A NY Times article about folk music groups, many use the song book “Rise Up Singing.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/10/arts/music/10ratli.html?ref=arts
I participate in Songmakers, a Southern California group. I would recommend it to anyone that likes to sing, or play an instrument or both. My group uses the pick, pass or play format, where each person in the circle gets a turn to lead a group song, perform solo, or choose someone else to play.
Anyone else go to these kind of groups?
There is a group that does that here in Windsor and have been for five years or so..a great night out, even though I seem to never sing but in the key of me! The books themselves we have had in the library for many years and are a great reference tool.
Anstapa
Of course, Rise Up Singing is a lyrics book, not a song book per se. No melodies, just basic chord progressions. But that’s a minor cavil.
Sam Hinton, who did the calligraphy for the book, is a long-respected fixture of the San Diego folk scene here.
Our Greenwood Family Sing, also known as the Greenwood Song Circle, has been going on a monthly basis for nigh on 20 years now. We mostly sing out of Rise Up Singing. Most of us had young children when we started; they would alternately hang with us and sing along, or go off as a tribe to cook up a wacky skit for the adults’ entertainment. Most of our kids are grown now, but they still participate when they happen to be around.
For at least the last 15 years we’ve also hosted a community group singing experience for all comers at the Northwest Folklife Festival, hoping to encourage participants to start song circles in their own communities.
Our regulars range from a professional opera singer to folks who are pretty much tone deaf. We don’t care too much what we sound like. We just do it because it feels good.
Ming