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    68. Share the Journey

    4:4 Accept Be Present Change Dawn Empower Friendship Gather Grieve Hope Journey Ribbon Scale: Ionian (Major) Song Form: Harmonized Trust
    Song: Share the Journey
    Words & Music: Katie Sontag
    Lyrics
    As the dark fades away, here it comes, a brand-new, new day.
    As it leaves, we watch it go, all we learned, all we need to know.
    I believe we will survive. I believe this is our time.
    ​I believe we are alive to share the journey, to share the journey.
    Picture
    Notes: For most of these episodes, I pick the song many months in advance, because what with artwork & permissions, not to mention my own anxiety levels(!), it helps to have things lined up before.... which sometimes means I haven't listened to the song much until I'm ready to record. Then I wonder -- will I still love it? Will I still want to learn and spend time with it, or was it a temporary infatuation? I can tell you unequivocally, I loved coming back to this song! Katie Sontag's "Share the Journey" felt like reconnecting with a wise, deeply beloved friend who loves me back.., you know that feeling of mutual warmth and trust that you can relax into, and at the same time feel empowered and energized by? Ahhhh.

    Songwriter Info: Katie Sontag writes songs that are honest and vulnerable for her own healing and transformation and seeks to inspire the same in others. Based in Eugene, OR, but working on touring the world, Katie's songs will touch your heart and leave you feeling better then when you came. Listening to her music has been described as receiving "a big hug". She is also the lead vocalist and songwriter for her band, "Katie Sontag and the Love Notes" and half of the duo, "smalltime". She is a group song leader and aspiring choral director. Her songs have been adapted for choirs in Portland, Boulder, Austin, and Big Sur.

    ​Song Learning Time Stamps:
    Start time of teaching: 00:02:52
    Start time of reprise: 00:20:39

    Links: 
    Website: katiesontag.com
    email for contact: katharine.sontag@gmail.com
    Patreon: patreon.com/katiesontag
    Facebook: facebook.com/katiesontagmusickatiesontag.com
    Soundcloud: soundcloud.com/katiesontag
    Bandcamp:     https://katiesontag.bandcamp.com/
    Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/KatieSontag
    Spotify    : https://open.spotify.com/artist/17B4xx4loeNl48GXD6oyBB?si=9p7YgO6FQQ6s-WjBS1VhOg&nd=1

    Nuts & Bolts: 4:4, Major, 3-part harmony
    ​
    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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    64. Mourning Dove

    4:4 Be Grateful Be Present Calm Grieve Notice Scale: Ionian (Major) Song Form: Harmonized Song Form: Unison Trust
    Song: Mourning Dove
    Words & Music​ by Wendy Luella Perkins,
    ©2020 Wendy Luella Perkins
    Lyrics
    i awoke to the coos of a mourning dove
    a mourning dove
    a mourning dove
    and her sad, sweet song drifted down from above
    drifted down from above
    drifted down from above​
    Picture
    Notes: This poignant song by Wendy Luella Perkins comes from early on in the pandemic -- a time of fear and grieving -- yet also, in the early mornings, the streets were so unusually quiet in the cities that birdsong was clearly audible.  You'll be able to hear the echo of a dove call in the melody, which I teach with extra care so you can feel comfortable and relaxed singing it. This song helps me notice what I'm hearing around me -- and when I notice the sounds around me, I drop into the present micro-second, where all is well. In the next episode, there's a songwriter conversation with Wendy Luella, which includes not one, not two, but four songs that can be personal assistants as we heal, adapt, and grow.

    Songwriter Info: Wendy Luella Perkins has been singing and making up songs since she was a very young child. When she was three years old, her older brother, Tim, took her to school as his Show+Tell item saying “this is my sister Wendy Lu, listen to her sing!” She's been going strong ever since. As a singer-songwriter, Unitarian Universalist community minister, and founder, in 2002 of Soulful Singing (singing meditation for all) Wendy Luella leverages the power of song to build authentic, healing and joyful communities.

    A prolific writer of folk songs and meditative chants and supportive guide who helps others to create their own songs, Wendy Luella's greatest joy is to bring friends and strangers together in the transformational circle of song. Wendy Luella has produced three CDs of original music, which you can find on her website. As a response to pandemic restrictions, and recognizing the need to keep on singing in community, especially in difficult times, Wendy Luella transitioned Soulful Singing to online sessions in March 2020. Soulful Singers from all over have been gathering online EVERY SINGLE DAY since then and once a week on THURSDAY evenings.
    ​
    Everyone is welcome to join Soulful Singing via Zoom. Singing daily over the last 875+ days with wonderful folks from Kingston and around the world has encouraged Wendy Luella to share her original songs more broadly in what she calls her “Song Liberation Project” (The SLiP). She has written hundreds of songs and with The SLiP is sharing them one by one on TikTok. Wendy Luella grew up in rural Nova Scotia, and has lived in Kingston Ontario for over 25 years with her sweetheart and fellow musician, Charlie Walker. She loves waking early, walking daily, eating communally, crafting publicly, sharing deeply, gardening bountifully, laughing abundantly and of course, singing soulfully!

    Links: 
    Wendy Luella's website: https://www.wendyluellaperkins.com
    andtiktok page: https://www.tiktok.com/@wendyluellaperkins
    To email Wendy Luella: info@wendyluellaperkins.com

    Nuts & Bolts: 4:4; Ionian (major), unison, 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

    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

    61. Sanctuary with Singer Joy Tru

    4:4 Accept Be Grateful Be Present Calm Flow Grieve Heal Notice Pain Rest Scale: Ionian (Major) Song Form: Unison Song Form: Zipper Trust
    Song: Sanctuary
    Words & Music​ by Patricia Norton & you
    Lyrics
    I'm in a sanctuary right here, *right now*.
    (2x)
    When so much is wrong, so much is hard, something is right.
    (2x)
    *in this breath*     or *with this friend*
    *in this song* or *in this memory*
    *as I'm painting* or ?
    Picture

    Notes    : This is a vacation episode! I'm on vacation with my dear friend, Joy Truskowski... and what do you think we're doing together? We've been having such a good time singing, and on this episode (I think the shortest yet) you get to hear us together, singing a song I wrote just as a particularly difficult time was beginning. It helps me to not jump ahead to the future or gnash over the past -- that I can be right here, right now, and usually that's a pretty good moment. I asked the A Breath of Song listeners via the email list where they've experienced sanctuary, and they wrote the lyrics we sing... here are some of the other options that came up: in my swing, in this garden, in this choir, with this book, as I'm cooking, with this patient, with my cats, with my ponies, in my loved one's arms, in a canoe, while I'm painting, meditating.

    Songwriter Info: I'm bringing you this podcast, so you've already got a sense of me! You can find more about me at the juneberrymusic website, or pertaining specifically to this podcast here at abreathofsong.com.

    Links: 
    Find Joy at joytru.com -- all kinds of awesome things!​
    Juneberry Music -- everything I'm doing professionally, and some less-than-professionally
    A Breath of Song -- lots of extras about this podcast, including a Year One art tile page, atip jar, and songwriter collaboration information

    Song Learning Time Stamps:
    Start time of teaching: 00:00:59 
    Start time of reprise: 00:09:57​

    Nuts & Bolts: 4:4; Ionian (major), zipper song, unison

    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

    56. Acceptance Sing

    Accept Acceptance Sing Be Present Empower Grow Play Release Trust
    Picture
    Notes: This is different than most episodes, where I share a song with you that's already been captured, delineated, and made repeatable. Those songs are chosen because they help me navigate life -- heal, adapt, and grow. Today's episode is another kind of singing that helps me uncover wellness and light-heartedness... what I call for myself, "acceptance-singing" (which runs together into "acceptancing"...) It's an active practice of listening to one's own voice and finding it to be enough, right this moment, exactly as it is. Listening with curiosity to whatever appears. So when I created this episode, I made up something in the moment, imagining that you were joining me, and we were singing a duet -- and the purpose of that duet is to hear your voice play and explore and cavort around doing whatever feels good! If it sounds chaotic or uncertain or repetitive -- so be it -- love it wild and crazy!!! If it sounds constrained or pushed, love it all the more sweetly, all the more extravagantly. If it sounds absolutely fabulous and inventive and skillful -- love it peaceably without needing it to hold on to it. And when you've done it once, do it another time, with or without me -- because listening to your own voice and loving what shows up is a gift to yourself and the world.

    Songwriter Info: Um... that would be you!

    Links:  to find more of what I'm up to...
    juneberrymusic.com

    Nuts & Bolts: improvisational, acceptance singing
    ​
    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!