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  • Published on

    211. Set Us Free

    4:4 Earth Freedom Generosity Peace Scale: Ionian (Major) Song Form: Unison Wisdom
    Song Learning Time Stamps:
    Start time of teaching: 00:02:49
    Start time of reprise: 00:15:29
    Lyrics:

    SET US FREE
    by Elise Witt,
    Spanish translation Lisset Rodes
    inspired by Rev. Timothy McDonald
    ©Non Si Sa Mai Music ASCAP

    Porqué MENTIR para buscar la verdad?
            We cannot LIE our way to the truth
            We spin and spin the earth around
    El mundo gira y girara’
            MENTIR nos destruye (Amen)
                    LYING will destroy us (Amen)
            Mas LA VERDAD nos liberara’
                    TRUTH will set us free

    Porqué GASTAR para endeudarnos mas?
            We cannot SPEND our way out of debt
            We spin and spin the earth around
    El mundo gira y girara’
            L’AMBICION destruye (Amen)
                    GREED will destroy us (Amen)
            LA SENCILLEZ nos liberara’
                    GENEROSITY will set us free

    Porqué PELEAR para lograr la paz?
            We cannot WAR our way to peace
            We spin and spin the earth around
    El mundo gira y girara’
            LA GUERRA destruye (Amen)
                    VIOLENCE will destroy us (Amen)
            Solo LA PAZ nos liberara’
                    PEACE will set us free
    Picture
    Song: Set Us Free
    Music by: Elise Witt

    Notes: Elise is an inventive songleader and huge heart in Georgia, USA, whom I met online during the pandemic doing vocal improv with our shared teacher, Rhiannon... but I had been in contact with her before then because I wanted to sing a song of hers with my community chorus. Here, she has set words from the Rev. Timothy McDonald, calling us to the kind of integrity that gives freedom. I teach the song a capella, so you can sing with just my voice -- and then do it with piano at the end, so you can experience it that way -- and then if you follow the shownote links, you can sing it in Spanish and English with Elise, Judith & Lisset Rodés -- Lisset wrote the Spanish words... and it's a little slower, a little more legato than I sang it. I love it when there's a chance to compare different versions of the same song!

    Songwriter Info: Elise’s concerts of Global, Local & Homemade Songs™ and her Impromptu Glorious Chorus™ workshops create and connect singing communities around the world. Born in Switzerland, raised in NC, and living in Atlanta since 1977, Elise speaks 5 languages fluently and sings in at least a dozen more. The Elise Witt Choral Series features choral arrangements of her original compositions and she recently published All Singing, a songbook with 58 original songs including music notation, lyrics and chords, stories and photos.
    A founding member of Atlanta’s Theatrical Outfit, Elise spent many years as a Resident Artist, visiting communities around the state of Georgia and the Southeast, teaching global music and writing local songs with students of all ages.
    From 2009 until 2024 Elise served as Director of Music Programs at the Global Village Project, a non-profit, special purpose middle school for teenage refugee girls in Decatur Georgia, for which she published Imagine A Circle: The Global Village Songbook, Using Singing and Songwriting to teach English for Multi-lingual learners.
    Elise currently gathers singers of all persuasions in joyous circles, and continues her global touring.

    Sharing Info: Elise says: "I always love to share songs in oral (by ear) tradition and I'd love to hear from you how and with whom you share the song...
    AND the song is also available as a choral arrangement (SATB, SSAA, TTBB) on my website https://elisewitt.com/web/ewcs-choral-music/"
    ​
    Song Learning Time Stamps:
    Start time of teaching: 00:02:49
    Start time of reprise: 00:15:29

    Links:
    Website: www.EliseWitt.com 
    A glimpse of what I do: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e0YHTe_Q7bE&feature=youtu.be 
    All Singing: The Elise Witt Songbook: https://elisewitt.com/web/product-category/songbook/
    “Jenny Jenkins” global community music/art video created for DAS Year 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QCmNNZIVZkw&t=2s
    “Ready or Not” global community music/art video created for DAS Year 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UNsUsSobImw&t=11s 
    Imagine A Circle: The Global Village Project Songbook: https://elisewitt.com/web/gvp-songbook/ 
    Elise's Bandcamp: https://www.BandCamp.com/EliseWitt 
    Choral arrangements by Elise: https://elisewitt.com/web/ewcs-choral-music/ 
    Choral arrangements for Set Us Free in particular: https://elisewitt.com/web/product/set-us-free/ 
    Spanish and English version of Set Us Free in concert: https://youtu.be/L5IjAhJZyOo?si=5WIleerpseLX_rxo 

    Nuts & Bolts: 4:4, major, many 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

    135. What Would it Take with Guest Meg O'Dell Chittenden

    6:8 Be Present Belonging Flow Gather Generations Grieve Heart Home Joy Love Peace Release Ribbon Scale: Minor Sea Song Form: Harmonized Water
    Song: What Would It Take
    Music:     Meg O'Dell Chittenden
    Lyrics:

    What would it take to let yourself
    Fall, fall in love with life completely
    What is the place that softly calls you
    Home, home, back to yourself so ease-fully

    All of these days are made of what we sow
    Gather in and then let go
    Beneath these waves of joy and grief and woe
    The sea moves deep and slow

    Picture
    Notes: Meg tells us where she goes "to integrate, to reorient around what matters most to me, and connect with the world around me and that sense of source within myself." We talk about "the good, the beautiful, and the true," and she doesn't shy away from the awkward questions I have about those words in today's world. Meg and her two children, Clancy and Celia, teach us "What Would It Take?" with its intertwining harmonies, and then later we talk about the experience of singing in harmonies and how it connects to boundarys and group awareness. Meg says, “My pathway with the voice…is about repeatedly coming back into connection with myself…and the possibility of joy.”

    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: Yes -- The song is free to share but Meg always welcome financial and/or networking support if/when folks are so moved.

    Links: People of the Dawnland, Wabanaki confederacy and Penobscot people: https://matlt.org/wabanaki-people-of-the-dawnland/
    Spell Songs: The Lost Words: https://www.thelostwords.org/spell-songs/
    The Spell Songs: Blessing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AUBBF99UNkQ
    Blue Hill Mountain: https://bluehillheritagetrust.org/blue-hill-mountain/
    SongWeavers of Maine: https://www.singwaldorf.org
    Antioch University, Masters for Waldorf Teachers: https://www.antioch.edu/academics/education/waldorf-education-med/
    Heidi Wilson: https://heidiannwilson.com/
    Sarina Partridge: https://sarinapartridge.com/
    Nicholas Williams: https://www.kehlerwilliams.com/about
    Bennett Konesni: https://www.duckbackfarm.com/
    Bagaduce Music lending Library: https://www.bagaducemusic.org/
    Waldorf Education: https://www.waldorfeducation.org/waldorf-education
    Meg’s Somatic Coaching: https://www.singwaldorf.org/work-with-meg
    Tinder Hearth pizza restaurant: https://www.tinderhearth.com/
    Joni Mitchell - Blue: https://jonimitchell.com/music/album.cfm?id=5
    Kongero- Swedish Folk'appella group: https://kongero.se/

    Song Learning Time Stamps:
    Start time of teaching: 00:03:45
    Start time of song after teaching: 00:34:56
    Start time of reprise: 01:16:40

    Nuts & Bolts: 6:8, minor, 3-part harmony

    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

    132. Hold Fast the Hope

    4:4 Belonging Calm Determination Dreams Earth Flow Gentle Heal Hope Journey Peace Song Form: Harmonized Song Form: Unison
    Song: Hold Fast the Hope
    Music: Paulette Meier
    Words:​ George Fox, from Epistle #314 (1675)

    Lyrics:

    Hold fast the hope, that anchors the soul,
    which is sure and steadfast,
    ​that you may float above the world’s sea.
    Picture
    Notes: We play a little with the harmonies over and under this very singable melody Paulette wrote to set part of a letter written in 1675 by George Fox (it's been a minute!) He was writing during troubled times to a persecuted people. As I was recording, I kept wondering how it could feel to be both "sure and steadfast" and "float above"... the invitation is open to you to explore!

    Songwriter Info: Paulette Meier is a Quaker singer/songwriter from Cincinnati, Ohio, where her strong voice has led crowds in song at many a gathering for peace, justice and an earth restored. As a peace educator in schools, she produced an award-winning album, Come Join the Circle: LessonSongs for Peacemaking, now used in classrooms across the country to help children learn the skills of peacemaking. As Artist in Residence for 9 months at Pendle Hill, a Quaker Center for Study and Contemplation, her appreciation for Quaker history and spirituality deepened, leading to a practice of setting inspiring quotations of 17th century Quaker founding leaders to chant-like song. She leads chanting at the Wisdom retreats of Cynthia Bourgeault, author, mystic, and teacher of the contemplative Christian Wisdom tradition. This on-going collaboration led to a second album of Quaker chants composed by Paulette, Wellsprings of Life: Quaker Wisdom in Chant, on which this song can be found.

    Sharing Info: The song is free to share in oral tradition groups, but please contact Paulette for recording and/or performing permission. When sharing this song, please credit the source: w: George Fox, 1675; m: Paulette Meier, on the album Wellsprings of Life, Quaker Wisdom in Chant.

    Links: Paulette's Website (order downloads or CD here) - www.paulettemeier.com

    Song Learning Time Stamps:
    Start time of teaching: 00:03:04
    Start time of reprise: 00:13:31

    Nuts & Bolts: 4:4, major, unison with 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

    131. Be Here Now

    4:4 Accept Be Present Belonging Breathe Calm Chant Flow Gentle Harmony Listen Mantra Peace Release Scale: Ionian (Major) Song Form: Unison Tend
    Song: Be Here Now
    ​Music:     Resa Cirrincione
    Lyrics:

    ​    I am here,
    I am now,
    I accept,
    I allow.
    Picture
    Notes: I've been lucky to have Resa singing with me for the past ten years in various Juneberry Music offerings, and her warm, colorful voice always brings me pleasure to hear. So as I sing this song, it's as though I hear Resa's voice inside mine. There's something wonderful about selecting the voices that are allowed inside your head and the messages you choose to hear. I find myself calmed by Resa's companionship in this song, reminding me to return to the present, make space for what is, return, return.
    ​
    Songwriter Info: Resa is a Certified Music Practitioner (Therapeutic Musician) at Concord Hospital, Concord, NH, who sings at the bedside of patients, including those who are who are physically and mentally ill, dying, recovering from surgery, in a coma, or in the NICU. She firmly believes in the healing power of music, and, like St. Augustine, affirms that "He who sings, prays twice." Resa has been singing in choirs and choral groups in the United States and Europe since she was 5 years old and occasionally accompanies herself on piano or guitar. When not singing, she is a voracious reader, an adventurous cook, an avid cross-stitcher, and devoted pet-parent. This song was born fully formed after struggling with the process of being present in the gift of each moment as it arrives.

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

    Links: Resa's profile on Creative Ground: https://www.creativeground.org/profile/resa-cirrincione-cmp#section-about

    Song Learning Time Stamps:
    Start time of teaching: 00:04:15
    Start time of reprise: 00:12:20

    Nuts & Bolts: 4:4, major, mantra, unison (optional harmonizing)

    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

    129. Inner Peace

    2:2 Abundance Be Present Beauty Belonging Breathe Calm Change Cycles Earth Flow Gentle Harmony Heal Motion Peace Scale: Ionian (Major) Sky Song Form: Harmonized Water Waves
    Song: Inner Peace
    ​Music:     Kate Valentine
    Lyrics:

    I am the deep peace I seek, I am, I am,

    Look upon the rolling ocean
    Look above the sky unfolding
    All around the tide is turning
    Right here I am standing
    Picture
    Notes: I love the way this song by Kate Valentine has both motion and deep stillness. It carries acceptance and conviction, and I simply love having it in my head. How did she do this??? Next week, in conversation with Kate, she tells how she wrote this specific song, as well as how she managed to convince herself to write music in the first place, which felt like a near-impossible stretch.

    Songwriter Info: Kate Valentine is a registered nurse and founder of Singing Mamas - a national non-profit for maternal well-being, bringing singing groups across the UK and the globe to women and mothers. Kate started with one group in 2011 and while struggling as a single mum to 3 sons and working nights shifts, she set about to get singing mamas free and referred to all new and expectant mums across the UK. There are now more than 200 leaders across 8 countries, with Singing Mamas programmes being delivered in over 50 local authorities, either as community groups or on-prescription through the national health service (NHS).

    Kate is most passionate about bringing the 'untrained' musician into the work of song sharing, and is driven by a determination to re-normalise a singing culture, where it has been lost.

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

    Links:
    Singing Mamas Website: www.singingmamas.org
    Singing Mamas on Instagram: @singing_mamas_org

    Song Learning Time Stamps:
    Start time of teaching: 00:03:34
    Start time of reprise: 00:14:47

    Nuts & Bolts: 2:2, major, harmonized 2 layers

    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

    128. Prayer for Peace

    2:2 Breathe Change Determination Empower Fire Future Harmony Heart Justice Love Peace Prayer Scale: Minor Song Form: Call & Response Song Form: Harmonized Wisdom
    Song: Prayer for Peace
    Music: Gitanjali Jain
    Lyrics:

    In this world that's ripped apart,
    there's a calling in my heart.
    Prayers for justice,
    prayers for peace.
    May we all have love and ease. 

    In this world,
    in my heart;
    there is peace.
    There is love.
    Picture
    Notes: Gitanjali Jain pours heartbreak, tension, anger, confusion all into this prayer for peace, which has some of the scrunchiest harmonies we've ever done on A Breath of Song. And although you could call these stacked harmonies, I decided to call them melodies -- because it's not clear to me that there's a single melodic voice -- to me it is the voice of many combined. Feel the frustration of the sounds hitting against each other; all those wishes we carry for peace, love and ease. Then notice how you feel after you've sung it... is there connection to Gitu, to me, to others feeling all the complexity of our beloved world?

    Songwriter Info: Gitanjali Jain is a multidisciplinary artist specializing in music and theater. Born in Mexico City to her Mexican mother and East Indian father, she has focused a significant part of her work on the study of her ancestry and lineage. Other formative experiences include seven years in Hawai’i, where she worked as an aerialist, actor, and dancer in the award-winning production 'Ulalena.

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

    Links:
    Gitanjali on Bandcamp: https://alicuanta.bandcamp.com/

    Song Learning Time Stamps:
    Start time of teaching: 00:03:35
    Start time of reprise: 00:17:08

    Nuts & Bolts: 2:2, mostly harmonic minor, harmonized call & response

    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!