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

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Song: We Shall Be Known

Music by: Karisha Longaker of MaMuse

Notes: I could not be more delighted than to bring you this beloved song in a real-life song-sharing situation. My Flow Singing folk were singing "We Shall Be Known" for the third week -- so we simply recorded! You'll sing with them as they review the main melody, learn the upper harmony for the first time -- and then I inserted a quick teach of the low harmony -- and then we get to sing "in the room" with the Flow Singers, who were leaning into the song in such a beautiful way. I feel so lucky with the company I get to keep... and next week, I find myself in a Zoom room with Karisha Longaker and Sorah Nutting themselves, talking about the "insanely fun, incredibly connected" first years, and what it means in practical terms to "believe in kindness as our common wealth."

Songwriter Info: MaMuse (“Ma” as in Mamma; “Muse” as in the one who inspires) was born out of a collaboration between songwriters Karisha Longaker and Sorah Nutting. 2008 was a year of great alchemy. Fires erupted in Northern California, a great wind of inspiration blew through, catalyzing a series of songs written from the soil and rivers, ash and heat of Chico where these two musicians met.

In the early days these troubadours toted instruments around town by bicycle and shared their songs at farmers markets, community gatherings, small cafes and festivals. Not too long after, these two voices became iconic to the Chico community, representing idyllic values of friendship, community, love for nature and care for Self and World. The love spread, sisterhood held strong through two decades of LIFE: children, relationships arriving and dissolving, making home in many new places.

MaMuse songs such as “We Shall Be Known” and “Hallelujah” have sprouted wings and are now sung at the bed sides of birthing mothers, round campfires, at weddings and funerals... All places where people are gathered to celebrate and to mourn. These are songs born of the Folk lineage; songs for all of us.

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

Song Learning Time Stamps:

Melody: 00:04:20

High harmony: 00:07:16

Low harmony: 00:11:34

Whole song: 00:15:05

Links:

Show info, bookings and newsletter signup: www.mamuse.org

Instagram: www.instagram.com/mamusemusic

Patreon: www.patreon.com/mamuse

Download and contribute to recorded music funds: mamuse.bandcamp.com

Lisa Littlebird's page for We Shall Be Known: thebirdsings.com/we-shall-be-known/

Burlington, VT Flow Singers: ​www.juneberrymusic.com/flow-singing.html

Nuts & Bolts: 2:2, major, 3-part harmony

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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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The Sunday after this episode is released, October 12th, 2025, 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.

28. Drifting Dark

by Patricia Norton

Drifting dark, cold and spark,

floating dream, holiday scene.

I know this world keeps on turning,

spinning songs of hearts in yearning.

Dark. Spark.

Dream. Scene.

World. Turning.

Spinning candescent, spinning candescent,

spinning hearts in yearning.

199. The Turtle Remembers

by Becky Reardon

The Turtle remembers

a dream in December,

alone with God.

Alone with songs of the whales,

returning, returning.

189. Hearth

by Yuri Woodstock

Fire at the center in my heart

Rise of the night spark fly away

Smoke twines together in the sky

Oh how the dark times light my way

Fire in my heart

Praise be to the dark

Dreaming in an endless night

Living in an endless dream

120. Alchemy

by Te Martin

Everything is helping you

grow and thrive;

know what you need to know.

It is not too late,

it is not too late to follow

(3x)

your dreams.

Dream!

62. Let Me Be The Love

by Karly Loveling

Doing my best to be the Love

my deepest heart is dreaming of.

With every breath I take,

Let me be the Love

Letting my cup overflow

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Song: Breathe Easy

Music by: Karly Loveling

Notes: When I heard this song of Karly's, I couldn't wait to tease apart the harmonies -- and I find I sing it to myself at odd moments -- its kind, gentle advice lets me release into my own wisdom. What's funny is I came to record it in a bit of a rush, after a rather stressful day and knowing I'd be travelling in the morning, so I really had to get it done... and the breath of song did its thing. As I taught it, my heart eased, my breath deepened, I reconnected to my own wholeness -- and by the end of the episode, I was loathe to stop! I'll be curious to know if your body responds the same way?

Songwriter Info: Karly Loveling is a seasoned songleader, songwriter, and permissionary of heartfelt expression. For over two decades, she has been guiding voices and hearts through community singing, classes, and workshops in Eugene, Oregon and beyond.

Karly’s journey in Oregon began with a formative chapter at Lost Valley Educational Center, where she immersed herself in personal growth workshops and forged lasting connections. With a background in dance and a degree in the field, she co-founded Coalessence Dance, an ecstatic dance community that continues to thrive, with Becca Perry in 2006.

Karly’s love for community singing deepened through her many years at Singing Alive, where she led song circles and found inspiration among fellow songleaders from the gathering’s inception through 2023. In 2013, she founded the Hummingbirds Girls Choir, whose joyful harmonies became a beloved feature at the Eugene Saturday Market, Holiday Market, and the Oregon Country Fair. In 2015, Karly launched Singing Heart, a community singing group, which inspired her to complete the Community Choir Leadership Training in British Columbia the following year. Singing Heart is proud to be part of the Ubuntu Choirs Network, affirming the principle that everyone can sing and that singing builds connection.

Karly’s often playful, layered, and meaningful original songs are sung by songleaders from Appalachia to Ireland. She currently offers in-person and online classes, leads retreats, and shares her work at community singing gatherings across the country.

Sharing Info: This song is free to sing, but Karly always welcomes and appreciates financial and networking support.

Song Learning Time Stamps:

Start time of teaching: 00:02:34

Start time of reprise: 00:14:16

Links:

Karly's Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/KarlyLoveling

Karly's Bandcamp: https://karlyloveling.bandcamp.com/music

Singing Heart Harmonies: https://singingheartharmonies.com/

Karly's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/karlyloveling

Nuts & Bolts: 3:4, melody & 2 harmonies

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Song: May the Way Open Before You

Music by: Ana Hernández

Guest singers:​ Sadie Jones, AJ Banach, Cameron Brownell, Rebecca Csuy

Notes: Recording this was a complete treat, because I had four friends in the studio with me -- Rebecca Csuy, Cameron Brownell, AJ Banach, and Sadie Jones learned the song and loved it. AJ catches me when I make a note mistake in the harmony, which is fabulous -- friends who have your back! Next week, I have the privilege of talking with Ana and learning about her extensive background and why community singing matters to her... for now, please enjoy this, which she calls "a simple blessing," and her wish for everyone in the world.

Songwriter Info: Ana Hernández is a composer, recording artist, retreat leader, and activist song leader creating and collecting tunes to build living and just communities through skillful action. A theomusicologist with NYS Poor People’s Campaign, Ana is also the author of The Sacred Art of Chant: Preparing to Practice (Skylight Paths/Turner Publishing).

Sharing Info: The song is free to share in public resistance actions and oral tradition groups. Please contact Ana for recording, streaming, or performing permission.

Song Learning Time Stamps:

Start time of teaching: 00:02:29

Start time of reprise: 00:13:05

Links:

Ana's website: https://anahernandez.org

Ana's Patreon: www.patreon.com/anahernandez

Listen on Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/in/artist/ana-hernandez/214582777

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/0NGPpe3jeQqHFeFArIqYEH

SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/anahermusic

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-p9kisJu1ISLW7w6Wy2lVA

Also look for HARC (with Ruth Cunningham): https://anahernandez.org/album/inside-chants/

The Miserable Offenders: https://anahernandez.org/album/keepin-the-baby-awake-music-for-advent-and-christmas/

Eternal Spirit (w/ Sr. Helena Marie, CHS): https://anahernandez.org/album/eternal-spirit/

Banquet of Love (w/ Ike Sturm and so many friends!): https://anahernandez.org/album/banquet-of-love/

Nuts & Bolts: 6:8, major, 2-part harmony

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