Practice Tracks
~A note on cultural appropriation~
•Recordings are for your ears only! Do not disseminate. For real. It's illegal.•
•And bare with me on some of these, they're quite imperfect. Sometimes its flat by the end of the recording, or my voice is straining. But I hope these rough cuts get the basic parts across!•
•If a track glitches, try refreshing the page.
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Original melody by Thomas Ravenscroft from the 1600's. This one has changed over time, the original words were "Go to Jane Glouer (Glover) and tell Her I love her, and by the low of the moon I will come to her" . Some contemporary spoof versions include, "Go to jane Glover and tell her I loath her and by the light of the moon, I'll push her over." This version is the one sung by a late friend of mine, I like how it's more universal.
Go to my mother
and tell her I love her
and by the light of the moon
I will come to her
Shireen Amini is a drum and percussion instructor based in Seattle, and an amazing songleader. She can turn a song circle into an epic dance party. This song was her anthem during the pandemic when going on a jog was sometimes the only outlet for movement.
Debbie Nargi Brown Is yet another song leader percussionist virtuoso, based near Santa Cruz. This is a fun insta-song reminding us that we don't know what is going to happen, so we may as well be open to positive outcomes.
Laurence Cole Wrote this song about the reality that just about everything we love in this life, all our food that nourishes us, every animal and plant, flower and ecosystem, is only possible because of photosynthesis, which humans see as the color green. We're literally seeing sunlight being turned into sugars that feed the plants that feed the animals all of which feed us and make our lives possible and our love possible.
Annie Zylstra Is a weaver of willow and song based in the driftless region of the midwest. She writes lovely and depthful songs of earth praise and human reflection, as well as some wonderfully irreverent and goofy ones. Check out her website for lots of great songs! I'll let her speak for herself in describing Sing the Way:
"Sing the Way is a 4-part answer to the question: What can we do to be of service in these times of social unraveling, cultural upheaval, and unprecedented degradation of natural systems? Overwhelm and despair can easily overtake a person wishing to remain present and engaged in the mass collective grief of this moment in human history. And there is so much we don't yet know about what the future holds. In a container of uncertainty with despair in one direction and apathy in another, what else is there do but arm ourselves with curiosity and just get down to doing what we know how to do as alively as we can? For me, it means singing our way through whatever comes and whatever is in the meantime. We make the road by walking. What we love is the question and the answer. It is all we have. Let's sing the way together! "
1 Oh Where are we going to? And How do we Belong?
For Now I'll just be here with you; make a home inside this song
2 If we don't know we'll take our songs, and sing the way together inside this song
3 Don't konw where to go, or how to belong. For now I'm here with you, inside this song.
4. Sing the way!
"The truth is proper and beautiful at all times and in all cases"
-Frederick Douglas
Never forget to be grateful. That's what this song says to me. Don't lose sight of the gloriousness of this world and our getting to live in it. And
1 May today be a day you find miracles on your way.
2 It's a miracle we are alive, it's a miracle we got to love.
3 Oh I believe beautiful things are on their way
I learned this song when I was nine. It was sung every night at the end of fire circle as the campers at Catoctin Quaker Camp filed off to their cabins, youngest to oldest. Instant glorious harmonies. A powerful classic, and one to imbue into your lives as a lullabye. An adaptation of a chrystian hymn, "Abide with us O lord"...
The triumphant chorus to Helen Yeoman's Stronger. I imagine this coule be a pretty powerful protest song. Here is a sweet rendition inside a huge cathedral.
I believe it's stronger.
I believe that love is stronger!
I believe that love is stronger!
I believe that love is stronger!
Teaching Tracks
An important reminder to count our blessings. There is so much to be thankful for, and at times our minds can be like velcro to negative things in life, while acting like teflon to the good stuff. Daily gratitude practice is so helpful to keep things in perspective, and having this song stuck in your head works pretty well!
Practice Tracks
All around me are blessings
raining down
all around me
Words by Rumi. Arranged by Laurence Cole.
Crafting an object, all that is around us and inside us is reflected in what we create. This song was co-created by a group of friends, asking themselves, "what is it that I'd like to put into this sacred object as my hands work? What do I want to weave into my life in this moment? crafting as prayer.
Based on the words of environmentalist writer Winona LaDuke, this song is a gentle but powerful reminder that we are responsible for our part in the care taking of this living breathing earth we are a part of.
You and I
drink this water
You and I
breathe this air
you andI
walk this holy ground.
You and I
Live here
-I am home in my body
-Home I am, Home in my body, home in my body I am home
-In this Breath, in this Heart,
in this pleasure in this pain
In this breath, in this heart
I am home again!
Another classic polyphonic self-love song by KL. This one came out spontaneously at Thursday choir a couple weeks ago, here it is. The diferent entry points of the parts is what makes these songs not want to stop once you get going!
This is a lament. Specifically, the song is sung when mourning the loss of a spring that has dried up. A wonderful example of a song that was always meant to be sung to the land itself.
This is an old English children's song, and it is a back and forth between one person beckoning another. It can be adapted for any time you are showing somebody the way to something!
This song is inspired by the "four universal addictions" as described by Angeles Arrien in her book, The Four-fold Way. They are 1. The addiction to Intensity, 2. The addiction to Perfection, 3. The addiction to Focusing on whats going wrong. 4. The addiction to "knowing" This may be my favorite of all Karly Loveling songs right now, because when the rhythm is clicked into, it is seriously groovy and unstoppable!
A warmup song by The Polish Group Laboratorium Piesne. The words are not signifiers of specific meanings. Once I heard a description of this song that I liked, where the Droning low part is the earth, our bodies, change, the ever-present universality. The melody is our lives, our ups and downs, the slow churn of our dramas and our stories as individuals. And the high part is those rare moments of ecstasy breakthrough, that the rest of our lives refer back to or bare the markings of...
This goofy chaotic tune matches the subject matter. I learned it from friends in the Murmurations choir from New Orleans
A part of a longer composition by Vanessa Degrassi of the Murmurations choir of New Orleans, This is a tribute to the goddess of the dawn in Greco-Roman mythology, Eos. Written with the intention to be sung by worshipers who encourage Eos up over the horizon at dawn.
-Cauldron of light,
Cauldron of light,
the colors alight
the heart beats the time
-Copper and red
ribbons of dawn
pulsing, blushing
-Blood is on the land
the heart beats on
the blushing (blood)