Name: Eel River Song by Meredith Buck (Listen) by TheBirdSings
Duration: 2 min 8 s
Description: An awesome song for three voices by Meredith Buck, inspired by a wilderness workshop exercise she participated in where she had to cross a river blindfolded, following only the sound of a drummer on the other bank.

Just sang this at a Goddess Gathering in North Wales, UK.  We sang whilst in the river tigethwr. 

Leah Song of Rising Appalachia just sang it at a small community gathering here in Asheville, NC. We sing it all the time at gatherings around here : ) 

Meredith calls this song Eel River, in honor of the water she was in.

Such an amazing song! I sung it last week at the Wilderness Awareness School in Duvall, WA as a part of a song catching workshop and have been inspired ever since. I am currently working on a grad project about the role of music in environmental education. Do you know how I may be able to get in contact with Meredith Buck and/or someone who may have some helpful insight or beliefs about the topic?

Grateful My Hands Both Parts

This is a practice track for an upcoming retreat.
Hope   by Debbie Nargi-Brown

"Hope is the thing with feathers that perches in the Soul and sings the tune without the words and never stops at all" Emily Dickinson

Never, never never, never, never, never, never, never. never
Never give up, on hope

Hope is living in my Soul

HOPE

Original song copyright Julie Fowlis, Karine Polwart, Seckou Keita, Kris Drever, Rachel Newton, Beth Porter, Jim Molyneux, Kerry Andrew.

This amazing song of grief and hope was inspired by The Lost Words by Robert McFarlane &amp; Jackie Morris. The book began as a response to the removal of everyday nature words - among them "acorn", "bluebell", "kingfisher" and "wren" - from a widely used children’s dictionary, because those words were not being used enough by children to merit inclusion. But it grew to become a much broader protest at the loss of the natural world around us, as well as a celebration of the creatures and plants with which we share our lives.

Because the original song is so beloved by me and many, I re-imagined a new, quite different arrangement with guitar for Wholehearted Chorus in our 2024 season, Oh Grief, Oh Joy. (Note: this is not a traditional community singing song, as it has loads and loads of words, none of which repeat.)

For more information: https://thebirdsings.com/lost-words-blessing/

The Lost Words Blessing - ALL PARTS

An awesome song for three voices by Meredith Buck, inspired by a wilderness workshop exercise she participated in where she had to cross a river blindfolded, following only the sound of a drummer on the other bank.

Eel River Song by Meredith Buck (Listen)

Bele Mama - From Cameroon, in West Africa

This is a great ice-breaker of a song! The perfect opener. It gets your group singing in harmony in a matter of minutes. Possible meaning is "Mama come out and play!" When I first learned this, I learned that it was from the Torres Straight Islands and that it meant "Beautiful Earth." The more research I do, the more I find that it's actually from West Africa and has traveled and traveled far and wide. Enjoy!

This song is in the public domain
Arrangement by Heather Houston

To learn the individual parts to this song, please visit my Public Song Library:
https://heatherhoustonmusic.com/sisters-in-harmony-song-library/

Lyrics:

Bele mama, bele mama ee ay
Bele mama, bele mama ee ay
Bele mama, bele mama, bele mama, bele mama,
Bele mama, bele mama ee eh

Bele Mama - All Parts

Re-Wild My Soul by Heather Houston

This beautiful chant poured through me one morning in a meditation on my sister's land in Northern WA. With Mt. Baker above me, Canyon Creek below me, sunshine, wind, eagles, vast sky and forest all around me, I went into a deep state of communion with the land and allowed this song to move through. It doesn't make grammatical sense entirely, but it's easier to teach this way. Enjoy!

Lyrics:

Oh river, re-wild my soul Help me let go of control Show my heart how to flow with ease again I am ready, take me in.

Oh mountain, re-wild my soul Help me let go of control Show my heart how to lift mine eyes again I am ready, take me in.

Oh eagle, re-wild my soul Help me let go of control Show my heart how to fly so free again I am ready, take me in.

Oh vast sky, re-wild my soul Help me let go of control Show my heart how to be spaciousness again I am ready, take me in.

Oh soft wind, re-wild my soul Help me let go of control Show my heart how to be clear and cleansed again I am ready, take me in.

Oh sunshine, re-wild my soul Help me let go of control Show my heart how to shine with warmth again I am ready, take me in.

Oh forest, re-wild my soul Help me let go of control Show my heart how to trust this path again I am ready, take me in.

Oh mama, re-wild my soul Help me let go of control Show my heart how to beat with yours again I am ready, take me in.

To learn the individual parts to this song, please visit my Public Song Library:
https://heatherhoustonmusic.com/sisters-in-harmony-song-library/

©Heather Houston
All rights reserved

Re-Wild My Soul - All Parts

This song is called “Blessed Motion.” I learned the songs at Singing Alive and the songstress is Annie Zylstra. I am amazed by the song and the story of the song, which is as follows:

Blessed Motion is a 4-part acknowledgement of the nature of Life as an unpredictable, ever-changing movement toward itself. The melody came squatting on a rock next to a fast moving fork in the Trinity River, where salmon were in their first week of journeying to their spawning sites in northern California. Martin Prechtel said after surviving the Guatemala earthquake of 1976, during which he witnessed the ground beneath him rising up and swallowing people and villages whole, that solid ground is a myth believed by people who live on the earth rather than in it. This idea has stayed with me through the years and provided partial inspiration for this song. This is a big song! It travels through two dimensions, the first, a three or four part set of repeating lines, the second, a layered riff topped with a solo section. 

Thank you Annie. 

I hope you can hear the waves and motion in the voices of the track. It is genius. 

LYRICS

I believed in solid ground until I saw the earth in motion,

in the winds of steady change and in the ever-rolling ocean.

All moves on in perfect, perfect motion.

All is change and ever-rolling ocean.

All is moving, all is change, though I once believed that there

might somehow be something firm beneath my feet, but

All is motion, and all is well for solid ground is just a myth 

for those who never swim in it.

All is moving in blessed change, o the world we know

will come and go and everything will rearrange, so

be the ground beneath that sky,

tumbling round the by and by.

All is change, so am I.

lye lye lye, lye lye lye.

Blessed Motion Cover (Original by Annie Zylstra)

If had to be stranded on a desert island with one mantra, this song would be it. This gem of music medicine landed in the voice of my dear friend and singing sister Lyndsey Scott, as she biked around the midwest. It's been changing lives and hearts ever since. 

Original song by Lyndsey Scott, recorded here by Lyndsey Scott and Lisa G. Littlebird. Lisa added the two harmony lines with Lyndsey's support and the arrangement is shared here with her blessing.  Melody and 1 and 2 are identical except for a little echo at the end of the song.

Lyrics, teaching notes and individual part tracks can be found at: http://thebirdsings.com/thewayknows/

The Way Knows the Way by Lyndsey Scott

Humbly

Ancestor Song

Now That I Know by Alexandra (Ahlay) Blakely

Lisa G is a songcatcher. She holds a vision for a world where singing is once again an integral part of daily community life. May we use our natural human expression to open our hearts, share our challenges and celebrations and uplift our lives.

Lisa G. Littlebird is the director of the 80-member Wholehearted Chorus in Monterey and Big Sur, CA. She has been on the faculty as a community singing facilitator at Esalen Institute in Big Sur, CA since 2006. She is a singer, composer and teacher with more than 30 years of musical experience, facilitating community singing opportunities throughout California and beyond.  Learn more at http://thebirdsings.com.

Eel River Song by Meredith Buck (Listen)

TheBirdSings

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