The Sunday after this episode is released, December 29th, 2024, 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.

3. Woyaya 

Words & Music by Sol Amarifio (title in the Ga language of Ghana)

​Composed in 1971

We are going, 

heaven knows where we are going, 

but we know within.

And we will get there, 

heaven knows how 

we will get there, 

but we know we will.

It will be hard, we know, 

and the road will be muddy and rough,

But we'll get there, 

heaven knows how 

we will get there, 

but we know we will.

Wɔyaya, Wɔyaya, 

Wɔyaya, Wɔyaya.

80. Go Dark

Words from Wendell Berry

Music ​by Kate Thomas

To go in the dark with a light

is to know the light.

To know the dark, go dark; 

go without sight,

and find that the dark, too, 

blooms and sings,

And is traveled by dark feet, 

and dark wings.

72. Unknown (Finding Home)

Words & Music​ by Anni Zylstra

​Finding home

in all that is unknown.

Release

​what is gone.

143. Love Stays

Words & Music by Laszlo Slomovits

Change comes and goes, love stays.

Change comes and goes, love stays.

Life is filled with such mysterious ways.

​Change comes and goes, love stays.

29. Hope Lingers On

Words & Music​ by Lissa Schneckenburger

1. My mother, when love is gone (2x),

in our darkest hour, hope lingers on.

My father, when peace is gone (2x),

in our darkest hour, hope lingers on.

Chorus:

I will not hate, and I will not fear;

in our darkest hour, hope lingers here.

2. My sister, when equality’s gone…

My brother, with tolerance gone…

​

3. My love, when honor is gone…

My country, when justice is gone…

58. When We Are Gone

Words & Music by ​Starhawk and Anne Hill

When we are gone, they will remain:

wind and rock, fire and rain.

They will remain, when we return;

the wind will blow and the fire will burn.

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

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Song: Don't Go Putting the World on Your Shoulders

Notes: December in the north is such a great time for me to dig a little deeper -- finding mini-rests, sometimes even by taking an extra breath before I go do the next thing. I love that this song reminds me to lean on other people, too... to widen my base, to remember my connections. The irony of recording this (alone, in my basement!) was not lost on me!!! So I hope you sing extra vigorously along with me, and share this song widely -- I have been loving singing it with my Flow Singers this month, and we are really feeling that "take a nap" verse, I tell you!

Songwriter Info: William Lawrence is an organizer and social movement strategist from Lansing, Michigan. He was a co-founder of Sunrise Movement. He is currently the Coordinator of the MI Rent Is Too Damn High coalition, fighting for rent control, tenants rights and social housing in the Great Lakes State. Erin Bridges was raised in Louisville, Kentucky, where she now lives with her dog and queer family in a big turquoise house. Like many southerners, she grew up with a love for shared meals, music sung in fellowship, pies made from the garden, and a close relationship to earth. Erin's work is rooted in building a world where everyone can access these simple pleasures. In 2017, she co-founded Sunrise, a youth movement that launched the Green New Deal, and more recently launched Hollerin' Up, aiming to fund people-powered teams for the long haul.

Sharing Info: Erin and Will are happy for this song to be shared far and wide, attributed to the two of them!

Song Learning Time Stamps:

Links:

Sunrise Movement: https://www.sunrisemovement.org/about/

Sunrise Movement songbook: https://drive.google.com/file/d/120wccqh6jdV-Cb1gCZgxtuE7ELnYPUXL/view?usp=sharing which includes a beautiful acknowledgment of the complexity of oral songsharing without appropriation

Nuts & Bolts: 2:2, major, verse & chorus

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Song: Gratitude

Notes: Recording Kate Munger's song for you was SUCH a treat for me!!! 15 members of our extended family gathered in a living room, and sang together about sinking into gratitude.... mmmm-hmmmm!!! You'll hear 5-year-old Claire proclaiming she is right here, and then the beautiful gathered sound of Beth, Peter, Will, Elyse, Edward, Carolyn, Patrick, Ruth, Tom, Rebecca, Forrest, Kathi, Claire, Seth and me. One of the most beautiful things about the whole experience was that the song itself kept reminding me to be present -- to soak into the moment.

Songwriter Info: Kate Munger has been passionate about community singing since she was 8 years old at Girl Scout Camp and has led community singing now for over 45 years. In 2000 she founded the first of now 200 Threshold Choirs around the world. Today at 74 she is retired from running the Threshold Choir and has returned to her passions of writing songs for medicinal use and singing at the bedsides of people who are dying, in coma and with folks who are incarcerated. She is a popular speaker among palliative care, choral singing and prison reform professionals and is a gracious, skillful musical host and choral director whose joy is reminding us that we are singing beings, bringing community singing back to "the community.” Kate knows that this work is deep and serious and she offers a fresh, lively, sometimes irreverent, always relevant perspective.

Sharing Info: Kate encourages the sharing of this song and its message; any donation that is generous, affordable and personally significant would be most welcome.

Song Learning Time Stamps:

Links:

Kate welcomes emails to [email protected]

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

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Song: Over/Under

Songwriter Info: Lyndsey Scott is a multimedia artist, songleader, songwriter, and ritualist committed to exploring community singing as a technology of belonging and a strategy for mutual liberation. She currently co-facilitates the yearlong cohort of emergent earth-based ceremonial study with Earthkeeper Wisdom School (Hartsburg, MO), leads song for politicized somatics practitioners in Embodying Racial Justice’s yearlong program, Opening to Freedom (Millerton, NY), and teaches "Community Singing as Collective Power" at the University of Iowa School of Music's Grant Wood Fellow.

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

Song Learning Time Stamps:

Links:

Lyndsey's website: https://www.lyndseyscott.earth/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lila.gaia/ 

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/lyndseyscott 

We Do This 'Til We Free Us by Mariame Kaba: https://www.haymarketbooks.org/books/1664-we-do-this-til-we-free-us 

The Wild Edge of Sorrow by Francis Weller: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/250673/the-wild-edge-of-sorrow-by-francis-weller/ 

Song Carrier Toolkit by Liz Rog: https://www.centerforbelonging.earth/store/p/song-carrier-toolkit 

Earthkeeper Wisdom School: https://www.earthkeeperwisdomschool.org/ 

Rebeccah Bennett, Root Teacher, The InPower Institute: https://inpowerinstitute.com/ 

The Milk-Eyed Mender by Joanna Newsom: https://joannanewsom.bandcamp.com/album/the-milk-eyed-mender 

Meredith Monk: https://www.meredithmonk.org/ 

Emma Koeppel: https://soundcloud.com/emma-koeppel 

Anthony R. Rhodd: https://substack.com/@anthonyrrhodd 

Woman Stands Shining (Pat McCabe): https://www.patmccabe.net/ 

Nuts & Bolts: 4:4, minor, unison or harmonized, call & response section

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Song: We Are the Door

Notes: Best possible things happening on this recording of Lyndsey Scott's song, We Are the Door.... I get to sing with my daughter, Rebecca Csuy and we figured out how to make a marimba sound on my keyboard!!! Honestly, life is just better with a marimba sound AND a loved one to sing with.

This song is a beautiful entry into change and shift and the unknown -- I get a sense of almost prairie-like expansiveness, accompanied by magic and wisdom of a seer inviting me to move in the big shadows. And like most songs, the magic really starts to happen when you sing it yourself, in your own voice, vibrating with possibility. Let Rebecca and me stand by your side and sing with you -- turn it up loud in headphones or speakers so you can really expand into it -- and then go find Lyndsey's recording and sing with her and her co-creator on this album, Michael Linder!

Don't miss next week's episode, when Lyndsey and I snug up as close as you can through Zoom and talk about resources during change...

Songwriter Info: Lyndsey Scott is a multimedia artist, songleader, songwriter, and ritualist committed to exploring community singing as a technology of belonging and a strategy for mutual liberation. She currently co-facilitates the yearlong cohort of emergent earth-based ceremonial study with Earthkeeper Wisdom School (Hartsburg, MO), leads song for politicized somatics practitioners in Embodying Racial Justice’s yearlong program, Opening to Freedom (Millerton, NY), and teaches "Community Singing as Collective Power" at the University of Iowa School of Music's Grant Wood Fellow.

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

Song Learning Time Stamps:

Links:

Lyndsey's website: https://www.lyndseyscott.earth/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lila.gaia/ 

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/lyndseyscott 

Nuts & Bolts: 4:4, harmonic minor, 2-layer (plus marimba part!)

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Song: The Net

Notes: The Hindu teacher, Sri Nisargadatta, said, "The real world is beyond our thoughts and ideas; we see it through the net of our desires... To see the universe as it is, you must step beyond the net. It is not hard to do so, for the net is full of holes." I began singing this song to myself in the summer of '24, reminding me that what I thought was an immutable barrier might actually be a net of holes, and if I found fluidity, I could slip right by it. As events unfolded, the song grew and took on layers of meaning for me. What if the net were my safety net, and I felt myself slipping through? Can I be at peace with recognizing that there is no safety, no guarantee -- but there is a truth grounded beyond all of my desires, and like water, I can fall down through to that. Patty gave us a beautiful visual of the freedom in that fall... this song has been a great resource to me.

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

Sharing Info: The song is free to share in the oral tradition; please contribute to A Breath of Song as a fair exchange if you are earning money at an event using this song.

Song Learning Time Stamps:

Links:

Patricia's website: https://www.juneberrymusic.com

Nuts & Bolts: 12:8, major, 3-part with harmonies

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, November 10th, 2024, 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.

64. Mourning Dove 

by Wendy Luella Perkins

I awoke to the coos 

of a mourning dove

a mourning dove, 

a mourning dove;

and her sad, sweet song 

drifted down from above

drifted down from above, 

drifted down from above​.

106. Don’t Numb to This 

by Abigail Bengson

Don’t numb to this, 

don’t numb it out.

Let it all flow in and out.

​You’re strong enough 

to feel it all,

​and keep your heart alive.

Stay soft to this, 

don’t numb it out.

​Let yourself breathe in and out.

You’re strong enough 

to feel it all,

and keep your heart alive. ​I said,

Don’t numb to this, 

don’t numb it out,

Let yourself breathe in and out,

You’re strong enough 

to feel it all

and it’ll keep your heart alive. I said,

Don’t numb to this, 

don’t block it out,

Let it all flow in and out,

You’re strong enough 

to feel it all,

and it’ll keep your heart alive.

145. Hold On 

with guest Aaron Johnson

By Rev. Cleophus Robinson, Jr., 1980

Hold on (sing on, love on, march on)

​just a little while longer

​Everything will be all right

10. I Trust My Roots 

with guest Samara Jade 

I trust my roots

*to know where to go* (3x)

I trust my roots

*to know where to go*

down, down into the earth.

Chorus:

Down, down into the earth, 

intertwining with all beings,

I'm seeing in every direction; 

going down, down into the earth,

I'll send a message on the 

world-wide-web of interconnection.

*to anchor me deep*

*to reach what I need*

*to share what I got*

*to lead me to love*

*to connect us as one* ("our" roots)

93. Breathe Along with Life 

by Chloe Vispap-Rich

Mark out your golden lines

Create your golden times

Breathe along with life

Away you go.

Away you go,

Away you go,

Breathe along with life

Away you go.

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Song: Breathe

Notes: This was the song I needed to sing to help myself through the pre-election moment... building trust in myself to navigate whatever comes next, tap into the energy to work up to the last moment to effect the change I hope for. Batya Levine is an incredibly heart-sourced song composer, and they'll be releasing a new album in December... check out their website and get on the list to know when it appears -- it's sure to be wonderful, and "Breathe" will be on it -- and you'll know it!

Songwriter Info: Batya Levine (they/them) uses song as a tool for cultivating healing and resilience in their work as a communal song leader, shaliach tzibur (Jewish prayer leader) and cultural organizer. Batya is a co-founder and Director of Programs at Let My People Sing!, and they compose original music made of Ashkenazi yearning, queer heart-medicine, and emunah (faith). Batya is releasing their second album, Yivarechecha, in December 2024 through Rising Song Records.

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

Song Learning Time Stamps:

Links:

Batya's website: https://www.batyalevine.com

Nuts & Bolts: 4:4, minor, 3-layer

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Song: Heaven Above, Earth Below

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:

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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Song: Fly Away

Notes: Becky Graber really captured that feeling I get sometimes when I'm so uncomfortable, I want to simply fly away... when you are seeking something that feels trustworthy, and it feels elusive. I taught this in an unusual way for A Breath of Song, using solfege to identify the very different ranges of each of the four parts... you may find that useful, or not -- let go of anything doesn't serve you! Next week, Becky and I get to dig into a conversation with both of us here in my basement workspace... newsletter subscribers will see the pairsie (what do you really call a selfie with two?) As a songleader who started a chorus that has felt like mutual nourishment for almost 30 years, Becky has a perspective on group singing that is unique, and I really enjoyed exploring this experience with her.

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:

Links:

Becky's website: www.beckygraber.com

Brattleboro Women's Chorus website: www.brattleborowomenschorus.org 

Nuts & Bolts: 4:4, Major (Ionian), 4 part layer

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