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  • Published on

    200. Don't Give Up with guest Becky Reardon

    Song Learning Time Stamps:
    Start time of teaching: 00:05:42
    The Moon instructional song: 00:42:11
    The Sticky Cocklebur: 00:43:19
    Start time of reprise: 00:56:19

    ​Lyrics:

    Don't give up; give a little kindness to yourself. 
    Put a little flex -- put a little flex in your plan.
    Find another way -- like a river!
    Flow -- may you never stop flowing.

    Picture
    Song: Don't Give Up
    Music by: Becky Reardon

    Notes: Thinking about tough times, Becky Reardon says, "The worst thing we can do is go silent." Here's a song to help with that -- a song about both grit and kindness; how a little flex can be the strongest response. She says, “Of all times when we need to get together and sing… this is the time to keep it going.” We talk about her love of the high desert, trees, community... how church and family singing embedded love of harmonies. How Naomi Shihab Nye reminded her, "When times are hard, do something satisfying." Plus a sticky cocklebur song! It's a good conversation to help return you to yourself, your power to bring more decency and compassion into the world.

    Songwriter Info: Becky Reardon's voice is familiar to the millions of people who hear her sing on the Charlie Brown/Peanuts TV specials. She is a composer whose songs and rounds are widely sung by community and university choirs, song circles, and singing classes. Sometimes jazzy and fun-loving, sometimes trance-inducing and deeply spiritual, her music always conveys her passion for the natural world and the cycles of life. 

    Sharing Info: The song is free to share in oral tradition groups, but please contact Becky for recording and/or performing permission.

    Song Learning Time Stamps:
    Start time of teaching: 00:05:42
    The Moon instructional song: 00:42:11
    The Sticky Cocklebur: 00:43:19
    Start time of reprise: 00:56:19

    Links:
    Becky's website: www.beckyreardonmusic.com 
    Alone from “Someday You’ll Find Her, Charlie Brown”: https://youtu.be/5VpmohI_ZZQ?feature=shared 
    Farther Along from “Why, Charlie Brown, Why”: https://youtu.be/6SY1MNEXHvY?feature=shared
    Video of workshop improv singing: https://youtube.com/shorts/i2Z2Ltqy6dA
    Rhiannon: https://rhiannonmusic.com/
    The Lama Foundation: https://www.lamafoundation.org/ 
    Winter Solstice Song (Deep down in the belly of the night): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sbV-DaVxzE8 
    Becky Graber: https://beckygraber.com/ – and her conversation episode on ABS: https://www.abreathofsong.com/episodes--show-notes/165-heaven-above-earth-below-with-guest-becky-graber#/ 
    Sue Coffee: https://www.resonancechorus.org/artistic-director.html
    Elise Witt https://elisewitt.com/web/about-elise-witt/
    Retreat with Elise and Becky on Ossabaw Island:: https://elisewitt.com/web/calendar/ossabaw-island-retreat-2026/
    The Moon instructional song: https://beckyreardonmusic.com/product/where-is-the-moon/
    The Sticky Cocklebur: https://beckyreardonmusic.com/product/the-sticky-cocklebur/
    Becky’s Bandcamp page - to come!
    Ella Fitzgerald: https://www.ellafitzgerald.com/ 
    René Marie: https://renemarie.com/ 

    Nuts & Bolts: 4:4, mixolydian, 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

    191. Another World

    Song Learning Time Stamps:
    Start time of teaching: 00:04:25
    Start time of reprise: 00:14:00

    ​Lyrics:


    Another world 
    is not only possible,
    she is on her way...
    on a quiet day,
    I can hear her breathing.
     

    --Arundhati Roy, excerpted from My Seditious Heart, p.204
    Picture
    Song: Another World
    Music by: Patricia Norton
    Lyrics by: Arundhati Roy

    Notes: Hearing these words in 2020 for the first time felt like a gift of possibility. I love the deeper listening they invite. It took five years before they found a melody in my head -- and the reminder of the quote in its entirety, which is, "Another world is not only possible, she's on her way. Maybe many of us won't be here to greet her, but on a quiet day, if I listen very carefully, I can hear her breathing." Listening. That's the invitation of this melody, which stacks up into a complicated chord when sung as a round.

    Songwriter Info: You can find out more about me in general here: https://www.juneberrymusic.com/about-patricia.html 
    Or the whole team that puts this podcast out here: https://www.abreathofsong.com/about.html 

    Sharing Info: Please share freely, and consider contributing to the A Breath of Song gratitude jar in reciprocity -- or write a review, leave a comment!

    Song Learning Time Stamps:
    Start time of teaching: 00:04:25
    Start time of reprise: 00:14:00

    Links:
    Flow Singing: https://www.juneberrymusic.com/flow-singing.html
    All of what I'm up to: https://www.juneberrymusic.com
    Kindred Voices Retreat: https://kindredvoicesretreat.com 

    Nuts & Bolts: 4:4, major, 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

    180. Pearl in the Dark with guest Sarina Partridge

    Song Learning Time Stamps:
    Start time of teaching: 00:05:34
    Start time of reprise: 01:30:39
    ​Lyrics:

    Part 1:
    I'm gonna dive deep, a little deeper
    Into the grit and the mud and the muck
    that I don't wanna see
    'Cause I think there's a seed,
    there's a teacher
    There's a pearl in the dark shining!


    Part 2:
    I will lean into this darkness, this darkness
    A seed is shining,
    there's a pearl in the dark shining!


    Part 3:
    Ooooh, shining like a pearl
    Ooooh, new leaves unfurl
    Ooooh, a new way is possible -
    there's a pearl in the dark shining!

    Picture
    Song: Pearl in the Dark
    Music by: Sarina Partridge

    Notes: Here's something to boost your "joy-ometer", as Sarina refers to it! We dive into infiltrating the health system with singing, stories we tell to make sense of the world, geysers of weird choices, singing to support community goals, cosmic bowling alley bumpers and more... and all that after learning a fresh song of Sarina's that helps us dive into the grit and the mud and the muck (when we choose to!)

    Songwriter Info: Sarina Partridge is a musician, song-leader and educator in Minneapolis, Minnesota. She feels most alive when learning, creating and sharing songs, and enjoys singing with a wide variety of music projects - Eastern European and Yiddish song, old-time music, community song-leading... and everything in between. Sarina has traveled around the world to study with master folk singers, and has toured with the traveling ensemble Northern Harmony abroad and in the USA.  She has a passion for connecting people with their own creativity and with community, and uses singing to help folks develop a sense of wonder for this wild world around us. Let’s sing!
    Sarina performs and teaches with several music projects/ensembles (Heartwood, Nanilo) and as a solo artist and educator; teaches at music camps (Village Harmony, Songroots, Folklore Village); and leads regular community sings and workshops in and around Minneapolis.

    Sharing Info: When sharing in a money-making venture, like a workshop, class, or performance, please contact Sarina for permission and rates.

    Song Learning Time Stamps:
    Start time of teaching: 00:05:34
    Start time of reprise: 01:30:39

    Links:
    Sarina's website: SarinaPartridge.com
    Sarina's Patreon: patreon.com/sarinapartridge
    Sarina's Bandcamp: sarinapartridge.bandcamp.com
    Heartwood's UK tour in March: https://www.heartwoodtrio.com/upcoming 
    SongWeavers retreat: https://www.singwaldorf.org/songweavers 
    Village Harmony: https://www.villageharmony.org/ 
    ABS episode with Kate Valentine: https://www.abreathofsong.com/episodes--show-notes/130-ride-the-storm-with-guest-kate-valentine 
    Mariah Carey: https://mariahcarey.com/
    Bad Posture Club: https://badpostureclub.net/ 

    Nuts & Bolts: 2:2, major, 3 layer

    Join this community of people who love to use song to help navigate life? Absolutely:
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    Help us keep going: reviews, comments, encouragement, plus contributions... we float on your support.
    https://www.abreathofsong.com/gratitude-jar.html
  • Published on

    169. We Are the Door with singer Rebecca Csuy

    Song Learning Time Stamps:
    Start time of teaching: 00:04:11
    Start time of reprise: 00:17:42

    Lyrics:
    (second half inspired by Rainier Maria Rilke)

    We are the door that's blowing wide open
    We are the path that's winding down
    We don't know where...

    Enter me!
    Embody me.
    Give me your hand --
    Make big shadows I can move in

    Picture
    Song: We Are the Door
    Music by: Lyndsey Scott

    Notes: Best possible things happening on this recording of Lyndsey Scott's song, We Are the Door.... I get to sing with my daughter, Rebecca Csuy and we figured out how to make a marimba sound on my keyboard!!! Honestly, life is just better with a marimba sound AND a loved one to sing with.
    This song is a beautiful entry into change and shift and the unknown -- I get a sense of almost prairie-like expansiveness, accompanied by magic and wisdom of a seer inviting me to move in the big shadows. And like most songs, the magic really starts to happen when you sing it yourself, in your own voice, vibrating with possibility. Let Rebecca and me stand by your side and sing with you -- turn it up loud in headphones or speakers so you can really expand into it -- and then go find Lyndsey's recording and sing with her and her co-creator on this album, Michael Linder!
    Don't miss next week's episode, when Lyndsey and I snug up as close as you can through Zoom and talk about resources during change...

    Songwriter Info: Lyndsey Scott is a multimedia artist, songleader, songwriter, and ritualist committed to exploring community singing as a technology of belonging and a strategy for mutual liberation. She currently co-facilitates the yearlong cohort of emergent earth-based ceremonial study with Earthkeeper Wisdom School (Hartsburg, MO), leads song for politicized somatics practitioners in Embodying Racial Justice’s yearlong program, Opening to Freedom (Millerton, NY), and teaches "Community Singing as Collective Power" at the University of Iowa School of Music's Grant Wood Fellow.

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

    Song Learning Time Stamps:
    Start time of teaching: 00:04:11
    Start time of reprise:  00:17:42

    Links:
    Lyndsey's website: https://www.lyndseyscott.earth/
    Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lila.gaia/ 
    Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/lyndseyscott 

    Nuts & Bolts: 4:4, harmonic minor, 2-layer (plus marimba part!)

    Join this community of people who love to use song to help navigate life? Absolutely:
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    Help us keep going: reviews, comments, encouragement, plus contributions... we float on your support.
    https://www.abreathofsong.com/gratitude-jar.html
  • Published on

    168. The Net

    Song Learning Time Stamps:
    Start time of teaching: 00:03:08
    Start time of reprise: 00:20:00
    Lyrics:
    (inspired by Sri Nisargadatta)

    The net that I thought
    was holding me,
    it is full of holes, full of holes.
    The net that I thought
    was holding me,
    it is full of holes!
    The net that I thought
    was holding me tight –
    it is not a big barrier,
    I can get by it.
    The net that I thought
    was holding me,
    it is Full. Of. Holes.

    There is a ground of truth
    beyond the net!

    (a gazillion times)

    Like the water,
    I’m falling free.
    (4x)

    Picture
    Song: The Net
    Music by: Patricia Norton

    Notes: The Hindu teacher, Sri Nisargadatta, said, "The real world is beyond our thoughts and ideas; we see it through the net of our desires... To see the universe as it is, you must step beyond the net. It is not hard to do so, for the net is full of holes." I began singing this song to myself in the summer of '24, reminding me that what I thought was an immutable barrier might actually be a net of holes, and if I found fluidity, I could slip right by it. As events unfolded, the song grew and took on layers of meaning for me. What if the net were my safety net, and I felt myself slipping through? Can I be at peace with recognizing that there is no safety, no guarantee -- but there is a truth grounded beyond all of my desires, and like water, I can fall down through to that. Patty gave us a beautiful visual of the freedom in that fall... this song has been a great resource to me.

    Songwriter Info: Patricia is excited to be developing an in-person community program called Flow Singing in Burlington, Vermont. You can find more details about that at the Juneberry Music site. Patricia believes in singing as a resource for vibrant well-being, experiencing wholeness, courage, connection and joy along with brokenness, fear, loneliness, and despair... the whole messy catastrophe. She lives with her long-time beloved husband, Tom, in a small townhouse close to their daughter's family (the better to play with their granddaughter!) Patricia reads widely, and also spends time exploring the natural world on these Abenaki lands, knitting, and reluctantly strength-training.

    Sharing Info: The song is free to share in the oral tradition; please contribute to A Breath of Song as a fair exchange if you are earning money at an event using this song.

    Song Learning Time Stamps:
    Start time of teaching: 00:03:08
    Start time of reprise: 00:20:00

    Links:
    Patricia's website: https://www.juneberrymusic.com

    Nuts & Bolts: 12:8, major, 3-part with harmonies

    Join this community of people who love to use song to help navigate life? Absolutely:
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    Help us keep going: reviews, comments, encouragement, plus contributions... we float on your support.
    https://www.abreathofsong.com/gratitude-jar.html
  • Published on

    166. Breathe

    Song Learning Time Stamps:
    Start time of teaching: 00:03:34
    Start time of reprise: 00:20:13

    Lyrics:


    Breathe, breathe, breathe in
    Breathe, breathe out

    Let it go, let it go, let it go
    Let it go, let it go

    Trust in what's coming
    Trust in your knowing
    It's deeper and wider and holy

    Picture
    Song: Breathe
    Music by: Batya Levine

    Notes: This was the song I needed to sing to help myself through the pre-election moment... building trust in myself to navigate whatever comes next, tap into the energy to work up to the last moment to effect the change I hope for. Batya Levine is an incredibly heart-sourced song composer, and they'll be releasing a new album in December... check out their website and get on the list to know when it appears -- it's sure to be wonderful, and "Breathe" will be on it -- and you'll know it!

    Songwriter Info: Batya Levine (they/them) uses song as a tool for cultivating healing and resilience in their work as a communal song leader, shaliach tzibur (Jewish prayer leader) and cultural organizer. Batya is a co-founder and Director of Programs at Let My People Sing!, and they compose original music made of Ashkenazi yearning, queer heart-medicine, and emunah (faith). Batya is releasing their second album, Yivarechecha, in December 2024 through Rising Song Records.

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

    Song Learning Time Stamps:
    Start time of teaching: 00:03:34
    Start time of reprise: 00:20:13

    Links:
    Batya's website: https://www.batyalevine.com

    Nuts & Bolts: 4:4, minor, 3-layer

    Join this community of people who love to use song to help navigate life? Absolutely:
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    Help us keep going: reviews, comments, encouragement, plus contributions... we float on your support.
    https://www.abreathofsong.com/gratitude-jar.html