When I was a child, I had the remarkable blessing of a mom and dad who sang lullabies to my siblings and me before we went to sleep. Mom would pat my forehead and sing about happy little chappies, pigeon houses, and the romance of the owl and the pussycat. Dad would sing the Deep Vellum Blues. Their gentle voices made a safe bridge over to the land of sleep. In our family, we also sang folk ballads together and with other families, and Christmas carols at home and in our neighborhoods each December. Mom led my girl scout troupe and together we weekly danced and sang. Our family camped in the summers and we sang around the campfire each night. On long car trips (we had many), we sang on our own or along with recordings of John Denver, The Incredible String Band, and other folkie types.

When I wrote my first song at age 8 (titled “Oh Mother Nature”, about caring for the earth), my parents were highly encouraging and supportive.

I felt enough support from them that I worked up my courage and performed the song at a multi-school assembly.  The next year, I was recruited to sing on an album by Rita Abrams; I sang on a then-popular song called “Mill Valley” (the town I lived in) and enjoyed the recording experience (especially the vending machine in the studio, the first I had ever seen).  I continued songwriting through my middle school and teenage years

with my parents help and support. In college I majored in theater, getting lead roles in musicals and singing with the UC Berkeley Jazz Choir,

which toured Europe the year I turned 21.

Music in our family was a safe haven of comfort, connection, and happiness. I carried that refuge with me through my entire childhood. I know in my cells what music can provide, and so I have dedicated my entire adult life to sharing music with others.

After college, I became a preschool teacher, bringing my guitar with me to work so I could sing with the kids. This led to ten years as a music specialist at Camp It Up! - a family camp for all kinds of families, particularly lesbian and gay parented families and allies. It also led to following some of my preschool kids to their elementary schools, and becoming an elementary school music teacher. Simultaneous to that I sang in bands; from 1993-2009 (with a five year hiatus from 2001-2006) I performed, recorded and toured with the with the all-female "fresh radical folk" trio Rebecca Riots.

In 2003, I went on a three month silent meditation retreat at the Insight Meditation Society in Barre, Massachusetts. One of the teachings we received there was on a Buddhist list of ten qualities of the contented heart (called “The Paramis” or “The Paramitas”). The thought crossed

my mind that it would be neat to write original songs based on these qualities.

In 2005 I took a class called “A Year to Live”. This class is taught by Bonnie O’Brien Johnsson and is inspired by a book of the same title by Steven Levine.  We met monthly for a year, “acting as if” we had only one year left to live. I quickly realized that if I had only one year left,

I would write and record those songs about the paramis. And that’s what I did. Friends and family helped me write the songs, my brother Ben Decker engineered and produced it, and in June 2006 I played a sold-out CD release concert at the Freight and Salvage Coffee House in Berkeley. The CD is called “Commentary on Perfections of the Heart”. A review of the CD and concert, which appeared in the Buddhist

magazine Tricycle in the fall of 2006, describes the start of that concert:

The Freight and Salvage is the oldest acoustic music club west of the Mississippi, but when the MC introduced the headliner, she was a bit baffled.  “We’ve been presenting the best in acoustic and traditional music since 1968,” she said.  “But what you’re going to see tonight

isn’t acoustic, and it isn’t traditional – I don’t know what to call it.”  The audience helped her out, shouting in unison: “Dharma folk!”

Since that time, I have been performing the newly-coined “dharma folk” songs for Buddhist centers and gatherings, as well as at regular

folk clubs. I share the music as my livelihood, and also as a free offering to institutionalized folks, worthy causes, and spiritual groups without financial support to offer.  I also continue to share music with children.

My deepest intentions are to ease suffering and offer joy. The two most wonderful things I have found in my life, that have eased my own suffering and brought me joy, are music and Buddhist teachings. So, I have dedicated my life to sharing both of these with others, in the

hopes that I may help contribute to the well-being of whoever resonates with my work.

Songs of Inspiration and Solace