Grow - A Breath of Song

Published on: February 18, 2026

223. The Reach

Song Learning Time Stamps:
Start time of teaching: 00:02:50
Start time of reprise: 00:14:29

Lyrics:

The earth
opened in the spring, opens
in all springs. Nameless,
ancient, many lived, we reach
through ages with the seed.

– Wendell Berry, “Rising”
New Collected Poems
(Counterpoint Press, 2012)

Song: The Reach
Words by: Wendell Berry
Music by: Malcolm Dalglish

Notes: I learned this beautiful round from the amazing Moira Smiley, who connected me with Malcolm Dalglish to request his permission to share on this podcast. I continue to be amazed by the seeds we sow when we befriend and tend each other, unfolding understanding and trust. It's not always easy to reach forward or back -- but these seeds we plant with each other open, even if the winter is long and icy! At least that's where this poem is taking me today. And let me tell you, I practiced deep love and care for all of you whose voices are comfortable in higher ranges than mine! I taught it where I'm comfy -- but I did the reprise where Malcolm actually set the sheet music (nice tenor/soprano range) -- so if you want to buy the sheet music from him and sing along with it, that's where you should head...

Songwriter Info: Malcolm Dalglish is a hammer dulcimer player and composer from Bloomington Indiana, whose many vocals celebrate a love of our natural world. He has set many poems by Kentucky author, and farmer, Wendell Berry.

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

Song Learning Time Stamps:
Start time of teaching: 00:02:50
Start time of reprise: 00:14:29

Links:
Malcolm's website: https://oooliticmusic.com/

Nuts & Bolts: 4:4, major, round with optional descant

Join this community of people who love to use song to help navigate life? Absolutely:
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Published on: July 9, 2025

196. I Am Blessed

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Song Learning Time Stamps:
Start time of teaching: 00:03:31
Start time of reprise: 00:21:53

Lyrics:

I am blessed, yeah, I am blessed
Even when I′m here feeling like a mess
This life has shown me all kinds of stress
And also opened up my heart like the greatest treasure chest

I have grown
Yes, I have grown
And I'm finding my way home
Yes, I have grown
And I′m finding my way home

Song: I Am Blessed
Music by: Desirée Dawson

Notes: Ok, so there's a bit of mess in this episode -- the reprise happens twice, because I couldn't get my Loopy app to turn off when I wanted it to -- but we just get to sing it again, so it turns into a good thing! Desirée's song really helps me remember how blessed I am, with my mess, my stress -- the way it all opens my heart, like a treasure chest. Great body percussion part for all you rhythm-hungry folk, plus oohs for the Supremes fans. I take some time picking it apart so you can find some of the intricacies...

Songwriter Info: As a recording artist, songwriter, producer, facilitator, and yoga teacher, Desirée is driven by a passion for collective liberation. She is a two time SXSW music video winner and was nominated for a Juno Award for best adult contemporary album of the year in 2022. She has had multiple viral moments on TikTok and Instagram with her most popular video being for her song I Am Blessed. With her powerful voice as her main instrument, Desirée often accompanies it with her baritone ukulele, body percussion and other musicians. She has a passion for harmonizing and singing with others. She blends folk, soul, pop, Americana, and old-time country influences into her creations, though she often labels her music as 'singer-songwriter' for simplicity.

Sharing Info: The song is free to share in oral tradition groups, but please contact Desirée for recording and/or performing permission. Desirée says, "Donations are encouraged and welcome but I do not want money to be a barrier for people to share and learn the song."

Song Learning Time Stamps:
Start time of teaching: 00:03:31
Start time of reprise: 00:21:53

Links:
Desirée's website: www.desireedawsonmusic.com
IG: https://www.instagram.com/desireedawsonmusic
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/desireedawsonofficial
Desirée singing I Am Blessed on Bandcamp: https://desiree-dawson.bandcamp.com/track/i-am-blessed-loop

Nuts & Bolts: 4:4, major, melody, harmony, body percussion

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 2, 2025

184. Where the Moss Grows

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Song Learning Time Stamps:
Start time of teaching: 00:02:33
Start time of song in B-flat: 00:13:16
Start time of song in D-flat: 00:17:36
Start time of song in B: 00:23:38

Lyrics:

Where the river flows
and the moss on boulder grows,
we can remember what we deeply know.
There is time to be here
and see what becomes clear...
when we let it go,
and go where the moss grows.
Oh, when we let it go,
and go where the moss grows.

Song: Where the Moss Grows
Music by: David Ruffin

Notes: We get to sing David Ruffin's beautiful moss song in three different keys, so you can experiment with the range and how it feels in your voice in different ways -- and really feel like you know the song well by the end! So this episode is a little longer than sometimes -- but it's a great way to get a slightly longer song and harmony into your body, and still under 30 minutes. Next episode is a conversation with David, and we'll get to know this song carrier...

Songwriter Info: David is a performing artist, community song leader and teacher with a passion for authentic expression. He loves creating space for voices to emerge fully and freely. He calls Central Vermont home, where he’s grateful to be able to share his holistic approach to voice in community through lessons, workshops, community singing and performance collaborations. David’s work is inspired by a diverse background including studies with Roy Hart Center voice teachers, deep dives in vocal improvisation, explorations in Voice Movement Therapy and over 20 plus years of performing arts, teaching and counseling/ministry experience. David believes singing helps us remember who we really are, what we're here to voice and, how we’re, thankfully, so very bound up together in this.

Sharing Info: The song is free to share but David welcomes financial and/or networking support if/when folks are so moved. Please contact him for recording and/or performing permission.

Song Learning Time Stamps:
Start time of teaching: 00:02:33
Start time of song in B-flat: 00:13:16
Start time of song in D-flat: 00:17:36
Start time of song in B: 00:23:38

Links:
David's website: www.davidruffinvoice.com
David's Venmo: @David-Ruffin-Voice

Nuts & Bolts: 4:4, major, harmonized

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: June 25, 2024

151. Deeper

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Song Learning Time Stamps:
Start time of teaching: 00:03:03
Start time of reprise: 00:12:16

Lyrics:

Here in the place I am,
I drop in a little deeper.

All I've known and the ways I've grown,
I take in a little deeper.

To live and to give from a place
that's a little deeper.

I want to live from a place
that's a little deeper;
I want to give from a place
that's a little deeper

Song: Deeper
Music by: Meg O'Dell Chittenden

Notes: I was stymied when I came to the point in the podcast where I explain why I chose this song... because to me it simply is exactly the way I'm trying to live. It's like Meg O'Dell Chittenden went in my brain and named what was happening! Do you find songs like that -- ones that simply speak your truth so clearly that singing them feels like naming your very own core? It reassures me that I am not alone...

Songwriter Info: Meg loves helping people access their innate capacity for healing, connection, and joy. She is a somatic coach, supporting individuals and couples in growth, transformation, and healing. Because she's always found the voice, and especially singing in harmony with others, to be a particularly powerful pathway for connection with ourselves and the world around us, she delights in serving as a music teacher, song leader, and vocal mentor. She hosts an annual adult and family singing retreat on the coast of Maine called SongWeavers. In addition, Meg is an Adjunct Professor for Antioch University's Graduate Program for Waldorf Teachers and for the Center for Anthroposophy's Waldorf High School Teacher Education Program. Her sources of inspiration include the small, misty mountain that overlooks her home and singing with her children, Clancy and Celia.

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

Song Learning Time Stamps:
Start time of teaching: 00:03:03
Start time of reprise: 00:12:16

Links:
Meg's Website: www.singwaldorf.com
Meg’s A Breath of Song songwriter conversation: https://www.abreathofsong.com/episodes--show-notes/135-what-would-it-take-with-guest-meg-odell-chittenden

Nuts & Bolts: 4:4, minor with a major V7 chord, 4-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, or by making comments, leaving reviews, suggesting songs or songwriters (including yourself) ..... your participation matters!

Published on: June 10, 2024

149. May My Tears Water a Sapling

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Song Learning Time Stamps:
Start time of teaching: 00:03:48
Start time of reprise: 00:18:20

Lyrics:

May my tears water a sapling,
May my life support its growth,
May I walk with care and healing
for new life upon the earth.

May our breath move with the Spirit,
flowing free around the earth,
May we listen to the sunshine,
and feel the moon reflect our worth.

(based on the last line of a poem
"Not Our Trees" by Laura Weber)

Song: May My Tears Water a Sapling
Music by: Mary L. Cohen

Notes: Mary Cohen's huge heart and willingness to do big work in the world shines through in this song, with lyrics sparked by the 2020 midwestern derecho with devastated so many trees. When we talk in next week's songwriter conversation, the depth of Mary's passion for how singing can support and feed change is evident. I hope you can join us as we explore the US prison-industrial complex and music, the role of mentorship, and how self-care can adapt. In this episode, I invite you to experiment a bit, finding musical touchstones as a way into harmonizing. In the links, you'll find several different arrangement/performances you can listen to for other harmonizing ideas, if that's up your alley.

Songwriter Info: Mary L. Cohen, Associate Professor of Music Education at the University of Iowa, is lead author of Music-Making in U.S. Prisons: Listening to Incarcerated Voices (2022). She co-founded the International Music and Justice Network: IMAJIN Caring Communities, a group of researchers from 18 countries who study music-making in prisons, and you are welcome to join by contacting Mary to get on the group email list (mary-cohen@uiowa.edu). From 2009 to 2020 she led the Oakdale Community Choir with incarcerated and non-incarcerated participants where participants have written over 150 songs, and the Oakdale Choir performed over 75 of these songs, available with the Creative Commons License. To continue working toward the choir’s goals of building communities of caring through singing and songwriting, she founded the Inside Outside Songwriting Collaboration Project where partnerships between incarcerated and non-incarcerated songwriters create original songs, build relationships, and learn about transformative and generative justice. She has been a keynote for conferences in Germany, Canada, and Portugal, interviewed by the BBC3 Music Matters, and has over 40 publications in journal articles, book chapters, and conference proceedings. She leads weekly music groups inside the Juvenile Detention Center of Linn County.

Sharing Info: The song is free to share, and Mary welcomes networking support and invites you to further your education and activism regarding environmental justice, restorative/transformative/generative justice, and simply acting with kindness to all you encounter.

Song Learning Time Stamps:
Start time of teaching: 00:03:48
Start time of reprise: 00:18:20

Links:
Oakdale Community Choir website: https://oakdalechoir.lib.uiowa.edu/
"Not Our Trees" by Laura Weber: https://prairiewoods.org/not-our-trees/
Outside singers (non-incarcerated choir members) from the Oakdale Community Choir (now disbanded because the current warden will not allow it to restart) performed "May My Tears Water a Sapling" at the Anne Frank Tree Planting Ceremony from April 29, 2022, on the University of Iowa Pentacrest. You can see this performance that begins with a powerful spoken word piece by Jhe Russell at 1:14 on this YouTube video.

Nuts & Bolts: 3:4, Major, unison with optional harmonies

Join the A Breath of Song Mailing list
(https://dashboard.mailerlite.com/forms/335811/81227018071442567/share) 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
(https://www.abreathofsong.com/gratitude-jar.html) (whoo-hoo!!!!), or by making comments, leaving reviews, suggesting songs or songwriters (including yourself) ..... your participation matters!

Published on: February 28, 2024

137. Kick Up Your Heels!

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Song Learning Time Stamps:
Start time of teaching: 00:03:37
Start time of reprise: 00:12:34

Lyrics:
Sometimes you just gotta,
gotta celebrate,
kick up your heels and
dance!

Sometimes you just gotta,
gotta celebrate,
spread your wings and
lift your hands…

High yo-dn (4x)
High!
Ah ah ah ah
un-day-i-o.
(2x)

Song: Kick Up Your Heels!
Music: Patricia Norton

Notes: You know how sometimes happiness just bubbles up inside you and it feels like the world is unbelievably sweet? And then maybe, you get a little voice that says, "If you notice it, it's gonna disappear!" Or, "Don't be too happy, it attracts bad luck!" Or any other little fear message that says it's not okay to be purely happy for a moment? This song was my way of letting that go, dancing crazy around my living room and kitchen, lifting my hands high, high and releasing into the glow! On February 24th, 2024, A Breath of Song reached 51.5k downloads and we opened registration for our first-ever retreat... and we sang this song in a crowded Zoom room to celebrate big.

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

Sharing Info: You are welcome to share this song; please contact Patricia directly for sheet music or permission to record or perform. She always appreciates hearing about how the song travels.

Song Learning Time Stamps:
Start time of teaching: 00:03:37
Start time of reprise: 00:12:34

Links:
Patricia's Website: https://www.juneberrymusic.com
A Breath of Song on Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/juneberrymusic
A Breath of Song on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/abreathofsongpodcast

Nuts & Bolts: 4:4, aeolian with some chromaticism, round

Join the A Breath of Song Mailing list
(https://dashboard.mailerlite.com/forms/335811/81227018071442567/share)
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!!!!)
(https://www.abreathofsong.com/gratitude-jar.html)
or by making comments, leaving reviews, suggesting songs or songwriters (including yourself) ..... your participation matters!

Tags

223. The Reach

196. I Am Blessed

184. Where the Moss Grows

151. Deeper

149. May My Tears Water a Sapling

137. Kick Up Your Heels!