The Wailin' Jennys

Hi Ladies,

"One Song" is a lovely tune performed by The Wailin' Jennys.
We'll try it next week!
I also included two other performances of theirs, for your enjoyment...


One Voice by The Wailin' Jennys







Bring Me A Li'l' Water Sylvy

3 Part Harmony!!!

Hi ladies,

Pat yourselves on the back for a wonderful night of three-part harmony last week!!! Fantastic work. It was really fun figuring out how to switch parts, build on the existing harmony, and feel confident with the melody.

So, we are getting the 1 3 5 harmony concept!

Here is Shenandoah with some lovely harmonies:

Que Sera Sera!

Hi Ladies,

Thanks so much for a wonderful night last Thursday. Please let me know if there are specific things you want to spend more time on. I plan to focus on harmony, protecting our voices, 1 improv exercise a week, and lots of singing.

Here are some beautiful versions of some songs in our songbook:

Que Sera Sera/Pink Martini



We Are/Sweet Honey in the Rock



On Children/Sweet Honey in the Rock



Wade in the Water/Sweet Honey in the Rock



Lift Every Voice and Sing/Chicago Children's Choir

A Year of Singing in Community

Happy New Year, Ladies.

Last year my life was filled with loss and grief, and one of the things that helped me most was singing. So, as I set an intention for our next singing circle session, I'd like to offer as many ways as I can to give each of you the confidence and inspiration to bring music into your own community. We live in a world filled with media, with easy ways to listen passively to music, or to sing along to a recording, but we need more circles of singing. Even as a professional musician I question my place to step up with a song, and yet, each time I find the courage to share a song, it is always met with appreciation and thanks.
Here's the song I'm sharing today, and I'm asking each of us to share a song with someone. It might be a child, a friend, or a stranger. It doesn't need to be sung perfectly, it just needs to be shared with an open, joyful heart.
It was wonderful to hear about members of our singing circle leading songs in their own communities over the holidays. May we sing more & often!!!



Much Love,
Tamsen

With Feeling!

Hey Ladies,
Here is a wonderful version of When the Saints with Louis Armstrong!


It has a great feel, some lovely horn solos, and the extra vocal touches are so funky!

Kathleen Battle's performance of Swing Low, Sweet Chariot is gorgeous. Enjoy!



Both of these songs leave me with a feeling, a remnant of the sound. This week I would love to capture more of the feeling behind each song as we are singing. It's where the actor meets the singer!

Testimony

Hi Ladies,

I just got home from my friend Sarah Wilson's cd release at Yoshi's and was so inspired by the improvisations! I think it would be fun to try a simple improv by creating percussion parts as the foundation and each of us adding horn parts on top. It could be really hilarious! (in the good way) Even car horns...

I wanted to share this version of Testimony, sung by Sweet Honey in the Rock. It's in our songbook, so we could sing it on Thursday evening. I love all of the pictures of Sweet Honey over the years...

New songs for this week.

A gypsy friend of mine, who would travel each year from Canada to Mexico to skip the cold, taught me this song while sitting on a sunny beach.


A smooth version of a song we have been working on.


To add to our songs from the sea:

A folk song from Ecuador.  Loosely translated:  "I want you to bury me as my ancestors were buried:  In the earth, dark and cold...in a clay vessel".  I love the haunting harmonies in this version.