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  • Published on

    218. The River

    Song Learning Time Stamps:
    Start time of teaching: 00:02:49
    Verses taught slowly: 00:11:55
    First run through: 00:15:50
    Start time of reprise: 00:20:53
    Lyrics:

    Bass part:
    Dum t-ka dum dum dum k
    Dum t-ka dum dum dum k
    Dum t-ka dum dum dum dum
    Dum t-ka dum dum dum k


    Melody:
    1. The river is a healer, the river is a sage.
    The river knows no end and the river feels no age.
    The river is a leader every single day,
    It's living in the moment and it always finds a way.


    Chorus:
    Water heal my body, water heal my soul.
    When I go down down to the water,
    by the water I feel whole.


    2. The river calls me over, it's calling out my name
    In the day and in the night I hear that river all the same.
    It's calling me over, calling out my pain,
    oh a river gathers tears just like a river gathers rain.


    3. The river is a traveller, always on the go
    A river never worries if it's fast or if it's slow
    River take me to where I need to go,
    Oh and I will just relax and let the river flow.

    Picture
    Song: The River
    Music by: Coco Love Alcorn

    Notes: Coco is entering a long and challenging journey with an aggressive cancer diagnosis. She’s hopeful and grounded, but as an independent musician, she doesn’t have access to benefits like employment insurance or sick leave. With her treatment schedule, she’s had to cancel every concert, every tour, and even postpone the recording of her new album. She also had to pause her local choir until further notice. This means she’s facing at least a year ahead with almost no income — while focusing all her strength on healing. Supporting her directly through buying her music, or donating to the GoFundMe will make this time easier. In the meantime, you can sing this song of Coco's, bringing river healing energy into the world!

    Songwriter Info:
    “Coco is the ultimate musical spark plug... an electrical connector through which the creative energy flows. In my 30 years of touring around the world, I have never seen another performer able to bring people together like Coco does.” ~ James Keelaghan - Artist Director, Summerfolk and renowned Canadian singer/ songwriter
    The first thing you notice about Coco Love Alcorn, is the voice. It's a rich, dynamic, supremely soulful instrument – hailed by the press as extraordinary, beautiful, and stunning – that has a way of touching your heart and making you care. 
    As a performer, Alcorn is always in the moment, joyful, and genuine. She combines diverse musical influences including jazz, R&B, pop, folk, and Gospel. Her playful and witty character, love of improvising, and willingness to engage fearlessly with the audience has made Alcorn an established presence on the Canadian music scene. 
    Born in Antigonish, Nova Scotia and now based in Owen Sound, Ontario, Alcorn’s career has spanned more than 20 years, 12 (9 solo) albums, cross-Canada tours, collaborations, festival appearances, award nominations, and notable success in TV and film licensing. And it took someone with a spirit like Alcorn's to navigate this path. 
    "Throughout my career I have explored across many genres, collaborations and projects, taking a winding path to get to here,” she says. “But I’ve loved every step of my journey and trusted my inner curiosity to take me where it wanted to go.” 

    Sharing Info: Please support Coco directly if you are sharing this song, either by buying the music on her website here: https://cocolovealcorn.com/store or supporting her GoFundMe here: https://www.gofundme.com/f/SupportCocoThroughCancer 

    Song Learning Time Stamps:
    Start time of teaching: 00:02:49
    Verses taught slowly: 00:11:55
    First run through: 00:15:50
    Start time of reprise: 00:20:53

    Links:
    Coco teaching the song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xgmg1K7BFxo&t=133s 
    Coco's GoFundMe: https://www.gofundme.com/f/SupportCocoThroughCancer
    Lisa Littlebird teaching tracks: https://thebirdsings.com/the-river/
    Sheet music for The River: https://cocolovealcorn.com/store 

    Nuts & Bolts: 2:2, major, verses & chorus, harmonize

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  • Published on

    208. Estrellitas

    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…
    Picture
    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

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  • Published on

    198. Loosen

    Song Learning Time Stamps:
    Start time of teaching: 00:03:12
    Start time of reprise: 00:16:10
    Lyrics:

    Loosen, loosen, baby
    You don’t have to carry
    The weight of the world in your muscles and bones
    Let go, let go, let go

    Holy breath, and holy name
    Will you ease, will you ease this pain
    Oh holy breath, and holy name, will you ease this pain?

    Picture
    Song: Loosen
    Music by: Aly Halpert

    Notes: Written in 2017, this song by Aly Halpert catapulted its way around songleader circles, shared friend to friend, sung in cars and buses, after dinners, on walks, between dances, around fires, beside rivers and on beaches. I learned it in 2019, and it has accompanied me since through the pandemic, an intense year of many deep losses, over to Europe twice, in groups, with single friends, and alone. Some songs are like sunscreen in summer, a warm coat for winter. You may already know this one; please enjoy singing it with me. It may be new to you -- may it spread wider, carrying its healing, kind reminder to loosen.

    Songwriter Info: Aly Halpert (she/her) is a queer Jewish musician, educator, and activist living on Lenni Lenape land in Philadelphia, PA, USA. A singer, pianist, drummer, and guitar player, Aly writes songs for building community and visioning different worlds. Aly leads music and prayer for Jewish community, including Let My People Sing, Kol Tzedek Synagogue, Dayenu: A Jewish Call to Climate Action, and Hadar's Rising Song Institute. Her songs have been sung in national gatherings, song circles, and quiet moments of personal prayer, and have moved people all over the world. Her first full-band album Loosen was released in April 2022 with Rising Song Records. Aly believes deeply in the power of music to awaken us to the loss and hope we carry, expand our sense of possibility, and connect us to each other and our collective strength.

    Sharing Info: The song is free to share in oral tradition groups. Aly welcomes financial and/or networking support, she would like to be contacted re: recording/performing permissions, and she appreciates donations when used by organizations with means.

    Song Learning Time Stamps:
    Start time of teaching: 00:03:12
    Start time of reprise: 00:16:10

    Links:
    Aly's website: https://www.alyhalpert.com
    Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/alyhalpertmusic
    Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/alhalpal 
    Loosen with Aly on Bandcamp (great opportunity to support her directly!): https://alyhalpert.bandcamp.com/album/loosen

    Nuts & Bolts: 6:8, minor, 2 layers, optional harmony, optional round

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  • Published on

    178. My Body

    Song Learning Time Stamps:
    Start time of teaching: 00:02:31
    Start time of reprise: 00:14:09
    Lyrics: 

    My body is fly
    My body is beautiful
    My body is bold
    My body is mine
    Picture
    Song: My Body
    Music by: Alexandra Sarton

    Notes: Singing this week brought me into my body in a joyful, appreciative way... our bodies, our existence are such miracles, and this song fully celebrates and owns this. For anyone who has ever felt ashamed of their body for any reason, this is a medicine song, a reclaiming, remembering song. Alexandra Sarton Love, who wrote it, has lived with alopecia since age 10, causing baldness. Maybe you're going through a medical treatment that makes it difficult to feel ownership of your own body? Maybe there's a relationship which leads to doubt about your body's beauty or validity? Maybe media or social gatherings has harmed your connection to your own body? Maybe you're a nursing mom? I don't know what you bring to this song... but I'm sooo glad you're bringing it!  Join me and you bring you, I'll bring me -- let's sing these words together!

    Songwriter Info: In 2011, Alexandra Love was inspired to assemble a 12-woman chorus to sing the harmonies she had written for her solo project, In Curses. She created a festival, The Festival of Light and Sound (April 2012), to debut this project and to bring Beautiful Chorus together for a one-time performance. The ladies practiced each week leading up to the album release. The festival was a huge success and after that night, Love decided to keep the project going. She booked tours for Beautiful Chorus around the country, hosted crystal singing bowl meditations w/ the ladies, lead vocal workshops and more. It was then that BC wrote + recorded songs, and have since become the most successful independent group of their kind. Fusing elements of electronic, choral, deep bass, hip hop and jazz, Beautiful Chorus is unlike any other. They have albums that span from wordless symphonies to full rhythmic songs, w/ sound healing frequencies and love-centered messages. They even have a wordless holiday album, a lullaby album, and a multitude of singable hymns and mantras. Beautiful Chorus is currently residing in Orlando, FL where they are developing a new live experience, hosting spiritual conversations, and preparing for their upcoming full album release, High Frequency Love Music, due out 7/26. Beautiful Chorus is currently made of Alexandra Love and four other members (Patty, Anisha, Yuki and Veronica).

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

    Song Learning Time Stamps:
    Start time of teaching: 00:02:31
    Start time of reprise: 00:14:09

    Links:
    Beautiful Chorus website: https://www.beautifulchorus.com/ 
    Alexandra Love website: https://www.alexandra.love/

    Nuts & Bolts: 4:4, Mixolydian, unison with optional harmony

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  • Published on

    165. Heaven Above, Earth Below with guest Becky Graber

    Song Learning Time Stamps:
    Start time of teaching: 00:04:58
    Start time of reprise: 01:15:20
    Lyrics:

    Heaven above, Earth below,
    And I the path between,
    Making my way through fields of ever rolling green,
    Making my way through fields of ever rolling green.

    Heaven above, Earth below,
    And in between am I,
    Finding a path with heart and spirit, earth and sky,
    Finding a path with heart and spirit, earth and sky.

    Ah dah dah, ah dah dah, ah dah dah dah.
    Ah dah dah, ah dah dah, ah dah dah, Ah.

    Heaven above, Earth below,
    And I the two reveal,
    Shining through me the light of Spirit that can heal,
    Shining through me the light of Spirit that can heal.

    Heaven above, Earth below,
    And I the path between.
    Picture
    Song: Heaven Above, Earth Below
    Music by: Becky Graber

    Notes: Becky Graber let her unconscious speak during our conversation, and when I asked what she knows about herself right now, she said, "I am a breath of air on the earth" -- and then laughed a little in surprise and delight. The song she teaches also came from delighted awareness of the place of the body between heaven and earth -- plus a little tai-chi. Becky and I share a wonderfully rambly conversation about shedding old identities and making space, wanting to allow things to bloom rather than push them, and threshold times. We also take a lot of time with this three verse song, including playing with harmonies. You'll hear me making mistakes as I learn and play with harmonies -- but hopefully you won't notice it too much, because you'll be singing right along, too! The goal of this podcast is to encourage you to keep stepping into the power and beauty of your own voice, something Becky Graber has many years of experience at helping people do...

    Songwriter Info: Becky Graber has lived her life professionally centered around music and storytelling, teaching and performing, and a heart-drive towards healing and coming to centered generosity. She is the founder and director of the Brattleboro (VT) Women's Chorus.

    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: 00:04:58
    Start time of reprise: 01:15:20

    Links:
    Becky's website: www.beckygraber.com
    Brattleboro Women's Chorus website: www.brattleborowomenschorus.org 
    Psychospiritual paths like psychosynthesis – Roberto Assagioli: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychosynthesis 
    The Diamond Approach – H.M. Almaas: https://www.diamondapproach.org/ 
    Helen Yeomans: https://www.abreathofsong.com/episodes--show-notes/156-we-got-all-the-love
    Natural Voices Network: https://www.naturalvoice.net/ 
    Lisa Littlebird’s library: https://thebirdsings.com/song-library/ 
    Velma Frye: https://www.velmafryemusic.com/ 
    Song “Take Heart, Take Part, with lyrics “Participation is gonna save the human race” – Pete Seeger quote set by Becky Reardon: https://beckyreardonmusic.com/product/take-heart-take-part/
    “Spes” by Mia Makaroff – Latin & Sami: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HKeikhsVynM 
    Gaia Music Collective in NYC: https://www.eventbrite.com/o/gaia-music-collective-44369305153 
    Choir! Choir! Choir!: https://choirchoirchoir.com/
    Gareth Malone with “The Choir” on BBC: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b008y125 
    Ry Cooder “Jazz” album with red cover and black letters: https://open.spotify.com/album/3Z6RuwMcmDMgBJsZ01Ouhf 
    Buena Vista Social Club: https://www.buenavistasocialclub.com/ 
    Bobby McFerrin: https://bobbymcferrin.com/ 

    Nuts & Bolts: 4:4, Major (Ionian), 3 verses

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  • Published on

    159. The Ambulance Song

    Song Learning Time Stamps:
    Start time of teaching: 00:04:12
    Start time of reprise: 00:17:38

    Lyrics:

    Send them surely on. Bring them safely in. (4x)

    May all that is needed be clearly revealed. May all that can heal be healed. (2x)

    May family and friends be held in their holding. Hold and be held. Hold and be held. (2x)

    Ooo Love. Sweet Love. Ooo love is comin' where you are.
    Picture
    Song: The Ambulance Song
    Music by: Aimée Ringle
    "Ooo Love" part by: Laurence Cole

    Notes: We live on a busy road, not far from a fire station -- an ambulance is not an unusual sight -- and thanks to Aimée Ringle, I have the perfect song to wish the people involved well... and now you do, too! Next week, Aimée and I talk about the tender place music is able to open up, how someone with considerable musical skills and experience finds how they, too, can be included in community singing... how we are what we repeatedly do, and what that means for Aimée. She is generous, vulnerable, clear-sighted, and willing to name her own challenges. I hope you can join us... but before that, please enjoy adding this song to your personal repertoire!

    Songwriter Info: Aimée Ringle is a singer, multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, song-leader, and storyteller. She has an invigorating teaching style that is enriched by her capable percussion and guitar skills. Aimée’s work as a song-leader and storyteller have woven her into an ever widening community of cultural shifters around the country in the realms of sustainable agriculture, alternative education, community living, healing, creativity, and spiritual exploration ~ all of which are reflected in the songs she carries. As a song-leader, Aimée’s work and example have become a valued part of several Ancestral skills gatherings including Winter Count, Spirit Weavers and Sharpening Stone.

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

    Song Learning Time Stamps:
    Start time of teaching: 00:04:12
    Start time of reprise: 00:17:38

    Links:
    Aimée's website: www.aimeeringlemusic.com 
    Aimée's YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/AiméeRingle
    The Ambulance Song video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7b6WxqtlIbo 
    Aimée's Bandcamp: https://aimeeringle.bandcamp.com
    Laurence Cole's website: https://www.laurencecole.com

    Nuts & Bolts: 3:4, Aeolian, 4-part

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