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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.

To search:

                                   1.  Create a shortcut to his page on your desktop
                                   2. Use the search function to find the song you're looking                                          for.  ctrl. + F or cmmd. + F 

The Charge - unknown
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This is the charge I keep as mine

The goal of every hope and plan

to cancel the dividing line

between me and my fellow man

​

The Charge - one part - unknown
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Letting Go - Karly Loveling
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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!

Letting Go - Need to do it right - Karly Loveling
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Letting Go - Wanting things... - Karly Loveling
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Letting Go - Need to know - 2 harmonies - Karly Loveling
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Letting Go - Slow Overlay - Karly Loveling
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Gaudeamus Hodie - Natalie Sleeth
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I learned this song as a foot stompin' round at Catoctin Quaker Camp when I was Nine years old. That's how I have it presented here. Turns out there is actually a written score for Soprano, Alto, and Bass, written in 1972, which can be found here.   Interesting.  It has a calypso rhythmic section... "For Joyous Occasions" . The translation more specifically is "Let us rejoice today."
 


Gaudeamus Hodie

 

Gaudeamus (One Part) - Natalie Sleeth
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Tibyeh Pieyom - Russian Liturgical Hymn
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This is a magical song with a magical lineage.  It is an old Christian hymn that means, roughly, "To you we are singing, we are blessing you.  We thank God and pray to you, Lord our God."  And I encourage taking lightly the somewhat staunch translation that has been passed down.  This is a song of ultimate praise and gratitude for life, and its harmonies are out of this world.  It was passed to me by Laurence Cole, who received it from one of his mentors, Siobhan Robinsong, who received it from one of the founders of the Natural Voice Network, Nick Prater.  There is a story that Laurence's choir sang it at an old folks' home in Port Townsend, and on their way out, a nurse with a Russian accent came rushing out, "Please, please, come sing it again to my father! He cannot leave his room, but when he heard this song from his childhood there were tears streaming down his eyes!  He wants to hear it again." So they came back and did a bedside rendition to the nurse's father, who was a resident there.  This is an encouraging example of how cultural appropriation can sometimes shelter and transport a potency and depth, even when in foreign hands, to eager ears.  The man hadn't heard the song in something like fifty years...
 

Tibyeh pieyom
tibyeh blagoslovim
tibyeh blagodarim
go spo di
ee molim tibyeh bojanash x3
go spo di
a men x3

 

Tibyeh Pieyom - Soprano - Russian Liturgical Hymn
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Tibyeh Pieyom - Alto - Russian Liturgical Hymn
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Tibyeh Pieyom - Tenor - Russian Liturgical Hymn
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Tibyeh Pieyom - Bass - Russian Liturgical Hymn
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Keep Watch - Becky Reardon
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This mesmerizing four-part round by Becky Reardon eloquently points to the reality that we, as support for our friends, family, and wider community, cannot live out one another's life/experiences/ challenges, but we can "keep watch". It gives me a sense of solidity in those who care for me.  It's saying, "I'll be there for you, though your path may be dark, and you will walk it alone."  Musically, this song is really fun to sing, especially on the arching note on the words "Keep Watch".  It feels impossible to sing this one without moving to the layering harmonies.

 

We cannot follow you where you are going.
What you are feeling we cannot know.
But we will keep watch, watch through the night
watch till your journey brings you home.

Sunflower Round - Sam Long
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As we pick the manifold seeds this Autumn from the massive heads of sunflowers, let's enjoy this round by Sam Long that keeps geing higher, higher, and higher, in honor of the tall bright giants than look lovingly down upon us.

 

Sunflower open,
underneath you have only begun,
yellow and bright, you are among
so many like flowers in sun
so stand tall!

 

Sunflower (One part) - Sam Long
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Open My Heart - Ana Hernandez
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A haunting operatic-sounding, yet simple song.  Great for beginner song leaders! The three parts are all different lengths so loop at different rates, which is part of why this song gives a lot out of a little, so to speak.

Open My Heart - Descending/Bass - Ana Hernandez
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Open My Heart - Middle part - Ana Hernandez
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Open My Heart - Melody - Ana Hernandez
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Body Body - Kira Seto
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A gratitude song to our endlessly intelligent bodies, this song recognizes that often, the body knows best.  The three-part harmony overlaying the groovy bass parts creates an interesting dynamic sound.

 

Body body thank you

Body body thank you
Oh body body thank you

Body body thank you

​

You know what to do ohohoh body thank you

​

Body feels, body shows

Body heals, body knows

Body Body Thank you - Kira Seto
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You know what to do - Kira Seto
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Body Feels - middle part - Kira Seto
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Body Feels - low part - Kira Seto
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Body Feels - high part - Kira Seto
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Zoryushka - Russian Folk Song
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Lyrics:

Zoryushka weiczerniaja

Zoryushka weiczerniaja

Oj, liuli, liuli, zoryushka weiczerniaja

Zoryushka - Melody - Russian Folk Song
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Zoryushka - Drone - Russian Folk Song
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Dream Our Dream - Helen Yeomans
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Dream Our Dream by Helen Yeomans

Soprano:

We’ll dream our dream together

Before we go

We’ll weave our wish into the stars

We’ll dream our dream together

Before the sunrise

 

Alto:

We’ll dream our dream

Before we go

We’ll weave our magic

We’ll dream before the sunrise

We’ll dream our dream

Before we go

We’ll weave our magic

We’ll dream before the sunrise

 

Tenor:

We’ll dream

Our dream before we go

Away

Weave our magic

We’ll dream

Before the sunrise

 

Bass:

We’ll dream

Our dream before

We go away

We’ll dream our dream

Before the sunrise

​

​

Dream Our Dream - soprano - Helen Yeomans
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Dream Our Dream - alto - Helen Yeomans
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Dream Our Dream - tenor - Helen Yeomans
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Dream Our Dream - bass - Helen Yeomans
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Kabir Round - Kabir
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A round from a poem by Kabir

 

When you were born you cried

And the world rejoiced

Live your life so that when you die

The world cries and you rejoice

Kabir Round - one part - Kabir
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Obligation - Laurence Cole
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Lyrics:

Part 1

Everything lives in obligation to everything that lives x2

 

Part 2 & harmony

Every - everything in all creation everything everything is alive

 

Part 3

Everything in all creation is alive

Obligation - Part 1 - Laurence Cole
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Obligation - Part 2 - Laurence Cole
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Obligation - Part 2 harmony - Laurence Cole
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Obligation - Part 3 - Laurence Cole
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Turning Inward - Jess Kaufman
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An autumn round from a Hark singer, Jess Kaufman

Lyrics:

Treetops kissed

With yellow all around

The fall is settling settling down

The heavy fog the grasses browning

Turning inward nesting down

Turning Inward - Jess Kaufman
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Underneath the Sun - Helen Yeomans
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Underneath the Sun by Helen Yeomans

Lyrics:

Soprano:

Won’t you come sing

Under the sun

Won’t you come sing

Under the sun

Won’t you come sing

Underneath the sun

Sing with me

 

Alto & Tenor:

Eh won’t you sing

With me

Underneath the sun

Sing with me

 

Bass:

Won’t ya come sing with me

Under the sun

Won’t you come sing with me

Under the sun

Won’t you come sing with me

Underneath the sun

Sing with me

Underneath the Sun - soprano - Helen Yeomans
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Underneath the Sun - alto - Helen Yeomans
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Underneath the Sun - tenor - Helen Yeomans
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Underneath the Sun - bass - Helen Yeomans
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Moonlight Over the Field - Ellison Graham
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Written by our very own Ellison, the crunchy chords manage to melodically convey the coincidence of light and dark that we experience on a moonlit snowy night. 
 

Practice Tracks

Moonlight Over the Field
Moonlight, casting shadows on the snowy ground,

casting shadows on the ground

In This Life - Laurence Cole
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Words by Rumi.  Arranged by Laurence Cole.

Practice Tracks

In this life

that's shorter than 

a half-taken breath,

Don't plan anything

but love

 

Rise - The October Project
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I found the album "the book of rounds" by the October Project years ago, but never really noticed this one until some songleader friends sang it with me this year.  Another Mary Poppins gem.  Sometimes a song doesn't pop in recorded form and it's worth singing songs with friends to see how it sounds in reality.

 

As the sun is rising to shine
over the ocean into the sky

the whole world, ancient and new

holds the beauty inside you
 

Rise - One Part -
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© 2023 by Yuri Woodstock
Jupitercommunitychoir@gmail.com

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