Song: We All Need A Little Love

Music by: Una McCann

Notes: In this super-satisfying song, Una McCann stepped into the funk so we can all dig into a little more love in our lives -- not a bad thing to wish for filling our hearts. Doesn't matter what the regimes of the world are doing; we can invite a little more love into our hearts right now! Next week Una and I get to dive right into a conversation about the songwriting shift from singer-songwriter to community songs, how Una manages the energy of 300 singers every week, and more -- hope you can join us!

Songwriter Info:

Una McCann is based in Belfast, Northern Ireland where she works as a choir leader and songwriter.  She has been leading groups in harmony since her school days and has been working with adult choirs for 15 years.  

Una is a proud and active member of the UK Charity The Natural Voice Network, and works in line with the principle that we are all born to sing.  She is passionate about the power of song and creativity to transform lives.

Song writing is a part of life that sustains and supports Una.  She writes melodies and words that she needs to hear in that moment and is always delighted when they resonate with other people too.  

In her spare time, Una enjoys running singing holidays and retreats.

Sharing Info: Una says: "Please sing these songs; they were born to be sung. 

Song Learning Time Stamps:

Start time of teaching: 00:03:16

Start time of reprise: 00:18:15

Links:

Website: www.unamccann.org

Facebook: Una McCann Music

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/unamccann47/ 

Nuts & Bolts: 4:4, minor, SATB

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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

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The Sunday after this episode is released, February 15th, 2026, at 4 p.m. Eastern time, there will be an online gathering of folk who use song to help navigate life -- and we'll sing through this Ribbon of Songs with live-looping! To learn more, click here, or sign up right now to join us!

Lyrics ​& Links to the original episodes for the songs in this ribbon.

​

33. There Is A Love

Words by Rev. Dr. Rebecca Parker

Music by Elizabeth (Beth) Norton

There is a Love holding me; There is a Love holding all that I love;

There is a Love holding all; I rest in this love.

​

There is a Love holding us; There is a Love holding all that we love;

There is a Love holding all; We rest in this love.

210. In This House with MaMuse

By Karisha Longaker

In this house, we lead with love.

In this house, we lift each other up.

In this house, we learn to fly with the dove.

Oh, this is the house we've been dreaming of.

Oh, this is the house we've been dreaming of.

So come on over (come on over),

Welcome in (welcome in),

Come on over (come on over).

Let's be friends (let's be friends).

Come on over (come on over).

There is enough.

Oh, this is the house we've been dreaming of.

Oh, this is the house we've been dreaming of.

101. Sacred Breaking

By Hannah Jeffery

The only way to be here is to be constantly breaking open

How else do we make sense of this human experience?

Beauty, break me open

Tragedy, break me open

Humility, break me open

Love, crack open my heart

Heartbreak is our birthright 

It's the only way to be here

Heartbreak is our birthright

It's the only way we can heal

158. Quiet At First

Music by Eileen Webb

Lyrics by Kai Skye

It's quiet at first,

this song of love

for all the living things.

But once you start to hear it,

it's quite impossible to pretend

there's something better

you could be doing.

178. My Body

By Alexandra Sarton Love

My body is fly

My body is beautiful

My body is bold

My body is mine

123. Arms of Love

By Alexa Sunshine Rose

Come now child, lay it down

Just breathe

Just be

Come be cradled in the arms of love

Just breathe, just be.

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Song: Heading Home

Music by: Ben & Dom

Notes: I read a commentary by Ailey Jolie, saying, "You cannot breathe your way out of patriarchy." She was observing that regulating the body's emergency responses is good to do as a way of caring for ourselves -- but not if it means simply increasing our ability to tolerate a situation that is causing our bodies to cry "emergency." We need to breathe and steady ourselves, as this song of Ben & Dom's does so beautifully -- and the reason is to bring ourselves even more fully into the present, ready to respond effectively to what actually is because we have the capacity to look directly at what is not working. So let this song bring you home to yourself -- whole, rested, and ready.

Songwriter Info: Ben & Dom are a singing duo, weaving their voices around songs old and new. Ben takes the high notes and Dom takes the low notes (most of the time). Their lyrics touch on friendship, nature and what it means for two men to sing together in this modern day. 

Sharing Info: Ben & Dom say: "We would love this song to be sung and shared in any circle. It is a parting song suitable for lots of different situations and occasions. If you feel like you want to share the song we have sheet music and teaching tracks available on our website. There is a tiered pricing structure to suit groups of different sizes and setups. If the cost is any kind of challenge for you then please be in touch and we can send you the materials free of charge. "

Song Learning Time Stamps:

Start time of teaching: 00:04:04

Start time of reprise: 00:18:29

Links:

Ben & Dom's website: www.BenAndDom.com

Ben & Dom's Bandcamp: https://benanddom.bandcamp.com

Buy score for Heading Home: https://benanddom.bandcamp.com/ 

Essay of Ailey Jolie: https://www.facebook.com/share/p/16LcZ7iR43/ 

Nuts & Bolts: 4:4, major, 3-part harmony

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Song: Pray With Our Feet

Words by: Paul Vasile, based on a quotation by Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel

Music by: Paul Vasile

Notes: This is what folk in Minneapolis are doing -- praying with their feet, getting out on the street. They're singing songs to bless each other, the people they're protecting, and the ICE agents who are so misguided. And this is not the only place in the world where people of "middle power" gather -- not super-powers, not uber-wealthy -- just people who care about living in a world where we feed and educate our children, hold jobs with purpose. Paul Vasile describes it as "belonging belovedness -- you are safe, you are seen, you are heard." In this conversation, we dive into the sometimes knotty weeds of faith and how someone who is deeply connected in a faith tradition might want to expand into questions of what world we want to create together. Big trees. "Talk less, sing more." "As a queer person, I experienced a faith that helped me be a bigger, better me."

Songwriter Info:

Paul Vasile (he/him) is a church musician, teacher, coach, and composer who finds his greatest joy in collaborative and community-centered work. Committed to modeling expansive, imaginative, and hospitable experiences of music making wherever he goes, Paul's leadership builds trust, invites spaces of creativity, vulnerability, and play, and supports practices of reflection and holistic learning.

For the past decade he has offered short- and long-term transitional leadership, consulting services, and creative resources to faith communities in seasons of discernment, challenge, and transformation. From 2016 to 2023, Paul served as the Executive Director of Music that Makes Community, a non-profit that shares "paperless" (oral tradition) leadership practices and songs. He traveled across North America modeling distinctive approaches to communal singing and learning at retreat centers, conferences, denominational gatherings, seminaries, and in congregations of all sizes.

Paul also composes music that invites communities to express and explore their connection to sacred stories, their bodies, and the ecosystems that sustain us. His music is represented in Glory to God, All Creation Sings, and Voices Together, as well as The Hymn Society’s resource, Songs for the Holy Other: Hymns Affirming The LGBTQIA2S+ Community.

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

Song Learning Time Stamps:

Start time of teaching: 00:04:35

Start time of reprise: 01:15:00

Links:

Paul's website: https://www.paulvasile.com/ 

Paul's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lovedintobeing/ 

Sheet music for Pray With Our Feet: https://www.paulvasile.com/products/pray-with-our-feet

Feb 7th workshop at Lutheran church in Ft. Washington, MD with Maren Marchesini: https://www.sharingthesong.org/

Inspiration for lyrics, including quote by Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel: https://www.tbemaine.org/praying-with-hearts-and-feet 

Music that Makes Community: https://www.musicthatmakescommunity.org/ 

Rev. Donald Schnell, a 2012 interview as Music Makes Community was beginning: https://www.conversations.org/story.php?sid=329

Bobby McFerrin: https://bobbymcferrin.com/ 

Taizé chants: https://www.taize.fr/en/the-songs 

Chanda Rule: https://www.chandarule.com/

Hold Me by Nina Wise: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yxU_egWayc4&t=16s

Nina Wise: https://ninawise.com

East Coast songleader trainings:

Mila Redwood in Toronto: https://www.milaredwood.ca/song-leader-training

Patricia in Burlington, VT: https://www.juneberrymusic.com/songleader-training.html 

Alice Parker: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alice_Parker

Liz Rog -- here's a place to find her book on songleading: https://www.centerforbelonging.earth/

Arvo Pärt – Passio: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passio_(P%C3%A4rt) 

Spencer LaJoye: https://www.spencerlajoye.com/ 

Spencer's song Plowshare Prayer: https://youtu.be/MhOZv5i7CHY?si=S5bbjdBDJP2cU_4I

Nuts & Bolts: 2:2, minor, unison

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Song: Trust the Work

Words by: Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, S.J.

Music by: Paul Vasile

Notes: Trusting the work of love inside us, as excruciatingly slow as it seems sometimes.... this is a mantra I can fold right into my life, singing it on the regular to remind me back into the power of inner trust. Next episode is a conversation with Paul where we talk about the choice (he ok'd) to replace the word "God" with "love" -- and what it is we all seek. I offer this as a somatic check in as well -- as you sing it in different ranges, how does your voice and body respond?

Songwriter Info:

Paul Vasile (he/him) is a church musician, teacher, coach, and composer who finds his greatest joy in collaborative and community-centered work. Committed to modeling expansive, imaginative, and hospitable experiences of music making wherever he goes, Paul's leadership builds trust, invites spaces of creativity, vulnerability, and play, and supports practices of reflection and holistic learning.

For the past decade he has offered short- and long-term transitional leadership, consulting services, and creative resources to faith communities in seasons of discernment, challenge, and transformation. From 2016 to 2023, Paul served as the Executive Director of Music that Makes Community, a non-profit that shares "paperless" (oral tradition) leadership practices and songs. He traveled across North America modeling distinctive approaches to communal singing and learning at retreat centers, conferences, denominational gatherings, seminaries, and in congregations of all sizes.

Paul also composes music that invites communities to express and explore their connection to sacred stories, their bodies, and the ecosystems that sustain us. His music is represented in Glory to God, All Creation Sings, and Voices Together, as well as The Hymn Society’s resource, Songs for the Holy Other: Hymns Affirming The LGBTQIA2S+ Community.

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

Song Learning Time Stamps:

Start time of teaching: 00:03:43

Start time of reprise: 00:16:07

Links:

Paul's website: https://www.paulvasile.com/ 

Paul's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lovedintobeing/ 

Nuts & Bolts: 4:4, minor, optional round

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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

Join this community of people who love to use song to help navigate life? Absolutely:

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The Sunday after this episode is released, January 4th, 2026, at 4 p.m. Eastern time, there will be an online gathering of folk who use song to help navigate life -- and we'll sing through this Ribbon of Songs with live-looping! To learn more, click here, or sign up right now to join us!

Lyrics ​& Links to the original episodes for the songs in this ribbon.

4. Let It Blow Through 

by Maggie Wheeler

Let it blow through, let it blow through.

Open up the windows of your soul, and let it blow through.

Open up the windows of your soul, and let it blow through.

Open up the windows of your soul, and let it blow through.

63. Awaken Me

by Abigail Spinner McBride

1. Open my eyes to the miracles around me,

wake me up, wake me up.

3. Shake me from my sleep and stir me from my dreaming.

113. Borrow Trouble

by Patricia Norton

ahead of time.

Let me not carry this sorrow

before it's mine.

It will come when it comes, and go when it goes.

I will know; I will know.

It will come when it comes and go when it goes,

I will know.

where grief and praise can find a flow.

My tender heart, it floats on the ocean.

The waves come. The waves go.

161. Good Friend 

by Jan Harmon

that harbours through the winter,

Oh the sail, it is a door

that bids the song to enter,

And let us sail the sea, good friend,

And let us sing together,

The singer lasts a season long,

While the song, it lasts forever.

204. May the Way Open Before You

by Ana Hernández

May you see beyond darkness and light

to the love you are;

to the love you bring into the world.

6. Be Open

by Debbie Nargi-Brown

Be open to the possibility

(x2)

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Song: I Believe

Music by: Una McCann

Guest singers:​ Rebecca Csuy, Seth Norton, Tom Norton, Marika Tabilio

Notes: You'll hear a wonderful group of singers helping me cover all the ranges of this song: Tom and Seth bring the bass, Marika nails the tenor, Rebecca lines up the alto, and I take on soprano. There's a bit of octave confusion -- where do we find these pitches in our different voices?! And then this fabulous song and groove reminds us to see the goodness -- in you, in me, in everybody. So grateful to Una McCann for living into the teachings of Tara Brach and catching this song that feels so good to have singing in my body! Wishing everyone a week of discovery and festive comradery, whether you are celebrating holy days or simply the close of 2025...

Songwriter Info:

Una McCann is based in Belfast, Northern Ireland where she works as a choir leader and songwriter.  She has been leading groups in harmony since her school days and has been working professionally with choirs for 15 years.  

Currently the chair of the Natural Voice Network, Una runs 6 Natural Voice style weekly choirs.  She also enjoys running singing holidays and retreats.   

Una is passionate about the power of creativity to transform lives and encourages her singers to improvise, play and explore their own creativity.

Song writing is a part of life that sustains and supports Una.  She writes melodies and words that she needs to hear in that moment and is always delighted when they resonate with other people too.  

I Believe was born out of the wish to always see the best in people even when it’s hard and we don’t want to, and to remember that underneath all of us is someone who just wants to be happy. We all come from love but sometimes we lose our way a bit. 

It was inspired by listening to Tara Brach who creates beautiful talks on topics such as this.

Sharing Info: Please buy sheet music on Una's website (see below) if you plan to share this song as a songleader.

Song Learning Time Stamps:

Start time of teaching: 00:05:24

Start time of reprise: 00:19:52

Links:

Una's website: www.unamccann.org

Sheet music for this song: https://unamccann.org/product/i-believe/ 

Una's Instagram: www.instagram.com/unamccann47

Una's Facebook (Una McCann Music): https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61558408430060 

Tara Brach's website: www.tarabrach.com

Natural Voice Network: www.naturalvoice.net 

Nuts & Bolts: 4:4, minor, 2 layers, one layer with melody & two 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

Song: What A Gift

Music by: Angela Gabriel

Notes: What a gift it was to be in conversation with Angela Gabriel -- we talked about how to deal with having been "poked in the voice" -- and the sensation of healthy singing. -- What was "one of the most idea shattering things" Angela has ever done in her life, and how "that butterfly excitement" led her there. How she's gotten to a place where, "I don't shame myself anymore," and a slew of adulting tactics she practices. ("I have a lot of arrows in my quiver.") How community singing can show up in activist spaces, where "it is difficult, but it doesn't have to be somber." How she sets up her own space -- "I actively choose to make it colorful..." and how that helps with healing. "The tremble" when singing for someone who is dying. Percussion and how it that has made Angela's voice distinctive in community singing songs... SO many things I loved in our conversation, not to mention this song!

Songwriter Info: Angela is a performer, a teacher, a facilitator, and a lifelong learner. Her mission in life is to facilitate expressive creative, musical, and vocal experiences and to encourage folks of any age and background to replace judgement with curiosity and open themselves to their unique, creative flow.

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

Song Learning Time Stamps:

Start time of teaching: 00:04:55

Start time of reprise: 01:22:01

Links:

Moira Smiley: Leather Britches: https://moirasmiley.com/downloads/leather-britches-2/ 

“The Truth” – Velma Frye: https://www.abreathofsong.com/episodes--show-notes/18-the-truth#/ 

Josh Habermann – Santa Fe Desert Chorale: https://desertchorale.org/about/our-people/#artistic_director 

Susan Swaney – choir director in Bloomington UU church: https://www.uubloomington.org/about/our-ministers-and-staff/ 

Kate Munger – Women Singing In Circle retreat: https://www.lamafoundation.org/engage/events/women-singing/ 

Threshold Choirs: https://thresholdchoir.org/ 

Melanie DeMore: https://melaniedemore.com/

Becky Reardon: https://beckyreardonmusic.com/ 

Terri Garthwaite: https://terrygarthwaite.com/ 

Poor People’s Campaign: https://www.poorpeoplescampaign.org/ 

Pam Blevins Hinkle – No Kings Song doesn't seem to be online yet, but her website is https://pamblevinshinkle.com/ 

Online group called “Lumos Transforms”: https://lumos-transforms.mn.co/ 

PetCanvas: https://mypetcanvas.com/ 

Mbira: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mbira 

Unitarian Universalist Church in Bloomington, IN: https://www.uubloomington.org/ 

Rhiannon’s All the Way In improvisation class: https://rhiannonmusic.com/2026-all-the-way-in 

“I live my life in a river of grace…” Kate Munger: https://thresholdchoir.bandcamp.com/track/life-grace-trust 

Yes – Fragile: https://www.yesworld.com/discography/fragile/ 

Willow Smith – Empathogen: https://willowsmith.com/products/empathogen-digital-download 

Angela's website: www.angelagabriel.me 

Nuts & Bolts: 4:4, blues minor, 2 layers and 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