Podcast
A Breath of Song
Hosted by Patricia Norton · EN
Ella Fitzgerald said, ”The only thing better than singing is more singing!” Use song to find wellness in ourselves, each other, and our world. In each episode, Patricia introduces a song that she trusts to help her navigate life. These songs provide a great soundtrack to your day — whether it’s comfort, presence, delight, grief-tending, or simply easing the way. Periodic interviews with song creators add color and understanding. Songs have helped Patricia heal, adapt, and grow, and she hopes these selections will become companions for you as well. Visit the website, abreathofsong.com, to learn more and suggest a song!
20episodes
Episodes
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234. Road Trip, Indy: Patterns
2w ago00:31:57Tap to summarizeVocal improv by: Angela Gabriel, Pam Blevins Hinkle, and Patricia Norton Notes: I love patterns -- mandalas, fractals, tesseracts, pieced quilts, Fair Isle knitting -- and singing! In Bloomington, Indiana, on this fabulous road trip, I got to pattern-make with Angela Gabriel and Pam Blevins Hinkle... and we had so much fun imagining you singing with us. We leave space for you, building up soundbeds that you might want to add a pattern to, too, or maybe you feel a soaring line that weaves through the space? Maybe words come from deep in your body, needing to be said or sung? Maybe you sing along with one of us, letting the pattern sit down in? After the experience of singing together, we felt incredibly close -- please come join our closeness and let yourself play with us. Songwriter Info: Angela still identifies as a performer, teacher, facilitator, and lifelong learner, even though disabilities have forced her to retire. Living with multiple invisible illnesses, some of them breathing-related, she has learned firsthand the life-saving power of song and breath. This has only amplified her mission in life, which is to spread joy through creative experiences and to encourage folks of any age and background to replace judgement with curiosity and open themselves to their unique voice. In fact, it has made it even more precious when she does have opportunities to engage with others. She is living and loving in Bloomington IN, singing with Singing Resistance, Threshold Choir and the local UU choir. She has adopted pacing as a new way of life, which includes prioritizing herself and only saying “YES“ to the things that truly matter to her. Singing matters! She would love to come sing with your community. Pam Blevins Hinkle is a composer, song leader, ritual artist, tree-lover, and kazoo fanatic. She creates participatory, song-centered experiences that invite people to show up as they are and make beauty together. Whether singing knee-deep in rivers, inside prison walls, or at company retreats, she aims to spark aliveness, joy, and shared humanity while practicing skills that support resilient living: collaboration, risk-taking, adaptability, vulnerability, and deep listening. Her current projects include SongSquad Indianapolis, SongSquad Inside-Outside @ Indiana Women's Prison, Indy Singing Resistance, Indy Winter Solstice Celebration, Rooted, Resilient & Reaching (community singing and documentary songwriting in partnership with Aspire House), and Artist-in-Residence at Castleton UMC. Links: Angela's website: www.AngelaGabriel.me Pam's website: www.pamblevinshinkle.com SongSquad Indy: www.songsquadindy.com Velma Frye’s The Truth: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J_qQ8khgXto Nuts & Bolts: patterned vocal improv, loops 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
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233. Ribbon 17: Mad Road Tripping Skills
3w ago00:23:20Tap to summarizeThe Sunday after this episode is released, May 17th, 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. 75. Easy Does It by Heather Houston Easy does it now Slow it down Feel the sound As you breathe, sing, freely now Tune, croon, swoon… 97. Settle Like A Pebble by Laura Walker Settle, settle like a pebble. Settle, settle like a pebble. Settle like a pebble on a riverbed. Drift like a feather on a stream. You can travel with the flow, if you just let go, and close your eyes and be. Drift, and settle gently. You can travel with the flow, if you just let go. The water flow will wash you clean. 109. This Is It by Maggie Wheeler This is it. This is it! This is the place you wanna be (x2) Don't wait until tomorrow to let yourself be free This is it This is the place you wanna be 2. This is the song you wanna sing Don't wait until tomorrow to let your voices ring 3. This is the love you wanna feel Don't wait until tomorrow to let your love be real 4. The world is calling out to you Don't wait until tomorrow for what you came to do 125. Dahil Mahal Kita by Gérone Pascal Dahil mahal kita dahil mahal na mahal kita dahil mahal kita ibibigay ko ang lahat Because I love you so much, Because I love you so much, so much, so much Because I Iove you so much, I give you all of my heart. 165. Heaven Above, Earth Below by Becky Graber Heaven above, Earth below, And I the path between, Making my way through fields of ever rolling green, Making my way through fields of ever rolling green. Heaven above, Earth below, And in between am I, Finding a path with heart and spirit, earth and sky, Finding a path with heart and spirit, earth and sky. Ah dah dah, ah dah dah, ah dah dah dah. Ah dah dah, ah dah dah, ah dah dah, Ah. Heaven above, Earth below, And I the two reveal, Shining through me the light of Spirit that can heal, Shining through me the light of Spirit that can heal. Heaven above, Earth below, And I the path between. 200. Don't Give Up by Becky Reardon Don't give up; give a little kindness to yourself. Put a little flex -- put a little flex in your plan. Find another way -- like a river! Flow -- may you never stop flowing. 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
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232. Road Trip, Ann Arbor: Love Wears the Crown
4w ago00:30:06Tap to summarizeSong: Love Wears the Crown Music by: Maggie Wheeler Song Learning Time Stamps: Start of teaching: 00:03:19 Start of reprise: 00:27:13 Notes: I'm visiting Carol Bardenstein and TatiAnah Thunberg, and Carol shares a song by Maggie Wheeler. "Love Wears the Crown" felt to Carol like the perfect song for a No Kings march, and as she teaches it to us, she talks a little about the ways she adapted it for singing in crowds without time to learn nuance... and TatiAnah and I learn it on the spot. I play with harmonies (some more successfully than others, natch!) -- and we reprise it with Carol's whole song circle, so if you're ready to join a crowd, it's time! I loved hearing about the ways these two songleaders are being led by love into interweaving their work and including folk in their circles. There's bounty here! Songwriter Info: Maggie Wheeler is best known in the U.S and internationally for her extensive work as an actress in film, television, and voice-over and most notably as the character of Janice on NBC’s hit series Friends. Maggie is a passionate singer, songwriter, choir director and workshop facilitator, teaching her vocal workshop Singing In The Stream for over 30 years. It is Maggie’s belief and experience that by singing together we build community, counteract loneliness, become inspired and energized and feel more deeply connected to others and to ourselves. Maggie is a prolific songwriter with a catalog of powerful and timely songs that have been sung by choirs and singing communities worldwide. Her original music for choirs and communities is available on Bandcamp, Apple Music and other music platforms. Carol Bardenstein is a beloved local song-catcher and song leader of numerous community song-circles and singing workshops/retreats, based in Ann Arbor, sharing her singing there, elsewhere in Southeast Michigan, and beyond! She also facilitates song circles for meaningful life-cycle events and milestones, as well as song healing for bedside, and hospice singing. More recently, she has become very involved in local iterations of the Singing Resistance movement bubbling up from the streets of Minneapolis, inspired to help facilitate the emerging synergy between community singing and singing resistance in rising to meet these times in heartful and empowering ways. Carol discovered heart-centered singing with others as a deep and transformative spirit portal some 15 years ago, and she’s been singing her heart out and in with others, facilitating many different kinds of song circles ever since! Grief, joy and everything in between, and all that you are, are warmly invited into her song circles, for expression, connection and communion in heart and song. Contact Carol for information about her offerings via email at cbardens@umich.edu. TatiAnah Thunberg, LMSW (she/hers) is a somatic psychotherapist, singer, song catcher, expressive and improvisational artist, and a seasoned experiential facilitator with more than thirty years of experience guiding transformative group practice. Her work centers the voice as a path to belonging—an embodied, relational exploration of presence, creativity, and communal care. She is the founder of Spirit Moves LLC and co-founder of the Vocal Wilds Collective, Supper & Sing Community Jam, Ensemble Night, the Vocal Lab, Creatrix Lab, and TAZ, all circles of artists dedicated to the art of embodied improvisation in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Sharing Info: The song is free to share but Maggie always welcomes financial and/or networking support if/when folks are so moved. Links: https://www.goldenbridgechoir.com https://maggiewheeler.bandcamp.com/album/the-crow-calls https://maggiewheeler.bandcamp.com/album/the-world-is-turning https://music.apple.com/us/album/walk-with-me/1441718449 SongFest with Maggie Wheeler in 2026: https://www.eomega.org/workshops/songfest Maggie says: "This song was inspired by a talk given by cultural historian Josh Kun. He spoke about a composition for 50 trumpets titled 'Walls Will Fall - The 49 Trumpets of Jericho' by Mazen Kerbaj. The musicians gathered in a defunct water reservoir in Berlin. Mazen says, 'According to the old testament, Jericho’s walls collapsed under the sound of seven trumpeters, blowing their horns for seven days while circling around the city. Far from the religious background of the story, it is the idea of music breaking walls and barriers that is central to this composition.' The participating trumpet players came from from Australia, Austria, Cuba, Denmark, England, Germany, Iran, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Lebanon, Poland, Russia, Serbia, Somalia, Spain, Sweden, Syria, Turkey and the United States. This story and this work deeply inspired me. I wrote LOVE WEARS THE CROWN to invoke the power of music, the power of voices gathered to dissolve barriers, and to dismantle the walls of hatred and injustice." https://mazenkerbaj.bandcamp.com/album/walls-will-fall-the-49-trumpets-of-jericho TatiAnah's websites: https://www.VocalWilds.com https://www.SpiritMoves.Us Nuts & Bolts: 2:2, minor, unison with call and response section, optional 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
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231. Road Trip: Kingston Three-fer
Apr 2900:50:40Tap to summarizeNotes: Our first road trip stop is Kingston, Ontario in Canada, where I got to meet up with three delightful songleaders – and we sang SO many good songs over the weekend! It was impossible to narrow down to one, so this episode is a three-fer, and you get three very different songs, one from each songleader. You hear us playing; making up harmonies on the spot, trying to get the words in the right order – this is an unrehearsed, “what-can-happen-when-you-put-four-people-who-love-songs-into-one-room?” kind of moment. We had such a good time doing it and hope you get to catch our joy as you sing with us. Song 1: Lifted Music by: Wendy Luella Perkins Songwriter Info: Wendy Luella Perkins founded SOULFUL SINGING (singing meditation for all) in 2002. An ordained Unitarian Universalist minister, she shares "short-on-words, long-on-meaning; easy-to-learn, hard-to-forget" songs in the oral tradition. Soulful Singing fosters depth and uplift, resonance and healing, connection and community. Enjoy singing in community? Had a fourth grade teacher who told you to mouth the words? Dedicated shower singer? Shy about singing out loud? Love to belt it out? Committed chorister? Everyone is warmly welcomed into the circle of song. Wendy Luella strongly believes that connecting with our singing voices has beneficial effects on many, many areas of life, including enhancing our capacities to trust ourselves and to learn and grow with others. Back in March 2020, Wendy Luella, who is based in Kingston, Ontario, Canada responded to the call of our times by taking Soulful Singing online "for a couple of weeks until this whole pandemic thing blew over". She has been singing via zoom every single morning at 9am, and Thursdays at 6pm (ET) since then. EVERYONE is welcome to attend these gatherings. More than 200 of her original Soulful Singing songs are available on tiktok @wendyluellaperkins. She is also working on an online song library of her original songs. Find out more at info@wendyluellaperkins.com. Sharing Info: The song is free to share in oral tradition groups, but please contact Wendy for recording and/or performing permission. When sharing in a money-making venture, like a workshop, class, or performance, please contact Wendy for permission and rates. Song Learning Time Stamps: Intro: 00:04:42 Start of teaching: 00:09:40 Start of reprise: 00:47:37 Links: Wendy's website: www.wendyluellaperkins.com Soulful Singing with Wendy Luella: info@wendyluellaperkins.com Nuts & Bolts: slow 4; major, unison, harmonies optional Song 2: Present Moment, Sacred Moment Music by: Steph Drouin Songwriter Info: Steph Drouin (she/her) is a community song leader, singer, songwriter, and Expressive Arts Therapist based in Kingston, Ontario, Canada. For over a decade, she has guided people of all abilities into easeful, joyful, and healing singing experiences. She has helped sow the seeds of community singing throughout Toronto and across Ontario with groups such as Sing for Joy, and in 2019 founded her own social enterprise, Fiercely OK. Through Fiercely OK, Steph offers weekly in‑person and online song circles with her partner, Paul Barton, as well as special events with visiting artists such as Coco Love Alcorn and Luke Wallace - all in the spirit of nourishing a vibrant, connected singing community. Her most recent project includes co‑creating Kingston Pop Choir with Paul. Informed by a lifelong relationship with anxiety, Steph writes and teaches songs that help people embrace their full, messy humanity and stay connected to their sense of being OK. She is known for her warm, playful presence and her ability to create spaces where people feel safe to show up exactly as they are. Steph completed the Community Choir Leadership Training program and Lisa Littlebird’s Flight School in 2018, and is a graduate of the three‑year Expressive Arts Therapy program at the CREATE Institute. In 2024, she moved back to Kingston to be closer to family and to share her gifts with her home community. Sharing Info: Steph says: "I encourage (and am trying to remember to practice) a slow culture of learning and sharing songs - taking time to embody the notes, rhythms, and stories behind them, and to build relationships with the people who wrote them. Please take your time and enjoy singing this song, and if you feel moved to share it, please do. You have my permission! Keep it as close to the original as you can to start. If your group wants to play with adding other layers or harmonies later, this is most welcome. This songs invites being in the present moment; whatever comes out being in the moment while singing this song belongs in it! I just ask that the song be taught first as it came to me (and my nephew). If you would like to teach it differently from what you heard on A Breath of Song, please reach out. I encourage forms of reciprocity that align with your gifts and context. Here are some I love: - Tell me or show me what it was like to share the song with your community. It's fun to see how songs travel! - Come sing with us (Paul and me), in person or online. Learn the songs directly from us and hear their stories. This feels important - it means so much when folks carry the songs with an intimate sense of their origins and intricacies. - Song swaps! If you also write songlets, let’s exchange. I love being in meaningful song‑sharing relationships with other song leaders. This kind of reciprocity feels alive and good. - Financial reciprocity. If you have room in your budget or are making oodles of money (more than a living wage), we'd love for you to send a little our way. For non-performing groups, folks generally send $25-50 per song or $1 per singer (whichever is greater). Performing or recording rates would be a little higher. For Canadians, e‑transfer works well; otherwise, Wise is my preferred option. - Follow and share our work. Join the Fiercely OK mailing list, follow us on social media, and help spread the word to folks who would enjoy what we offer. - Patreon. I’ll be adding my songs to Patreon this year, and I’d love for you to join me there as a monthly patron. If you have any other ideas, send them my way!" Song Learning Time Stamps: Intro: 00:14:01 Start of teaching: 00:20:03 Start of reprise: 00:48:30 Links: Join the Fiercely OK Mailing List! https://forms.gle/97Y9hQn55HHL1kHP7 Website: https://www.fiercelyok.ca/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@stephdrouin3973 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fiercelyok/ & https://www.instagram.com/therestlessinchoirer/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FiercelyOK/ Join our online song circles! The next series begins May 11th, 2026. https://www.fiercelyok.ca/online-weekly-song-circles If you're ever in the Kingston-Toronto area, come sing with us in person! We offer weekly song circles and a monthly pop choir in Kingston, and occasional workshops in Toronto. I'll be getting my songs up on Patreon this year. There's nothing up there yet, but you can be the first to get updates here: https://patreon.com/fiercelyok?utm_medium=unknown&utm_source=join_link&utm_campaign=creatorshare_creator&utm_content=copyLink Nuts & Bolts: 4:4, mixolydian, 3-layer song Song 3: I Am Grateful Deep Down Music by: Paul Barton Songwriter Info: Known by some as a musical “wizard,” Paul makes clever use of his education in Jazz guitar and experience as a professional musician to help song circles run seamlessly. His songs, infused with his passions for the environment, community, and mental health, are among the most requested songs in the Fiercely OK singing community. His simple melodies carry deep truths right to the heart. Sharing Info: The song is free to share but Paul always welcomes financial and/or networking support if/when folks are so moved. The best way to support Paul's songwriting is on Patreon. Song Learning Time Stamps: Intro: 00:31:56 Start of teaching: 00:32:45 Start of reprise: 00:49:04 Links: Paul's website: https://www.paulbarton.ca/ Paul's Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/paulbartonmusic Nuts & Bolts: 2:2, major, harmonized Extra links: Lone Wolf by Steph Drouin and Aimee Ringle: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2SFrSkZ-0Hs Thich Nhat Hanh: “Present moment, wonderful moment” https://www.penguinrandomhouse.ca/books/710946/present-moment-wonderful-moment-revised-edition-by-thich-nhat-hanh/9781952692239 500 Days in the Wild <a href='https://tctrail.ca/dianne-...
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230. Great Turning with guest Grace Oedel
Apr 2201:11:07Tap to summarizeSong: Great Turning Music by: Joanna Colwell Notes: It seems fitting that Grace Oedel, who tells us she is “Not doing any of this alone," brings us a song caught by a friend of hers, Joanna Colwell... and that this song references the mentor and teacher Joanna Macy, who helped so many folk seek reconnection. Grace and I are joined by Rebecca Csuy to learn this three part song, and then we dive into a laughter-filled conversation that visits some hard questions and nourishing responses. Grace is doing vital work in the world in many different arenas, seeking ways to help us get comfortable with the enormous changes we are facing, hospicing modernity -- but she points out, “I eat chocolate chips in bed… I am not a holier-than-thou person!” "We're all in it together," like the song says... "we are turning it around." Songwriter Info: Joanna Colwell is a yoga teacher and song leader in MIddlebury, Vermont. She started the Yoga Equity Project and can generally be found tearing down the patriarchy with art, song, ritual, and good cheer. Sharing Info: The song is free to share in oral tradition groups, but please contact Joanna for recording and/or performing permission. Song Learning Time Stamps: Start time of teaching: 00:03:03 Start time of reprise: 01:08:19 Links: Grace's Substack: https://graceoedel.substack.com/ Joanna Colwell – Middlebury yoga teacher: https://www.yogaequity.org/ www.ottercreekyoga.com https://www.instagram.com/ottercreekyoga/ Joanna Macy – The Work that Reconnects: https://workthatreconnects.org/ Octavia Butler: "Kindness eases change." "God is change.": https://www.octaviabutler.com/ Moira Smiley on A Breath of Song: https://www.abreathofsong.com/episodes--show-notes/39-stand-in-that-river#/ , https://www.abreathofsong.com/episodes--show-notes/40-render-a-remedy-with-moira-smiley#/ Heidi Wilson on A Breath of Song: https://www.abreathofsong.com/episodes--show-notes/139-bend-and-rebound#/ , https://www.abreathofsong.com/episodes--show-notes/140-the-feast-with-guest-heidi-wilson#/ , https://www.abreathofsong.com/episodes--show-notes/228-all-call-this-home#/ Singing Resistance: https://linktr.ee/singingresistance Kairos Center with Songs in the Key of Resistance: https://kairoscenter.org/projects/songs-in-the-key-of-resistance/ NOFA – Long-Handled Spoon Dinners: https://www.nofavt.org/about/blog/announcing-new-long-handled-spoons-dinners L’Chaim Jewish collective leadership in Burlington: https://www.lchaimcollective.org/ Ilyse Morgenstein Fuerst, UVM professor: https://www.uvm.edu/cas/religion/profile/ilyse-morgenstein-fuerst Elise Witt on A Breath of Song: https://www.abreathofsong.com/episodes--show-notes/21-song-deep-in-your-bones#/ , https://www.abreathofsong.com/episodes--show-notes/211-set-us-free#/ Nero’s Expedition Up the Nile by Moondog (Louis Thomas Hardin): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zpUIzHWB_zc James Baldwin “The children are always ours.”: https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/notes-house-bondage/ Aylie Baker – wayfinding in Micronesia: https://emergencemagazine.org/essay/wave-patterns/ Indigo Girls: https://www.indigogirls.com/ Batya Levine on A Breath of Song: https://www.abreathofsong.com/episodes--show-notes/166-breathe#/ Nuts & Bolts: 4:4, minor, 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
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229. We Will Not Stand Down
Apr 1500:18:16Tap to summarizeSong: We Will Not Stand Down Music by: Grace Oedel Notes: This song came directly out of protective action, as Grace was asking herself how to develop a chant into a song -- it's got a groove, it's alive, and it's adaptable. Sing it with only a few words, or add some lyrics. Get people moving on the parts they resonate with and help them hear the collective pulse that underlies it all. Add what feels good in your body and voice -- and next week, join Grace and me for a wide-ranging conversation that asks questions about how can we keep showing up with and for each other for the long haul? How can we use rage as a fuel that doesn't burn us out, but helps us to not stand down, to not go home, to do what scares us because love is underneath that rage, moving us on! Songwriter Info: Grace is a doula for change and an enthusiast for collective action. She's an ordained rabbi who organizes with the L'Chaim Collective and serves as the executive director of NOFA-VT, building power for a just and delicious future. She sits on the boards of Rights and Democracy, Milk with Dignity, National Family Farm Coalition, National Sustainable Ag Coalition, the Better Selves Fellowship, and is an affiliate for the Institute for Agroecology. She leads a monthly community sing for resistance and hope that is a real banger, is a fan of desserts, and is mama to three little ones. Sharing Info: The song is free to share in oral tradition groups - use it anywhere it can be helpful! - but please contact Grace for recording and/or performing permission. Song Learning Time Stamps: Start time of teaching: 00:03:44 Start time of reprise: 00:15:29 Links: Grace's Substack: https://graceoedel.substack.com/ Nuts & Bolts: 4:4, major, 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
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228. All Call This Home
Apr 100:17:14Tap to summarizeSong: All Call This Home Music by: Heidi Wilson Notes: Heidi Wilson has devoted herself to the craft of songweaving -- and it shows! My groups have all loved this song -- a great mix of almost-rap with sweet harmony swells, and trading back and forth playfully. Once it's in your head, it stays, providing a rhythmic counterpart to walks and a sweet sense of neighborliness with all our more-than-human kin. Songwriter Info: Heidi Wilson has a passion for sharing songs in service to community and the wild world; songs that celebrate the seasons, bring groups together, offer thanks, muster courage, and make room for healing. She is drawn to the potent and surprising journey of deep-listening and collaborative emergent music making. Heidi has been leading community singing groups in Vermont for the last 15 years and currently sings with the vocal trio Heartwood. Sharing Info: Heidi says: "I’m on an ongoing journey figuring out how to share songs (that feel like generous gifts from the world) while also making a living as a songweaver. I am happy for the songs coming through me to be shared! If people are singing them in informal, community, or ritual settings that’s awesome, sing away! If people are sharing them in a setting where they are making a bunch of money or there is a budget for educational/repertoire materials and they are able to pass some of those resources my way I appreciate that. I would feel good about that reciprocity coming in the form of a one time donation (venmo: @Heidi-willsing) or by joining me on Patreon and supporting my songweaving work at any monthly level. And if you are interested in recording any of these songs let’s talk! Looking for recordings of more songs? I mostly share music through Patreon, an online platform to support artists. On my Patreon site I’ve posted 80+ songs. Each post has downloadable practice recordings of the harmony parts. And through Patreon I also link to a spreadsheet where the songs are organized into categories, so you can listen through and find just the right song for Spring, or Gratitude, or Trees." Song Learning Time Stamps: Start time of teaching: 00:03:06 Start time of reprise: 00:15:28 Links: Website: www.HeidiAnnWilson.com Patreon: www.patreon.com/HeidiWilson Heartwood Trio: www.heartwoodtrio.com Nuts & Bolts: 4:4, major, 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
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227. Ribbon 16: Balance and Begin
Mar 2500:23:17Tap to summarizeThe Sunday after this episode is released, March 29th, 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. #74 Equinox Blessing by Heather Houston Honoring the darkness, Honoring the light, Honoring the day, Honoring the night All things find their way into balance Suspended in time Shadows and light #205 Set It Right by Ana Hérnandez Call: There’s a great trouble in the land Resp: We’re gonna set it right again (3x) All: We’re gonna set it right, set it right again. More verses to zip in: Trouble’s been brewing too many years We need clean water and healthy food People need housing, we’ve a right to thrive Mass deportations tearing families apart We are the ones who can change the world We need education to build a just world Families need childcare, they don’t need to go broke We need fair wages, rich folk need to be taxed! Add more verses to suit your actions. #146 Begin Again by Jean Farmer I begin again with my breath, joining earth, earth and spirit. I return again to my breath, walking home the unknown path. #168 The Net by Patricia Norton (inspired by Sri Nisargadatta) The net that I thought was holding me, it is full of holes, full of holes. The net that I thought was holding me, it is full of holes! The net that I thought was holding me tight – it is not a big barrier, I can get by it. The net that I thought was holding me, it is Full. Of. Holes. There is a ground of truth beyond the net! (a gazillion times) Like the water, I’m falling free. (4x) #184 Where the Moss Grows by David Ruffin Where the river flows and the moss on boulder grows, we can remember what we deeply know. There is time to be here and see what becomes clear... when we let it go, and go where the moss grows. Oh, when we let it go, and go where the moss grows. #36 Brighter Days by Jenny Cook There's so much hope in a snowdrop, the promise of spring to come. Hold on, hold on through the cold, brighter days will come. 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
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226. Life's Dance
Mar 1800:18:27Tap to summarizeSong: Life's Dance Music by: Tarren van Ettinger Notes: This dance of a song loosens me up every time I sing it -- both with the original two parts from Tarren, and then I snuck a third part in when I was singing it on my looper, and I was having so much fun with it, I added it too! Learning the steps as we go -- in and out of the circle, day into night into day, confident, then confused, and back again -- I am grateful for the way this song makes a sweet dance of the whole kit & kaboodle! Songwriter Info: Tarren is an AuDHD, agender singer/songwriter from Davenport, IA, formerly from Alaska. They have been writing songs actively since 2015, when they wrote their first song at the Village Fire gathering in Decorah. They take inspiration from everything from literature to personal experiences. Tarren lives with their animal-trainer partner, a dog, bird and rabbit, and the occasional foster-critter. Sharing Info: The song is free to share but Tarren always welcomes financial and/or networking support if/when folks are so moved. Song Learning Time Stamps: Start time of teaching: 00:03:19 Start time of reprise: 00:16:33 Links: Bandcamp: https://tarrenvanettinger.bandcamp.com Mastodon: https://musician.social/@tarrenvane Discord: @tarrenvane Email: tarrenvane@proton.me Nuts & Bolts: 3:4, major, 3-parts 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
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225. Walk Me Home with guest Una McCann
Mar 1101:33:06Tap to summarizeSong: Walk Me Home Music by: Una McCann Notes: What do you do with anger? Can you set shame gently aside so you can get out of the way of what's coming through you and wants to be voiced? How do you move through times of doubt and grief to do what you are called to do? Una shares with us a beautiful song companion for walking each other home, and we explore these questions and so, so much more in this extended conversation. 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. If you make money through singing the songs and would like to support me in my work as a song carrier, please purchase songs through my website or drop me an email for more options." Song Learning Time Stamps: Start time of teaching: 00:05:32 Start time of reprise: 01:28:35 Links: Website: www.unamccann.org Facebook: Una McCann Music Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/unamccann47/ Rhiannon: https://rhiannonmusic.com/home Earthsong camps with John Bowker: https://www.earthsong.ie/about-earthsong A note in sand or water: https://youtu.be/-CZlrgq8syE?si=VzijHkmvxuPUJ7MD The first song Una remembers singing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8QfXXj8RoPk&t=32s Stéphane Grappelli – musicians of the eyes and musicians of the ears: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St%C3%A9phane_Grappelli Una’s Soundcloud – Henrietta!: https://soundcloud.com/unamccann/henrietta Tara Brach – teachings of kindness and wellbeing: https://www.tarabrach.com/ Natural Voices Network: https://www.naturalvoice.net/ Indigo Girls: https://www.indigogirls.com/ The Roches: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Roches Airplane: https://youtu.be/MhVcbRldEfs?si=rubOOaeZ2S8lXF-a (from the Indigo Girls 1992 “Rites of Passage” album – my gift to Una was finding the song she loved!) Gamelan instrument: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gamelan Nuts & Bolts: 4:4, major, harmonized (intriguingly, it starts with a descending Phrygian scale...) 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
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