Song Form: Unison - A Breath of Song

Published on: May 6, 2026

232. Road Trip, Ann Arbor: Love Wears the Crown

Song: Love Wears the Crown

Music by: Maggie Wheeler

Song Learning Time Stamps:

Start of teaching: 00:03:19

Start of reprise: 00:27:13

Lyrics:

Let us all come together

Let us come together now

Let us sing sing sing

Till the walls of hate crumble down (2x)

Let us sing, let us sing

Let us sing, let us sing, let us sing (2x)

Let us all come together

Let us come together now

Let us sing, sing, sing

Till the power of love wears the crown (2x)

Let us sing, let us sing

Let us sing, let us sing, let us sing (2x)

Let us all come together

Let us come together now

Let us sing, sing, sing

Till the power of love wears the crown

Till the power of love, Till the power of love,

Till the power of love, Till the power of love, power of love (6x)

Let us all come together

Let us come together now

Let us sing, sing, sing

Till the power of love wears the crown

Notes: I'm visiting Carol Bardenstein and TatiAnah Thunberg, and Carol shares a song by Maggie Wheeler. "Love Wears the Crown" felt to Carol like the perfect song for a No Kings march, and as she teaches it to us, she talks a little about the ways she adapted it for singing in crowds without time to learn nuance... and TatiAnah and I learn it on the spot. I play with harmonies (some more successfully than others, natch!) -- and we reprise it with Carol's whole song circle, so if you're ready to join a crowd, it's time! I loved hearing about the ways these two songleaders are being led by love into interweaving their work and including folk in their circles. There's bounty here!

Songwriter Info:

Maggie Wheeler is best known in the U.S and internationally for her extensive 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, teaching her vocal workshop Singing In The Stream for over 30 years. It is Maggie’s belief and experience that by singing together we build community, counteract loneliness, become inspired and energized and feel more deeply connected to others and to ourselves. Maggie is a prolific songwriter with a catalog of powerful and timely songs that have been sung by choirs and singing communities worldwide.

Her original music for choirs and communities is available on Bandcamp, Apple Music and other music platforms.

Carol Bardenstein is a beloved local song-catcher and song leader of numerous community song-circles and singing workshops/retreats, based in Ann Arbor, sharing her singing there, elsewhere in Southeast Michigan, and beyond! She also facilitates song circles for meaningful life-cycle events and milestones, as well as song healing for bedside, and hospice singing. More recently, she has become very involved in local iterations of the Singing Resistance movement bubbling up from the streets of Minneapolis, inspired to help facilitate the emerging synergy between community singing and singing resistance in rising to meet these times in heartful and empowering ways.

Carol discovered heart-centered singing with others as a deep and transformative spirit portal some 15 years ago, and she’s been singing her heart out and in with others, facilitating many different kinds of song circles ever since! Grief, joy and everything in between, and all that you are, are warmly invited into her song circles, for expression, connection and communion in heart and song.

Contact Carol for information about her offerings via email at cbardens@umich.edu.

TatiAnah Thunberg, LMSW (she/hers) is a somatic psychotherapist, singer, song catcher, expressive and improvisational artist, and a seasoned experiential facilitator with more than thirty years of experience guiding transformative group practice. Her work centers the voice as a path to belonging—an embodied, relational exploration of presence, creativity, and communal care.

She is the founder of Spirit Moves LLC and co-founder of the Vocal Wilds Collective, Supper & Sing Community Jam, Ensemble Night, the Vocal Lab, Creatrix Lab, and TAZ, all circles of artists dedicated to the art of embodied improvisation in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

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

Links:

https://www.goldenbridgechoir.com

https://maggiewheeler.bandcamp.com/album/the-crow-calls

https://maggiewheeler.bandcamp.com/album/the-world-is-turning

https://music.apple.com/us/album/walk-with-me/1441718449

SongFest with Maggie Wheeler in 2026: https://www.eomega.org/workshops/songfest

Maggie says: "This song was inspired by a talk given by cultural historian Josh Kun. He spoke about a composition for 50 trumpets titled 'Walls Will Fall - The 49 Trumpets of Jericho' by Mazen Kerbaj.

The musicians gathered in a defunct water reservoir in Berlin.

Mazen says, 'According to the old testament, Jericho’s walls collapsed under the sound of seven trumpeters, blowing their horns for seven days while circling around the city. Far from the religious background of the story, it is the idea of music breaking walls and barriers that is central to this composition.'

The participating trumpet players came from from Australia, Austria, Cuba, Denmark, England, Germany, Iran, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Lebanon, Poland, Russia, Serbia, Somalia, Spain, Sweden, Syria, Turkey and the United States.

This story and this work deeply inspired me. I wrote LOVE WEARS THE CROWN to invoke the power of music, the power of voices gathered to dissolve barriers, and to dismantle the walls of hatred and injustice."

https://mazenkerbaj.bandcamp.com/album/walls-will-fall-the-49-trumpets-of-jericho

TatiAnah's websites:

https://www.VocalWilds.com

https://www.SpiritMoves.Us

Nuts & Bolts: 2:2, minor, unison with call and response section, optional harmonies

Join this community of people who love to use song to help navigate life? Absolutely:

https://dashboard.mailerlite.com/forms/335811/81227018071442567/share

Help us keep going: reviews, comments, encouragement, plus contributions... we float on your support.

https://www.abreathofsong.com/gratitude-jar.html

Published on: April 29, 2026

231. Road Trip: Kingston Three-fer

Song Learning Time Stamps:

Lifted

Intro: 00:04:42

Start of teaching: 00:09:40

Start of reprise: 00:47:37

Present Moment, Sacred Moment

Intro: 00:14:01

Start of teaching: 00:20:03

Start of reprise: 00:48:30

I Am Grateful Deep Down

Intro: 00:31:56

Start of teaching: 00:32:45

Start of reprise: 00:49:04

Lyrics:

Lifted

by Wendy Luella Perkins

something’s been lifted

and now I know

been carrying so much

so much on my own

in circles of friendship

story and song

in circles of earth, sun, moon

we keep rising with the dawn

Present Moment, Sacred Moment

by Steph Drouin

Part 1

Present moment, cha-cha

Sacred moment

Ah-ah-ah, ah-oh-wa!

Part 2

We are living in a

Sacred moment

Ah-ah-ah, ah-oh-wa!

Part 3

Present moment

Only moment

Sacred moment

This moment

Ah-ah, ah-oh-oh-oh-wa!

I Am Grateful Deep Down

by Paul Barton

I am grateful deep down, deep, way down deep.

Notes: Our first road trip stop is Kingston, Ontario in Canada, where I got to meet up with three delightful songleaders – and we sang SO many good songs over the weekend! It was impossible to narrow down to one, so this episode is a three-fer, and you get three very different songs, one from each songleader. You hear us playing; making up harmonies on the spot, trying to get the words in the right order – this is an unrehearsed, “what-can-happen-when-you-put-four-people-who-love-songs-into-one-room?” kind of moment. We had such a good time doing it and hope you get to catch our joy as you sing with us.

Song 1: Lifted

Music by: Wendy Luella Perkins

Songwriter Info: Wendy Luella Perkins founded SOULFUL SINGING (singing meditation for all) in 2002. An ordained Unitarian Universalist minister, she shares "short-on-words, long-on-meaning; easy-to-learn, hard-to-forget" songs in the oral tradition. Soulful Singing fosters depth and uplift, resonance and healing, connection and community.

Enjoy singing in community? Had a fourth grade teacher who told you to mouth the words? Dedicated shower singer? Shy about singing out loud? Love to belt it out? Committed chorister? Everyone is warmly welcomed into the circle of song. Wendy Luella strongly believes that connecting with our singing voices has beneficial effects on many, many areas of life, including enhancing our capacities to trust ourselves and to learn and grow with others.

Back in March 2020, Wendy Luella, who is based in Kingston, Ontario, Canada responded to the call of our times by taking Soulful Singing online "for a couple of weeks until this whole pandemic thing blew over". She has been singing via zoom every single morning at 9am, and Thursdays at 6pm (ET) since then. EVERYONE is welcome to attend these gatherings. More than 200 of her original Soulful Singing songs are available on tiktok @wendyluellaperkins. She is also working on an online song library of her original songs. Find out more at info@wendyluellaperkins.com.

Sharing Info: The song is free to share in oral tradition groups, but please contact Wendy for recording and/or performing permission. When sharing in a money-making venture, like a workshop, class, or performance, please contact Wendy for permission and rates.

Song Learning Time Stamps:

Intro: 00:04:42

Start of teaching: 00:09:40

Start of reprise: 00:47:37

Links:

Wendy's website: www.wendyluellaperkins.com

Soulful Singing with Wendy Luella: info@wendyluellaperkins.com

Nuts & Bolts: slow 4; major, unison, harmonies optional

Song 2: Present Moment, Sacred Moment

Music by: Steph Drouin

Songwriter Info: Steph Drouin (she/her) is a community song leader, singer, songwriter, and Expressive Arts Therapist based in Kingston, Ontario, Canada. For over a decade, she has guided people of all abilities into easeful, joyful, and healing singing experiences. She has helped sow the seeds of community singing throughout Toronto and across Ontario with groups such as Sing for Joy, and in 2019 founded her own social enterprise, Fiercely OK.

Through Fiercely OK, Steph offers weekly in‑person and online song circles with her partner, Paul Barton, as well as special events with visiting artists such as Coco Love Alcorn and Luke Wallace - all in the spirit of nourishing a vibrant, connected singing community. Her most recent project includes co‑creating Kingston Pop Choir with Paul.

Informed by a lifelong relationship with anxiety, Steph writes and teaches songs that help people embrace their full, messy humanity and stay connected to their sense of being OK. She is known for her warm, playful presence and her ability to create spaces where people feel safe to show up exactly as they are.

Steph completed the Community Choir Leadership Training program and Lisa Littlebird’s Flight School in 2018, and is a graduate of the three‑year Expressive Arts Therapy program at the CREATE Institute. In 2024, she moved back to Kingston to be closer to family and to share her gifts with her home community.

Sharing Info: Steph says:

"I encourage (and am trying to remember to practice) a slow culture of learning and sharing songs - taking time to embody the notes, rhythms, and stories behind them, and to build relationships with the people who wrote them. Please take your time and enjoy singing this song, and if you feel moved to share it, please do. You have my permission!

Keep it as close to the original as you can to start. If your group wants to play with adding other layers or harmonies later, this is most welcome. This songs invites being in the present moment; whatever comes out being in the moment while singing this song belongs in it! I just ask that the song be taught first as it came to me (and my nephew). If you would like to teach it differently from what you heard on A Breath of Song, please reach out.

I encourage forms of reciprocity that align with your gifts and context. Here are some I love:

- Tell me or show me what it was like to share the song with your community. It's fun to see how songs travel!

- Come sing with us (Paul and me), in person or online. Learn the songs directly from us and hear their stories. This feels important - it means so much when folks carry the songs with an intimate sense of their origins and intricacies.

- Song swaps! If you also write songlets, let’s exchange. I love being in meaningful song‑sharing relationships with other song leaders. This kind of reciprocity feels alive and good.

- Financial reciprocity. If you have room in your budget or are making oodles of money (more than a living wage), we'd love for you to send a little our way. For non-performing groups, folks generally send $25-50 per song or $1 per singer (whichever is greater). Performing or recording rates would be a little higher. For Canadians, e‑transfer works well; otherwise, Wise is my preferred option.

- Follow and share our work. Join the Fiercely OK mailing list, follow us on social media, and help spread the word to folks who would enjoy what we offer.

- Patreon. I’ll be adding my songs to Patreon this year, and I’d love for you to join me there as a monthly patron.

If you have any other ideas, send them my way!"

Song Learning Time Stamps:

Intro: 00:14:01

Start of teaching: 00:20:03

Start of reprise: 00:48:30

Links:

Join the Fiercely OK Mailing List!

https://forms.gle/97Y9hQn55HHL1kHP7

Website: https://www.fiercelyok.ca/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@stephdrouin3973

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fiercelyok/ & https://www.instagram.com/therestlessinchoirer/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FiercelyOK/

Join our online song circles! The next series begins May 11th, 2026.

https://www.fiercelyok.ca/online-weekly-song-circles

If you're ever in the Kingston-Toronto area, come sing with us in person! We offer weekly song circles and a monthly pop choir in Kingston, and occasional workshops in Toronto.

I'll be getting my songs up on Patreon this year. There's nothing up there yet, but you can be the first to get updates here:

https://patreon.com/fiercelyok?utm_medium=unknown&utm_source=join_link&utm_campaign=creatorshare_creator&utm_content=copyLink

Nuts & Bolts: 4:4, mixolydian, 3-layer song

Song 3: I Am Grateful Deep Down

Music by: Paul Barton

Songwriter Info: Known by some as a musical “wizard,” Paul makes clever use of his education in Jazz guitar and experience as a professional musician to help song circles run seamlessly. His songs, infused with his passions for the environment, community, and mental health, are among the most requested songs in the Fiercely OK singing community. His simple melodies carry deep truths right to the heart.

Sharing Info: The song is free to share but Paul always welcomes financial and/or networking support if/when folks are so moved. The best way to support Paul's songwriting is on Patreon.

Song Learning Time Stamps:

Intro: 00:31:56

Start of teaching: 00:32:45

Start of reprise: 00:49:04

Links:

Paul's website: https://www.paulbarton.ca/

Paul's Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/paulbartonmusic

Nuts & Bolts: 2:2, major, harmonized

Extra links:

Lone Wolf by Steph Drouin and Aimee Ringle: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2SFrSkZ-0Hs

Thich Nhat Hanh: “Present moment, wonderful moment” https://www.penguinrandomhouse.ca/books/710946/present-moment-wonderful-moment-revised-edition-by-thich-nhat-hanh/9781952692239

500 Days in the Wild https://tctrail.ca/dianne-whelan-documentary/?gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=21899380530&gbraid=0AAAAABzGiwLd2QCJzToHLUN4HbIpFlKx_&gclid=CjwKCAjwtcHPBhADEiwAWo3sJpemebM5-j0FsOefQ1hxcS4-spp7nBB2-QlQnybCRxiX9UxcfU5bQxoCO68QAvD_BwE

Present Moment, Sacred Moment movement video! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cZedwiqraNQ

Join this community of people who love to use song to help navigate life? Absolutely:

https://dashboard.mailerlite.com/forms/335811/81227018071442567/share

Help us keep going: reviews, comments, encouragement, plus contributions... we float on your support.

https://www.abreathofsong.com/gratitude-jar.html

Published on: January 28, 2026

220. Pray With Our Feet with guest Paul Vasile

« Previous Next »

Song Learning Time Stamps:
Start time of teaching: 00:04:35
Start time of reprise: 01:15:00

Lyrics:

It's not enough to offer thoughts and prayers.
It's not enough to say that we care.
It's not enough to hope that things will change.
We've got to pray with our feet,
pray with our feet, pray with our feet
and get out, out on the street.

Song: Pray With Our Feet
Words by: Paul Vasile, based on a quotation by Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel
Music by: Paul Vasile

Notes: This is what folk in Minneapolis are doing -- praying with their feet, getting out on the street. They're singing songs to bless each other, the people they're protecting, and the ICE agents who are so misguided. And this is not the only place in the world where people of "middle power" gather -- not super-powers, not uber-wealthy -- just people who care about living in a world where we feed and educate our children, hold jobs with purpose. Paul Vasile describes it as "belonging belovedness -- you are safe, you are seen, you are heard." In this conversation, we dive into the sometimes knotty weeds of faith and how someone who is deeply connected in a faith tradition might want to expand into questions of what world we want to create together. Big trees. "Talk less, sing more." "As a queer person, I experienced a faith that helped me be a bigger, better me."

Songwriter Info:
Paul Vasile (he/him) is a church musician, teacher, coach, and composer who finds his greatest joy in collaborative and community-centered work. Committed to modeling expansive, imaginative, and hospitable experiences of music making wherever he goes, Paul's leadership builds trust, invites spaces of creativity, vulnerability, and play, and supports practices of reflection and holistic learning.
For the past decade he has offered short- and long-term transitional leadership, consulting services, and creative resources to faith communities in seasons of discernment, challenge, and transformation. From 2016 to 2023, Paul served as the Executive Director of Music that Makes Community, a non-profit that shares "paperless" (oral tradition) leadership practices and songs. He traveled across North America modeling distinctive approaches to communal singing and learning at retreat centers, conferences, denominational gatherings, seminaries, and in congregations of all sizes.
Paul also composes music that invites communities to express and explore their connection to sacred stories, their bodies, and the ecosystems that sustain us. His music is represented in Glory to God, All Creation Sings, and Voices Together, as well as The Hymn Society’s resource, Songs for the Holy Other: Hymns Affirming The LGBTQIA2S+ Community.

Sharing Info: Please buy sheet music on Paul's website if you plan to share this song as a songleader.

Song Learning Time Stamps:
Start time of teaching: 00:04:35
Start time of reprise: 01:15:00

Links:
Paul's website: https://www.paulvasile.com/
Paul's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lovedintobeing/
Sheet music for Pray With Our Feet: https://www.paulvasile.com/products/pray-with-our-feet
Feb 7th workshop at Lutheran church in Ft. Washington, MD with Maren Marchesini: https://www.sharingthesong.org/
Inspiration for lyrics, including quote by Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel: https://www.tbemaine.org/praying-with-hearts-and-feet

Music that Makes Community: https://www.musicthatmakescommunity.org/
Rev. Donald Schnell, a 2012 interview as Music Makes Community was beginning: https://www.conversations.org/story.php?sid=329
Bobby McFerrin: https://bobbymcferrin.com/
Taizé chants: https://www.taize.fr/en/the-songs
Chanda Rule: https://www.chandarule.com/
Hold Me by Nina Wise: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yxU_egWayc4&t=16s
Nina Wise: https://ninawise.com

East Coast songleader trainings:
Mila Redwood in Toronto: https://www.milaredwood.ca/song-leader-training
Patricia in Burlington, VT: https://www.juneberrymusic.com/songleader-training.html

Alice Parker: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alice_Parker
Liz Rog -- here's a place to find her book on songleading: https://www.centerforbelonging.earth/
Arvo Pärt – Passio: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passio_(P%C3%A4rt)
Spencer LaJoye: https://www.spencerlajoye.com/
Spencer's song Plowshare Prayer: https://youtu.be/MhOZv5i7CHY?si=S5bbjdBDJP2cU_4I

Nuts & Bolts: 2:2, minor, unison

Join this community of people who love to use song to help navigate life? Absolutely:
https://dashboard.mailerlite.com/forms/335811/81227018071442567/share

Help us keep going: reviews, comments, encouragement, plus contributions... we float on your support.
https://www.abreathofsong.com/gratitude-jar.html

Published on: January 21, 2026

219. Trust the Work

« Previous Next »

Song Learning Time Stamps:
Start time of teaching: 00:03:43
Start time of reprise: 00:16:07

Lyrics:

Trust the work.
Trust the slow work.
Trust the slow work of God [or love] within you.

Song: Trust the Work
Words by: Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, S.J.
Music by: Paul Vasile

Notes: Trusting the work of love inside us, as excruciatingly slow as it seems sometimes.... this is a mantra I can fold right into my life, singing it on the regular to remind me back into the power of inner trust. Next episode is a conversation with Paul where we talk about the choice (he ok'd) to replace the word "God" with "love" -- and what it is we all seek. I offer this as a somatic check in as well -- as you sing it in different ranges, how does your voice and body respond?

Songwriter Info:
Paul Vasile (he/him) is a church musician, teacher, coach, and composer who finds his greatest joy in collaborative and community-centered work. Committed to modeling expansive, imaginative, and hospitable experiences of music making wherever he goes, Paul's leadership builds trust, invites spaces of creativity, vulnerability, and play, and supports practices of reflection and holistic learning.
For the past decade he has offered short- and long-term transitional leadership, consulting services, and creative resources to faith communities in seasons of discernment, challenge, and transformation. From 2016 to 2023, Paul served as the Executive Director of Music that Makes Community, a non-profit that shares "paperless" (oral tradition) leadership practices and songs. He traveled across North America modeling distinctive approaches to communal singing and learning at retreat centers, conferences, denominational gatherings, seminaries, and in congregations of all sizes.
Paul also composes music that invites communities to express and explore their connection to sacred stories, their bodies, and the ecosystems that sustain us. His music is represented in Glory to God, All Creation Sings, and Voices Together, as well as The Hymn Society’s resource, Songs for the Holy Other: Hymns Affirming The LGBTQIA2S+ Community.

Sharing Info: Please buy sheet music on Paul's website if you plan to share this song as a songleader.

Song Learning Time Stamps:
Start time of teaching: 00:03:43
Start time of reprise: 00:16:07

Links:
Paul's website: https://www.paulvasile.com/
Paul's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lovedintobeing/

Nuts & Bolts: 4:4, minor, optional round

Join this community of people who love to use song to help navigate life? Absolutely:
https://dashboard.mailerlite.com/forms/335811/81227018071442567/share

Help us keep going: reviews, comments, encouragement, plus contributions... we float on your support.
https://www.abreathofsong.com/gratitude-jar.html

Published on: November 12, 2025

211. Set Us Free

« Previous Next »

Song Learning Time Stamps:
Start time of teaching: 00:02:49
Start time of reprise: 00:15:29

Lyrics:

SET US FREE
by Elise Witt,
Spanish translation Lisset Rodes
inspired by Rev. Timothy McDonald
©Non Si Sa Mai Music ASCAP

Porqué MENTIR para buscar la verdad?
We cannot LIE our way to the truth
We spin and spin the earth around
El mundo gira y girara’
MENTIR nos destruye (Amen)
LYING will destroy us (Amen)
Mas LA VERDAD nos liberara’
TRUTH will set us free

Porqué GASTAR para endeudarnos mas?
We cannot SPEND our way out of debt
We spin and spin the earth around
El mundo gira y girara’
L’AMBICION destruye (Amen)
GREED will destroy us (Amen)
LA SENCILLEZ nos liberara’
GENEROSITY will set us free

Porqué PELEAR para lograr la paz?
We cannot WAR our way to peace
We spin and spin the earth around
El mundo gira y girara’
LA GUERRA destruye (Amen)
VIOLENCE will destroy us (Amen)
Solo LA PAZ nos liberara’
PEACE will set us free

Song: Set Us Free
Music by: Elise Witt

Notes: Elise is an inventive songleader and huge heart in Georgia, USA, whom I met online during the pandemic doing vocal improv with our shared teacher, Rhiannon... but I had been in contact with her before then because I wanted to sing a song of hers with my community chorus. Here, she has set words from the Rev. Timothy McDonald, calling us to the kind of integrity that gives freedom. I teach the song a capella, so you can sing with just my voice -- and then do it with piano at the end, so you can experience it that way -- and then if you follow the shownote links, you can sing it in Spanish and English with Elise, Judith & Lisset Rodés -- Lisset wrote the Spanish words... and it's a little slower, a little more legato than I sang it. I love it when there's a chance to compare different versions of the same song!

Songwriter Info: Elise’s concerts of Global, Local & Homemade Songs™ and her Impromptu Glorious Chorus™ workshops create and connect singing communities around the world. Born in Switzerland, raised in NC, and living in Atlanta since 1977, Elise speaks 5 languages fluently and sings in at least a dozen more. The Elise Witt Choral Series features choral arrangements of her original compositions and she recently published All Singing, a songbook with 58 original songs including music notation, lyrics and chords, stories and photos.
A founding member of Atlanta’s Theatrical Outfit, Elise spent many years as a Resident Artist, visiting communities around the state of Georgia and the Southeast, teaching global music and writing local songs with students of all ages.
From 2009 until 2024 Elise served as Director of Music Programs at the Global Village Project, a non-profit, special purpose middle school for teenage refugee girls in Decatur Georgia, for which she published Imagine A Circle: The Global Village Songbook, Using Singing and Songwriting to teach English for Multi-lingual learners.
Elise currently gathers singers of all persuasions in joyous circles, and continues her global touring.

Sharing Info: Elise says: "I always love to share songs in oral (by ear) tradition and I'd love to hear from you how and with whom you share the song...
AND the song is also available as a choral arrangement (SATB, SSAA, TTBB) on my website https://elisewitt.com/web/ewcs-choral-music/"

Song Learning Time Stamps:
Start time of teaching: 00:02:49
Start time of reprise: 00:15:29

Links:
Website: www.EliseWitt.com
A glimpse of what I do: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e0YHTe_Q7bE&feature=youtu.be
All Singing: The Elise Witt Songbook: https://elisewitt.com/web/product-category/songbook/
“Jenny Jenkins” global community music/art video created for DAS Year 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QCmNNZIVZkw&t=2s
“Ready or Not” global community music/art video created for DAS Year 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UNsUsSobImw&t=11s
Imagine A Circle: The Global Village Project Songbook: https://elisewitt.com/web/gvp-songbook/
Elise's Bandcamp: https://www.BandCamp.com/EliseWitt
Choral arrangements by Elise: https://elisewitt.com/web/ewcs-choral-music/
Choral arrangements for Set Us Free in particular: https://elisewitt.com/web/product/set-us-free/
Spanish and English version of Set Us Free in concert: https://youtu.be/L5IjAhJZyOo?si=5WIleerpseLX_rxo

Nuts & Bolts: 4:4, major, many verses

Join this community of people who love to use song to help navigate life? Absolutely: https://dashboard.mailerlite.com/forms/335811/81227018071442567/share

Help us keep going: reviews, comments, encouragement, plus contributions... we float on your support. https://www.abreathofsong.com/gratitude-jar.html

Published on: October 15, 2025

208. Estrellitas

« Previous Next »

Song Learning Time Stamps:
Start time of teaching: 00:02:39
Start time of reprise: 00:13:14

Lyrics:

Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh… (bis 4x)

Deja, deja, deja que las estrellitas
Que las estrellitas, se lleven tu dolor

Deja, deja, deja,
Ve y enciende el fuego,
Deja, deja, deja, tu duda y tu temor

Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh… (4x)

Let it go, let it go, let the little stars,
Let the little stars carry away your pain.

Let it go, let it go, let it go,
Go and light up the fire,
Let it go, let it go, release your doubt and fear.

FURTHER LYRICS:

La tristeza esa, Pa’ las estrellitas
La preocupación y el dolor del corazón
Deja, deja, deja que los queme el fuego
Deja, deja, deja y vuela alto por favor

Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh… (4x)

Deja, deja, deja, que los queme el fuego
Y las estrellitas transmuten tu dolor
Deja la tristeza, las dudas, el miedo,
Pide a las estrellas que te curen por favor…

Outro: Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh…

ENGLISH:

That sadness—give it to the stars,
The worry and the ache within your heart.
Let it go, let it go, let the fire burn them,
Let it go, let it go, and now please, fly high
reaching the skies up above

Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh… (4x)

Let it go, let it go, let the fire burn it,
And let the stars transmute your pain.
Leave behind sadness, the doubts, the fear,
Please ask the stars to heal you…

Outro: Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh…

Song: Estrellitas
Music by: Ana Lucia Divins

Notes: Singing this song of grief and the lifting of grief connected deeply with my heart this week. No matter what grief is in my heart at the moment, the wordless "O", followed by the shaping of Spanish words for sorrow, doubt, and fear as well as let go and little stars -- letting all the grief light the fire and then the sparks carry it away -- oh, it felt good to sing this. Soft and strong, velvet and spark, ache and motion. I'm grateful Ana Lucia gifted us this song to sing, and excited that once you've learned the core of the song with me, you get to sing all of it with her if you follow the Bandcamp link!

Songwriter Info: Music has been a lifelong companion for Ana Lucia Divins, who has witnessed its healing power and the strength of community connections. This journey led her to explore sound and therapeutic music studies. She is a Certified Music Practitioner by MHTP and a Holistic Voice Therapist with the British Academy of Sound Therapy. Since 2022, she has integrated healing music into her offerings, singing by patients’ bedsides and sharing therapeutic music in the community for restoration and relaxation. In 2023, she received the Arts and Science Council Creative Renewal Fellowship and in 2024, the Arts and Science Council Artist Support Grant, enabling her to delve deeper into music’s healing potential and produce new works. Ana Lucia’s exploration of her voice has taken her to national and international workshops and retreats in Greece, Spain, the UK, and Colombia.
In the summer of 2024, Ana Lucia and Carlos Crespo, an Ecuadorian guitarist, released their debut healing music album, “Emerging,” in collaboration with other talented musicians. Available on all digital platforms, "Emerging" offers a deeply relaxing and uplifting sound bath of original new-age world music. It is a sonic journey mirroring life’s ebb and flow, from dawn’s gentle awakening to night’s tranquil embrace, remembering the cycles of healing, new beginnings, and transformation.

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

Song Learning Time Stamps:
Start time of teaching: 00:02:39
Start time of reprise: 00:13:14

Links:
Ana Lucia's website: https://www.adivins.com
Divins Music Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/divinsmusic/
Azul Healing website: https://www.azulhealing.com
Azul Healing Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/azulhealing/
Emerging album on Bandcamp: https://divins.bandcamp.com/album/emerging

Nuts & Bolts: 4:4, minor, unison

Join this community of people who love to use song to help navigate life? Absolutely: https://dashboard.mailerlite.com/forms/335811/81227018071442567/share

Help us keep going: reviews, comments, encouragement, plus contributions... we float on your support. https://www.abreathofsong.com/gratitude-jar.html

Tags

232. Road Trip, Ann Arbor: Love Wears the Crown

231. Road Trip: Kingston Three-fer

220. Pray With Our Feet with guest Paul Vasile

219. Trust the Work

211. Set Us Free

208. Estrellitas