Adult choir or ensemble Archives - Pamela Holm 1960-2019

Ave Maria

heather — Fri, 24 Apr 2020 01:33:42 +0000

One of my favourite pieces of Pam’s, which is saying a lot.

Her original manuscript is reproduced further down.

I’ve made an arrangement from Pam’s chords, which could be played on piano or sung as parts – SAAB or SATB, or SAA with a cello playing the baseline. Maybe a soloist with vocal harmonies on the two “Ave Maria”s in the middle and the last 12 bars. Arrangers, feel free to make your own version! Do what you will with the “Amen” she wrote at the end.

Table Of Contents

Video
Practice audio
Sheet music
Lyrics
Original manuscript

Video

Here is Miranda Lever singing Pam’s “Ave Maria”.

Practice audio

Singalong: I’ve computer-recorded an instrumental version. Follow along with the sheet music below.

Here it is at 100 beats per minute (? = 100), maybe too fast.

Ave Maria, by Pamela Holm

If that’s a little fast, here it is again at ? = 80.

Ave Maria, by Pamela Holm, a little slower

Sheet music

Ave Maria by Pamela J Holm, sheet music (PDF)Download

Lyrics

Ave Maria,
Lady of Ladies, Queen of our hearts.
Your mercy wafts on a gentle ray of light,
Softly penetrating even in the darkest of night.
Ave Maria
Join with our hearts, Lady, carry our prayers
to bring heav’n’s holy Light into hearts of despair.
Ave Maria
Be as a guide as we go through our day,
bringing Light to our path as you show us your way.
Ave, Ave Maria, Ave Maria,
Ave Maria.

Original manuscript

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Hold the World in Love

heather — Wed, 01 Apr 2020 14:58:45 +0000

Where can you see this song being sung? I can imagine it on the steps of a parliament or legislature at an Earth Day or environmental rally. More quietly in a small circle. Arranged for choir, or for small a capella groups. I can imagine people changing the words or writing new verses to suit their cause, their mindset, the needs of the day. I can imagine it evolving into an anthem (one of many) of those who are embracing a new relationship with the planet.

Table Of Contents

Video
Sheet music
Lyrics

Video

We recorded this song in 2020 near Mahone Bay, Nova Scotia.

Sheet music

Hold the World in Love – Sheetmusic with lyrics Download

Lyrics

Hold the World in Love

Listen to the heartbeat of the nations
Listen to the rhythm of their songs
Listening, feel the spirit as it rises
Listen how the heartbeat draws us home

Hold the world in love (x4)

Hear the steps of people walking peaceward
Hear the steps of people holding hands
Feel the rhythms as we walk together
Bringing hope and courage to all lands

Hold the world in love (x4)

We sing of peace, we sing of courage, we sing of love
We sing of truth, we sing of justice, we sing of love

Hear the sound as nations sing together
Feel the strength as voices rise in song
Feel the spirit, oh my sister, brother
Singing out our songs in unison

Hold the world in love (x4)

I feel appreciation for my sisters
Who gather us around the fire bright
I feel compassion deeply for my brothers
Searching for a way to make things right

We sing of life, we sing of harmony, we sing of love
We sing of joy, and of tenacity, we sing of love

Forgiving one another for our failures
Forgiving first of all the one within
Learning how to dance as equal partners
So paradise on Earth, it can begin

We sing of sharing, and of compassion, we sing of love
We sing of peace, and of forgiveness, we sing of love

Hold the world in love (x4 or more to finish)

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Joy Dances Through Me

heather — Wed, 11 Mar 2020 23:09:40 +0000

A happy waltz, found near Waltz to the Angels. So maybe it was also written about 2006.

It’s short, so I can imagine singing it through once, then have an instrumental break, then singing either the last half, or the whole thing again. I can also imagine it sung by a choir.

Waltz me round through the heavens in three quarter time.
Joy Dances Through Me, by Pamela Holm

Table Of Contents

Video
Sheet music
Lyrics

Video

Here’s Miranda Lever singing it:

Sheet music

Joy Dances Through Me by Pamela Holm, sheet music Download

Lyrics

Joy dances through me like a light summer rain.
Hearing a cheerful bird’s song, my heart’s singing again.
Lift me high on your wings, O great Spirit Divine,
Waltz me round through the heavens in three quarter time.

Joy, joy, carries my heart
From the first rays of dawn through the twinkling of stars.
Joy, wrap my life in your bliss,
Help the world to know you like this.

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Home by the Ocean

heather — Wed, 11 Mar 2020 21:34:06 +0000

Home by the Ocean poignantly expresses Pam’s perennial wish to move back to the Maritimes. She wrote it just after a 2016 summer car trip through New Brunswick, to us in Nova Scotia, and back to Ottawa along the North Shore of the Gaspé Peninsula. She was doing research for a writing project, The Marco Polo Table, and also visiting places she had lived as a child.

And the tug of war between life inland and shore, between work and wages and sea
Tears me apart, wrestles hard with my heart, and I long to be free …
From Home by the Ocean by Pamela Holm

Maritimers and would-be Maritimers love this song.

Table Of Contents

Videos
Sheet music
Lyrics

Videos

Mirth (Miranda Lever, Mary Knickle and Cynthia Myers) in St. John’s Church, Lunenburg, Aug. 31, 2022:

Miranda Lever solo in 2020.

Sheet music

Home by the Ocean by Pamela Holm, sheet music Download

Lyrics

There’s a call from the heart of my soul
to go down to the tide, to the salt crested tide
to the shoreline where waves gently roll
to the wild rocking beat, cooling sand ‘neath my feet
to be home by the ocean once more.

A rover I am, a sailor on land.
I’ve lived in far places, journeyed through foreign lands.
I have braved other climates in the heat and the rain,
gazed at far mountains, and come home again.

A sailor on land, my home is my car
On four wheels I’ve travelled, follow some distant star.
I have lost myself over and over again
Then the smell of the seaside brings me home once again.

And the tug of war between life inland and shore,
Between work and wages and sea,
Tears me apart, wrestles hard with my heart
And I long to be free

To follow the call of my soul
to go down to the tide, to the salt crested tide
to the shoreline where waves gently roll
to the wild rocking beat, cooling sand ‘neath my feet
to be home by the ocean once more.

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Peace Flows

heather — Sat, 11 Jan 2020 17:00:56 +0000

A round in four parts. The arrows in the last two bars indicate a deep in-breath and a relaxing out-breath, “ah”, thus insuring that peace will flow around, through and within the singers, as promised by the lyrics. My clever sister! – HH

Sheet music

Peace Flows by Pamela Holm, sheet music PDF Download

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Om Divine Mother

heather — Fri, 10 Jan 2020 22:56:20 +0000

Pamela was pan-religious. This song invokes the Divine Feminine as embodied in:

Sarasvati (Saraswati), Hindu goddess of learning, wisdom, music, and aesthetics;
Mother Mary, revered by Christians for her grace and compassion;
the Hindu goddess Kali, destroyer of evil; and
Mother Earth, provider of of our physical lives.

I think Pam had a soft spot for Sarasvati, understandably. There were several figures and images of the music goddess around her apartment.

I never heard her perform this song, but I can imagine her encouraging the audience to sing along as she repeated the last four measures over and over again. If you have memories of this, please contact me.

Table Of Contents

Video
Sheet music
Lyrics

Video

The friends who helped me make this video are: Miranda Lever (piano, voice, direction), and singers Ruth Lillington, Tracy Murdoch and Kristen Martell.

Sheet music

Om Divine Mother (sheet music PDF) by Pamela Holm Download

Lyrics

Om, Sarasvati, Mother of Song
When you move through my spirit, I have to sing along.
Joy ripples through me as I send my songs soaring through the air,
Lifting folks from their cares.

Om, Mother Mary, Holder of Hearts.
Your warm arms enwrap us wherever we are.
Show us how to create love on earth
As we open our hearts for this moment of rebirth.

Om Mother Kali, teach us how to let go
Of old shadows inside us
So a new path can guide us home.

Om Mother Earth, you cradle us all.
We drink of your waters.
We thank you for all of the richness you provide us:
The food that we eat; the company beside us;
For air that we breathe;
For wisdom to stand on our feet to say:

Om, Divine Mother, be home in our hearts.
Om, Divine Mother, be home in our hearts.

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Spirit of Life (2009)

heather — Sun, 24 Nov 2019 01:18:39 +0000

Pamela wrote this song “after a difficult conversation with a minister around theology”, as she related in this talk. I can just imagine that conversation!

We played this recording at her interment ceremony as we paid our individual respects. It was very poignant in that context.

It isn’t a studio recording, just something she recorded for her own records, or perhaps as a casual demo. – HH

Spirit of Life, work your magic in my soul
Bringing your wondrous touch, you ignite
The fire that makes me whole
Spirit of Life reflected in the rising of the Sun
Resurrect your spirit here in the knowing we are all one.

One in the Godhead, one in the heart
One in the peace, that’s where we start
One in the blessing of the sun
One sun that shines on everyone.

Spirit of Life, I feel so full of Grace
Knowing how your radiant form transfigures every face
Spirit of Life reflected in the light of every smile
Opening heart and mind alike to your presence here all the while.

Light of loving, light of truth
Light through the Spirit we’re made new
Light that warms us like the sun
One sun that shines on everyone.

One in the Godhead, one in the heart
One in the peace, that’s where we start
One in the blessing of the sun
One sun that shines on everyone.
One sun that shines on everyone.

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Prayer (1990)

heather — Wed, 20 Nov 2019 21:30:38 +0000

From a cassette tape Pamela recorded to copyright her songs, August 1, 1990. She was a Music Therapy student at Capilano College (now University) at that time. Sung a capella.

Lyrics

Oh Lord, my Love and my God,
Lend me your arms to shield me from fear,
Wash from my heart the anger of my life
That I may live for peace and joy forever more

Oh Lord, if I must bear the burden of my past
Make it like a feather on the breeze
If I must sing forever of my song
Let it be a song of your praise

Oh Lord, my Love and my God,
Be with me as a shepherd with his lamb
That I may know your guidance in my heart
And live your love with all I am.

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Come to the Garden

heather — Mon, 11 Nov 2019 02:44:31 +0000

I can hear arrangements of this song being sung by choirs. – HH

Video

Performed by Miranda Lever.

Sheet music

Come-to-the-Garden Download

Lyrics

Published by Orleans Writing Group, 2018

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Sing of Joy (2008)

heather — Sun, 03 Nov 2019 01:46:17 +0000

A Solstice/Christmas song, written in 2008.

Pam’s rewrite of the lyrics in the second verse, as shown in the sheet music below, removed the overtly Christmas references, making it suitable as a song for Solstice.

Christmas version, verse 2:

Beauty lies within us, opening to joy
and the gift this season brings us is a blessed baby boy.
Open wide your heart to let the Christ-light in
so the healing fire of love can begin.

UPDATE March 2020 – I was delighted to find a video I took of Pam singing this song on Christmas Day, 2016, chez nous. We had a few friends over for Christmas dinner, and were singing carols together when she sang the song – with the Christmas words. The look on her face at the end when she saw that I had recorded it on video was priceless.

Sing of Joy by Pamela Holm – sheetmusic Download

(Note to musicians: In the video, observe the evolution of note values and syncopation as she sings the song 8 years after writing it. No need to take things exactly as written. Make it your own.)

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