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    203. Towo Kalona

    3:4 Ancestors Beauty Dreams Earth Gentle Heart Light Lullaby Night Prayer Rain Sky Song Form: Harmonized Stars Water
    Song Learning Time Stamps:
    Start time of teaching: 00:03:01
    First full singing: 00:10:40
    Start time of reprise: 00:20:16
    Just piano: 00:21:20

    ​Lyrics:

    Towo kalona, kaini x 2
    Torano, kamawo,
    Wera, wera
    Manatlo

    Towo - your
    Kalona - heart
    Kaini - beautiful
    Torano - thunder
    Kamawo - sorrow, deep sadness
    Wera, wera - rain, rain
    Manatlo - spray of blossoming flowers

    (Find more English lyrics for the full song on Alix's Bandcamp page)
    Picture
    Song: Towo Kalona
    Music by: Alix Thorpe

    Notes: I did something a little different in the way I shared this -- I took time with the proto-Celtic, so you could be comfortable singing in a Bronze-Era language... and then there's the usual looped section, with a harmony above and below -- but then at the reprise, I sing just the melody with piano, and then just the piano so you can sing the melody yourself, and allow me to accompany you. I find this song of Alix Thorpe's beautifully addictive, and there's something about singing in a bone language that feels like healing perspective to me. After you are snagged by the melody and parts on the podcast, buy it from her on Bandcamp, where you can hear the full English lyrics! 

    Songwriter Info: Alix is a mother, a birth doula and a shiatsu practitioner who lives in Devon in England. She found her voice and began writing songs only a few years ago. Song for Alix is a way of prayer and an expression of soul.  She has written several songs in proto-Celtic; a kind of "spirit language" and ancestral mother tongue made of the earliest traceable fragments of the Celtic languages, dating back around 4000 years. Dreaming with proto-Celtic has been a powerful vehicle for kindling connection with her ancestral roots. Alix's songs are particularly inspired by whales, the spirit of the rose, Buddhism and honouring sacred rites of passage.

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

    Song Learning Time Stamps:
    Start time of teaching: 00:03:01
    First full singing: 00:10:40
    Start time of reprise: 00:20:16
    Just piano: 00:21:20

    Links:
    Alix's Bandcamp: https://alixthorpe.bandcamp.com/track/towo-kalona 

    Nuts & Bolts: 3:4, melody with 2 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

    186. The Riddle Song

    4:4 Generations Gentle Love Lullaby Play Scale: Ionian (Major) Song Form: Unison
    Song Learning Time Stamps:
    Start time of teaching: 00:02:20
    Start time of reprise: 00:12:08
    Lyrics:

    I gave my love a cherry that had no stone,
    I gave my love a chicken that had no bones,
    I told my love a story that had no end,
    I gave my love a baby with no crying.

    How can there be a cherry that has no stone?
    How can there be a chicken without no bones?
    How can there be a story that has no end?
    And show me, where's the baby with no crying?

    A cherry in the blossom, it has no stone.
    A chicken in the pippin, it has no bones.
    The story that I love you, it has no end...
    A baby, when it's sleeping, has no crying!
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    Song: The Riddle Song
    Music by: traditional

    Notes: I find myself feeling like we live in a bit of a riddle right now -- how can this impossible thing be so, and what will resolve it? I literally learned this song at my mother's knee... it's one of the earliest I remember singing, and I was so delighted by the riddle form! As a young teen, it was one of the first songs I learned on guitar. I sang it to kids I babysat in college, where I learned about the Child Ballads and Cecil Sharp's collecting in southern Appalachia. I sang it with my children, with our granddaughter -- and now I get to sing it with you! There's a through-line for a song.... what songs have travelled with you your whole life?

    Songwriter Info: Patricia was born in Boulder, CO, and is grateful to the burgeoning folk music scene that encouraged family music, which is how she learned this song.

    Song Learning Time Stamps:
    Start time of teaching: 00:02:20
    Start time of reprise: 00:12:08

    Links:
    An intriguing discussion board about trad music: https://mudcat.org/
    An introduction to Child Ballads: https://folkways.si.edu/playlist/child-ballads 
    Text of Child Ballad #46 (which The Riddle Song is believed to have come from): https://sacred-texts.com/neu/eng/child/ch046.htm 
    The Cecil Sharp collection of The Riddle Song: https://archives.vwml.org/records/CJS2/9/2688 
    Doc Watson's recording: https://youtu.be/fRO6egtKipg?feature=shared 
    Carly Simon's recording: https://youtu.be/4O_Lu_khQDM?feature=shared 

    Nuts & Bolts: 4:4, major, strophic (3 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

    123. Arms of Love

    3:4 Be Present Belonging Breathe Calm Flow Friendship Gentle Harmony Heal Heart Home Love Lullaby Peace Rest Ribbon Safe Scale: Aeolian (minor) Song Form: Harmonized
    Song: Arms of Love
    ​Music: Alexa Sunshine Rose
    Lyrics

    Come now child, lay it down
    Just breathe
    Just be
    Come be cradled in the arms of love
    Just breathe, just be.
    Picture
    Notes: Every time I sing one of Alexa Sunshine Rose's songs with a group, people immediately want to sing it again -- they simply feel that good. I give a little extra help picking out the harmonies that are on the recording of this that Alexa Sunshine Rose released (buying it on Bandcamp is a great way to support her artistry)... and then I play around with making up harmonies of my own, as I hope you will if it appeals. There's also something very beautiful about centering in the melody of this song, and letting the harmonies develop around you.

    Songwriter Info: Alexa Sunshine Rose is a singer-songwriter, mother and artist who has dedicated herself and her life's work to being a clear channel for peace on earth. Alexa plays in the tuning frequency of A=432 Hz to promote inner peace and deep sound absorption. Listeners worldwide utilize her music during pregnancy and birth, hospice, yoga and massage, community song circles, and inner-transformational journeys.

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

    Links:
    Website: www.alexasunshinerose.com
    Instagram: @Alexasunshinerose
    Facebook: www.facebook.com/alexasunshinerose
    Support on Patreon: www.patreon.com/alexasunshinerose

    Song Learning Time Stamps:
    Start time of teaching: 00:03:25
    Start time of reprise: 00:13:35
    ​​​
    Nuts & Bolts: 3:4 minor, 4-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!​
  • Published on

    73. Love Flows In

    2:2 Be Present Calm Flow Heal Lullaby Release Rest Ribbon Scale: Ionian (Major) Song Form: Harmonized Tend
    Song: Love Flows In
    Words & Music​: Roberta Kirn
    Lyrics
    Take a moment to quiet the mind,
    to settle down deep in the body.
    Love flows in, love flows in, love flows in.
    Like the waves, like the tide, like the everlasting spring,
    love flows in.
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    Notes: I love that after I sing this a few times, I begin to feel more fluid inside -- as though everything under my skin is softening into a tidal pulse of flow. It's a beautiful song to sing with a drone... the words "the mind", or the "in" from "flows in" join the drone note -- a way of subverting any annoying repeated note into becoming accompaniment for your singing. This podcast isn't about me producing a polished recording -- it's about you singing, you playing, and you having a new song that you can invite into your life... and knowing that hundreds of other people are singing this song, too. Maybe they're on the melody, or the harmony, or maybe they're experimenting like I did today? And when they finish singing, everyone may feel different than when they started to sing... a little more settled, a little more flow, a little more love?

    Songwriter Info: Roberta Kirn is a song leader, percussionist, and dancer who has been living, working, and raising a family on the island of Martha’s Vineyard off the coast of Massachusetts since 1989. She is the founder of BeWellSing and The Song Exchange Project, through which she brings singing in community to as many people as she can. Inspired by the teaching of Dr Ysaye Maria Barnwell, Roberta has been leading community singing for over 25 years. She believes, and has experienced, that singing together brings us into deeper connection with ourselves and each other. Raising our voices, having a communal experience of rhythm, melody, and harmony is a deeply healing experience that can be shared across age, gender, race, class, and culture.

    Links: 
    Roberta's Website: https://www.bewellsing.com

    Song Learning Time Stamps:
    Start time of teaching: 00:03:35
    Start time of reprise: 00:15:13

    Nuts & Bolts: 2:2, Major, 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

    71. Lullaby My Sweetness with singer Rebecca Csuy

    3:4 Calm Flow Lullaby Release Rest Scale: Ionian (Major) Song Form: Harmonized Tend Trust
    Song: Lullaby My Sweetness
    Words & Music​ by Patricia Norton
    Lyrics
    Lullaby my sweetness, rock me forever;
    cradle me deep in an ocean of blue.
    Lullaby my sweetness, hold me so gentle;
    this is the song that I sing for you.

    White birds winging above me,
    calling wild and calling free.
    White thoughts, wheeling away now;
    loose and alight and afloat on the sea.
    Picture

    Notes    : I am thrilled to announce a 3-generational podcast!!! Our daughter, Rebecca Csuy (pronounced, "Soo-ee"), was kind enough to join me to record this lullaby I started singing to myself a few months ago.... and then Rebecca managed to catch Claire, their almost 3-year-old daughter, singing it to herself the next day! (If you wanted to skip ahead to that, it's at the very, very end of the podcast, as a bonus, and of course, I would completely understand!) Do you ever sing with someone who makes you feel better about your own voice just by the way they sing with you? That's how I feel about singing with Rebecca -- her voice is so true and released -- it helps me find the center in my own in some way. I wrote this song because I'm not always an easy sleeper... so one day after a rough night, I was trying to sing to myself to unwind and relax -- and this is what came. The white birds were seagulls, making a racket outside our apartment window... and just before I fall asleep, it feels like my thoughts turn white and begin to float -- and so the white thoughts.

    Songwriter Info: That would be me, so both of the websites below have stuff...

    Links: 
    abreathofsong.com
    juneberrymusic.com

    Song Learning Time Stamps:
    Start time of teaching: 00:02:43
    Start time of reprise: 00:15:43

    Nuts & Bolts: 3:4, Ionian, melody with 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!