My thoughts on song sharing and copyright as well as how to make a donation can be found here.
Warm Up and Welcome Songs
Asalaam Aleikum Arabic words of welcome, originially written to welcome refugees from Syria to Scotland, but I hope you will use this song to welcome anyone from anywhere… (easy-ish, 4 part) Score.
The Cat, the Dog and the Hamster. A silly wee warm up song.
Give a Little Kindness (easy, 3 part) Score.
One Day at a Time (easy, 4 part, call and response) Score.
Singin’ and Swingin’. (Easy, Four Part)
Very Nice To See You! A funky wee ‘hello’ song with latin rhythms. (easy, 2 part) Score.
Wonderful Women
A Brighter Morning. Words taken from a speech by Oprah Winfrey, speaking about #MeToo at the Golden Globes, January 2018:
“I’ve interviewed and portrayed people who’ve withstood some of the ugliest things life can throw at you, but the one quality all of them seem to share is an ability to maintain hope for a brighter morning, even during our darkest nights. So I want all the girls watching here, now, to know that a new day is on the horizon! And when that new day finally dawns, it will be because of a lot of magnificent women.”
(Short, with two sections that can be sung independently. Easy-ish. 3-5 parts.) Score.
The Cholita Climbers are a group of indigenous women climbing the highest mountains in Bolivia and beyond. There is a short video about them here. This song celebrates these awesome women. (Short, easy 3 parts) Score.
Do It Anyway! Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is giving so many of us hope in a different kind of politics. This song is a setting of a tweet she sent out in March 2018 that said “They’ll tell you you’re too loud, you need to wait your turn and ask the right people for permission. Do it anyway.” (Short, easy 3-6 parts) Score.
A Force of Love. A small setting of Julian of Norwich’s (1342-1416) wise words. “All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well, for there is a force of love moving through the universe that holds us fast and will never let us go.” (Round) Score.
I Am Not Free. A short setting of a quote from Audre Lorde “I am not free while any woman is unfree, even though her shackles are very different from my own.” The whole speech can be found here. (easy, 3 parts) Score.
Inzozi Nziza ‘sweet dreams’ celebrates an amazing women’s drumming co-operative in Rwanda who now run the country’s first ice-cream shop as well. You can see the film that inspired this song here. (short, easy, 5 parts) Score.
Kind and Strong celebrates Jacinda Ardern and different way to lead. (Short, easy, 4 parts) Score.
Mary Maloney was an Irish Suffragette who, in 1908, followed a young Winston Churchill round Dundee, where he was campaigning for a by-election, demanding that he apologise for making derogatory remarks about women and the suffrage movement. When he refused, she rang a hand bell whenever he tried to speak so that no-one could hear him, which earned her the nickname ‘La Belle Maloney’.
One Child, One Teacher. A setting of Malala Yousafzai‘s “One child, one teacher, one book and one pen can change the world.” (Short, easy 5 parts) Score.
Queen of the Supreme Court
A wee extract from Mozart’s ‘Queen of the Night’ aria celebrating Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Score.
Sow Seeds of Hope. Written for my wonderful mum, Sue Stone. (easy-ish, 3 parts) Score.
Pigeonholes. This is a small setting of a quote from Operatic wonder Jessye Norman “Pigeonholes are only comfortable for pigeons.”. (easy, double round) Score.
The Only Thing Better Than Singing. A small setting of Ella Fitzgerald’s words “The only thing better than singing is more singing.” (easy, round) Score.
Wax and Wane. A coming of age song written for Isla, and sung here by four generations of the women and girls in her family. Score.
Hopeful Songs
Spreading the Light. A wee song in three languages, written during lockdown with women from Joyous Choir in Glasgow. (3 part, easy) Score. Lyrics.
This Too Shall Pass (middling, 6 part with options for 3 or 4 parts) Score.
Tiri Vamwe (We Are Together). Written with Joyous Choir on Zoom, December 2020. (easy, 3 part). Score. Lyrics and translations.
You can hear the three parts separately here:
You Gotta Start Somewhere. A wee song to get you going! (easy, 4 part) Score.
Comforting Songs
Lay Down Sisters. (Easy-ish, 3 part) Score.
First Light – a Gaelic style blessing, written for dear friends. (Easy-ish, 3 part) Score.
Nature Songs
Edinburgh Wassail – written by members of the Open Community Singing Group and Transition Edinburgh South for our early Scottish Wassails as community orchards grew.
Every Grain of Sand. Score.
Mother Apple Tree. Written to celebrate the oldest tree in the newly reclaimed community Orchard at Granton Castle Walled Garden. (easy, 2-4 part). Score
Otter in the Water. Score.
Oyster Catcher. Score.
Sail Downriver. (on the easy side of middling, 3 part, or tune can be sung as a round.)
September Sunshine. (on the easy side of middling, 2 part) Score.
Snowdrops (Three parts or just the tune can be sung as a slightly longer round) Score.
Two More Minutes. Celebrating the lengthening of the light from January-June (I’ve sung 2 more minutes here, but there will be times when daylight is lengthening at 3 or 4 minutes at a time, so you can check your local sunrise and sunset and sing 3 or 4 at those times :). Four part, easy. Score.
Wadi Qana. Celebrating a beautiful valley in Palestine. Arabic Language. Medium-difficult. Score.
Lullabies
You will find many more lullabies (and videos of these ones) on this page. Here are scores for any lullabies that have parts written for groups to sing.
Cool and Calm (2 part, English/Scots-Irish nonsense)
Hooligool-oo-oo (2 part, Scots)
La Luna Splende (2 part, Italian and English)
Les Vagues Viennent (2 part, French and English)
Little Lamb (2 part, English)
Time to Close Your Eyes (2 part, English)
The Trees Grow Tall (4 part, English)
Will You Go To Sleep Now (3 part, English)
Silly Songs
Funky Flapjack. Does exactly what it says on the tin! (easy, 5 part) Score.
A Savoury Scone. (easy, round) Score.
Scone, but never forgotten
Wee Songs
Tea Waltz. Famous writers talking about tea. (easy, 3 part) Score.
Taste The Sky. A song about DaVinci and his flying machines. (easy, 3 part) Score.
Middling Songs
Podrán Cortar Todas Las Flores a setting of a quote from Chilean Poet Pablo Neruda “Podrán cortar todas las flores, pero no podrán detener la primavera. (They can cut all the flowers but they cannot keep spring from coming.)“. Written in solidarity with the Chilean people protesting social inequality in 2019. (medium difficulty, 3 part) Score.
El Doctorado is a great Spanish phrase that reminds people who have gone a long way down the road of academia that The PHD is no cure for stupidity. This song was written to celebrate two dear friends receiving their PHDs! (easy, 4 part) Score.
EVERYTHING IS GOING TO BE ALRIGHT. Inspired by Martin Creed’s hope-giving work of the same name that shines out from front entrance of the Modern Art Gallery in Edinburgh. (medium difficulty, 4 part). Score.
Bigger Songs
When The Sun Rises. A song of international solidarity, written for the Street Choirs Festival 2017. Lyrics in Spanish, Zulu, Arabic and English. It is possible to sing smaller sections independently of each other as well as the whole piece. (medium difficulty, 4 parts) Full Score (portrait). Full Score (landscape). Lyrics. Soprano. Alto. Tenor. Bass. Audio Part Learning.
Stonesong. Commissioned by Cairn Chorus in Moniaive and inspired by Andy Goldsworthy’s beautiful ‘Striding Arches’ and the much longer history of people in this landscape. (medium difficulty, 4 parts) Lyric Arch. Score (large). Score (small). Soprano. Alto. Tenor. Bass. Lyric Sheets. Teaching Notes.
Copyright
I feel similarly to Woody Guthrie when it comes to the singing and sharing of my songs. Woody printed this in a lyric booklet in the 1930s:
“This song is Copyrighted in U.S., under Seal of Copyright # 154085, for a period of 28 years, and anybody caught singin it without our permission, will be mighty good friends of ours, cause we don’t give a dern. Publish it. Write it. Sing it. Swing to it. Yodel it. We wrote it, that’s all we wanted to do.”
That said, I do have bills to pay, so if you’re able to contribute to my work, you can do so below.
The songs I have made available here are free for you to sing and share. Please do. If you publicly perform any of my songs (with choirs as well as solo), please remember to log the info to PRS so that I can get the royalties – every little helps!
Penny Stone 