacred voices are rising up
    Awakened voices are rising up
    Inspired voices are rising up
    United voices are rising up
    Hear our voices rising up!
    Picture
    Notes: Lisa wrote this song in a beautifully flexible way, so we can each adapt it to what we need to be singing in the moment... in the podcast, I only sing "All our voices are rising up...", but you can insert your own word for the kind of voices rising up inside you. In the community singing world, songs like this are called "zipper songs", and they can be a beautiful practice of awareness -- as you sing, over and over, other words might appear in your head -- and some of them may surprise you, or make you laugh, or touch you tenderly. Welcome to your voice -- welcome to mine -- I can imagine them thrumming through the earth as we sing this song together....

    Songwriter Info: Oxford, U.K.-based singer-songwriter Lisa Doscher believes in the power of the voice to reconnect us, to ourselves and to each other. Her songs open up a portal for listeners to go within, while at the same time resensitizing to the world through beautiful harmonies and life-affirming lyrics. Her new album, ‘Tuning In: Songs to Reconnect and Recharge’ is a retreat from the stresses of daily life, designed to activate our creative energy and help us realign with our unique purpose. There are songs to soothe, uplift and restore balance. For those interested in going deeper, Lisa is offering a ‘Tuning In’ Women’s Group starting February 1st, 2022, with monthly live sessions, weekly meditations and support for going within to activate your voice and creative process. Lisa also offers individual voice and healing sessions.

    Links:
    All the info, places to buy/listen:
    https://lisadoscher.com

    Or go directly to buy/stream on Bandcamp: https://lisadoscher.bandcamp.com/
    It includes a beautifully designed booklet with the intentions behind the songs and ways to use them in your daily life.

    Find Lisa on Facebook or Instagram as @lisadoschermusic

    You can also hear Lisa singing Voices Rising on youtube at     https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jjDQDDf_MU4

    Song Learning Time Stamps:
    Start time of teaching: 00:02:37
    Start time of reprise: 00:14:09​

    Nuts & Bolts: 4:4, Ionian (Major), melody with harmonized interlocking part; zipper potential
    ​
    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

    28. Drifting Dark

    6:8 Be Present Calm Grief & Fear Grieve Heal Notice Praise & Wonder Ribbon Scale: Aeolian (minor) Song Form: Unison With Separate Harmony Line Tend
    Song Drifting Dark
    Words & Music​ by Patricia Norton
    Lyrics
    Drifting dark, cold and spark;
    floating dream, holiday scene.
    I know this world keeps on turning,
    spinning songs of hearts in yearning.

    ....dark....spark...dream....scene....world....turning...
    spinning candescent, spinning candescent,
    spinning hearts in yearning
    Picture
    Notes: This song began to appear Sunday morning, December 4th, as I was making breakfast, thinking about snowy drives through our town, looking at Christmas lights. It was one of those warmish, wet days with snow on the ground, so there was a mist lifting up from the snow, and the sky was the same color as the fields. December is a complicated month for me, with rich memories of so much happiness as a child, and difficult loss as an adult...  the longing to connect with and create happiness for all whom I love -- the rueful recognition that I can't "make" anyone happy. Thinking of all the stories in December about light in dark, fraught journeys, seeds, births, miracles -- all the hope and determination we try to share with each other in lights and decorations and candles. For me, the song is a good companion to the bittersweet, reflective mood I often find myself in in December.

    Songwriter Info: Patricia is the fourth of five siblings, with eight years from oldest to youngest. Growing up in Boulder, Colorado, and western New York State, a snowy Christmas was virtually guaranteed, and the house was filled with beautiful traditions, from a fat Christmas tree we would go cut at a local farm decorated with white paper doves, tinsel, red balls, and lights, to much gift planning, making & secret, careful wrapping. Christmas cookies left out for Santa, waking up to go to midnight mass, the Westminster Choir College singing Britten's Ceremony of Carols on the turntable, holiday songs on the radio and the whole family watched whatever holiday specials were on tv. A special meal with tablecloth and candles on the table, sledding and snow forts and tunnels, plastic bread bags in the boots and over the mittens to try to keep us warm and dry... my childhood memories are of magical, generous, happy Christmases with music everywhere.
    ​  Of course, the world appeared more complex and nuanced as I grew, and the loss of loved ones I wanted to celebrate with, ugly commercialism, knowledge of economic disparity and the dark history and abuses of religious belief also became part of December.... and, as a church musician, holiday performance pressure -- the collision of expectations and what actually happens. This song is one of the ways I can be present with the whole catastrophe, as Jon Kabat-Zinn might say.

    ​Song Learning Time Stamps:
    Start time of teaching: 00:02:35
    Start time of reprise: 00:14:20

    Links
    My web center... juneberrymusic.com 

    Nuts & Bolts: 6:8, Aeolian, unison with harmonized accompanying line

    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!