Song: Hildegard's Song

Music by: Barbara McAfee

Notes: Sometimes a great groove and simple harmonies is exactly what you need to explore over -- and this song is a beautiful way to listen to your own singing voice playing. Barbara McAfee joins us next week to talk about her journey toward becoming a voice mentor to many folk, developing the Full Voice program, and what that means to her. We were both reeling a bit in the wake of the apparently politically motivated shootings in Minnesota, close to Barbara, shortly before we recorded. Reflecting on the effect of listening to our own voices helped us both stabilize and ground.

Songwriter Info: Barbara lives on the wild and scenic St Croix River about an hour from Minneapolis/St Paul. She is a master voice coach, songwriter, song leader, hospice choir director, long distance swimmer, poet, and author of Full Voice. She feels so lucky to be alive on planet Earth.

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

Song Learning Time Stamps:

Start time of teaching: 00:02:58

Start time of reprise: 00:10:14

Links:

Barbara's website: www.barbaramcafee.com

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

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

The Sunday after this episode is released, June 15th, 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.

190. In the Spring

By Yuri Woodstock

In the spring, among the flowers

Bird song rings in the morning hours

Sun is up and the day is bright

What a time to unleash your light!

153. Blessings Whenever You Breathe

By Melanie DeMore

​Blessings whenever you breathe

​Blessings whenever you breathe

​Blessings whenever you breathe

Blessings all around

Bless your heart

Your tender, tender heart

Bless your heart

​Blessings whenever you breathe

138. My Thoughts Make A Difference

By Chandler Yorkhall

My thoughts make a difference

My feelings make a difference

My words make a difference

My healing makes a difference

I will not shy away from the struggle in my soul

I will waste no time, for this day is growing old

What can I do for this broken world?

20. Great-Full

By Ishka Shir

I am here on this planet, living my life,

doing what I do, feeling grateful.

I am here, this is life, I'm grateful. ​(2x)

119. I Let Go

By Te Martin

I let go

I lay down

I release

Return again

71. Lullaby My Sweetness

By Patricia Norton

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.

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: Freedom Over Fear

Music by: Tembre de Carteret

Notes: Which freedoms do we get to choose? What are the places or times in your life when certain freedoms were not available? Have you ever lost freedoms because of violence or threat? Sometimes it's hard to release fears that may have helped protect us in the past -- and sometimes the feeling of letting go of fear is like standing on an ocean cliff, proclaiming again and again, "I choose freedom over fear!"

Songwriter Info: Tembre de Carteret lives in County Clare, Ireland, and has led a beautiful online singing circle called "We May Sing" since 2020. You can learn more about her and the way in which she facilitates, mentors, and builds song communities at her website, www.tembresong.com

Sharing Info: Tembre says: "This song is free to share with your circle of loved ones and singing group. I just ask you credit me and I whole heartedly welcome any recording/video you do of the song with your group, please send to me."

Song Learning Time Stamps:

Start time of teaching: 00:03:45

Start time of reprise: 00:16:35

Links:

Tembre's website: http://www.tembresong.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tembre.decarteret

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

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/5NOOeWM2w3Og68acT2zPei

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbhgwiqOGcvICIjSsJq6iJg

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

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: Another World

Music by: Patricia Norton

Lyrics by: Arundhati Roy

Notes: Hearing these words in 2020 for the first time felt like a gift of possibility. I love the deeper listening they invite. It took five years before they found a melody in my head -- and the reminder of the quote in its entirety, which is, "Another world is not only possible, she's on her way. Maybe many of us won't be here to greet her, but on a quiet day, if I listen very carefully, I can hear her breathing." Listening. That's the invitation of this melody, which stacks up into an complicated chord when sung as a round.

Songwriter Info: You can find out more about me in general here: https://www.juneberrymusic.com/about-patricia.html Or the whole team that puts this podcast out here: https://www.abreathofsong.com/about.html

Sharing Info: Please share freely, and consider contributing to the A Breath of Song gratitude jar in reciprocity -- or write a review, leave a comment!

Song Learning Time Stamps:

Start time of teaching: 00:04:25

Start time of reprise: 00:14:00

Links:

Flow Singing: https://www.juneberrymusic.com/flow-singing.html

All of what I'm up to: https://www.juneberrymusic.com

Kindred Voices Retreat: https://kindredvoicesretreat.com

Nuts & Bolts: 4:4, major, round

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: Hearth

Music by: Yuri Woodstock

Notes: Yuri Woodstock knows how to start and tend fires -- and this song sings the magic of smoke and spark. He's managed to make it feel dark and joyous, with a sinuous, smoky sound to remember the mystery, the dream of being alive. Next week is a conversation where Yuri brings his high energy take on community singing and how he found his way into the world through a combination of friends and mentors and skills so deeply embedded it's hard to remember how he got them. By the end I was wishing I could visit his song groups -- I may have to plan a road trip!

Songwriter Info: Yuri Woodstock is a community song leader based in Asheville, NC, who has run the now 180-member Hark! Community Choir for the past seven years. It is a non-performing, non-auditioned group that sings for joy and connection. He specializes in quick teaches of layer songs and SATB bangers that are easy to learn and fun to sing. Often Hark! feels like a singing dance party.

Sharing Info: Free to share!

Song Learning Time Stamps:

Start time of teaching: 00:02:53

Start time of reprise: 00:13:08

Links:

Yuri's website: https://www.weringlikebells.com/

Yuri's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/weringlikebells/

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

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

The Sunday after this episode is released, May 4th, 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.

166. Breathe

Words & Music by Batya Levine

Breathe, breathe, breathe in

Breathe, breathe out

Let it go, let it go, let it go

Let it go, let it go

Trust in what's coming

Trust in your knowing

It's deeper and wider and holy

180. Pearl in the Dark

Words & Music by Sarina Partridge

Part 1:

I'm gonna dive deep, a little deeper

Into the grit and the mud and the muck

that I don't wanna see

'Cause I think there's a seed,

there's a teacher

There's a pearl in the dark shining!

Part 2:

I will lean into this darkness, this darkness

A seed is shining,

there's a pearl in the dark shining!

Part 3:

Ooooh, shining like a pearl

Ooooh, new leaves unfurl

Ooooh, a new way is possible -

there's a pearl in the dark shining!

52. Ocean Wide

Words & Music by Eli Marienthal

Open the ocean wide in us,

open the ocean wide.

Take all the pain inside of us,

take all the pain inside.

Open the ocean wide in us, oh,

open the ocean wide.

​Take all the pain inside of us,

take all the pain inside.

126. Meditation

Words & Music by Neal Jolly

The beat of the heart in the chest,

The pulsing of blood in the hands,

The in and the out of the breath,

The here, the now, the you.

21. Song Deep in Your Bones

Words & Music by Elise Witt

When you're feeling dry, there's water in the well. (4x)

​

No rain from the sky, just a tear in your eye,

all alone, far from home, you roam.

Feeling tired, uninspired, like you're drifting away

from your heart and the part you play.

136. Breathe Deep

Words & Music by Sara Stutz

All you need is a quiet moment.

All you need is a quiet moment.

All you need is a quiet moment,

go inside. Go inside.

Breathe deep, breathe deep.

Breathe deep, everything's alright.

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: Where Am I Going To?

Music by: Patricia Norton

Notes: I heard adrienne maree brown describe humans as "bags of water" -- humans on average are around 60% water.... like a delta, or the land around a pond or river with its banks, or a bathtub and its water pipes -- we are a way of shaping water -- we are, literally, a flow. This song was born in motion, the kind of walking where the rhythm of your steps and breath becomes the soundscape, and you can release everything else, dropping into the flow. Songwriter Info: Patricia loves to walk fast from one spring wildflower to the next -- averages out to a stroll!

Sharing Info: Please share freely, and let people know about A Breath of Song when you do.

Song Learning Time Stamps:

Start time of teaching: 00:03:19

Start time of reprise: 00:11:40

Links:

Flow Singing: https://www.juneberrymusic.com/flow-singing.html

All of what I'm up to: https://www.juneberrymusic.com/

Kindred Voices Retreat: https://kindredvoicesretreat.com

Nuts & Bolts: 4:4, major, round or 3 layers

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