(I'm starting a new thread with Lynn's question so we can keep new topics easily searchable and accessible in the archive.)

How are people deciding what songs to add to their repertoire? How are you learning new songs? What memorization tricks can you share with us?

Great questions. I have a number of musical interests and don't spend a ton of time building repertoire now that I have a bunch of useful songs, but it is something I do try to add to on an ongoing basis. And learning songs is challenging and fun. Good for the brain as well as all else.

I have noticed a trend locally and elsewhere of more people favoring beautiful, intricate, complicated songs with beautiful, intricate, complicated choruses. I am guessing this is what happens when people get comfortable and experienced with songleading and want to challenge themselves and others, and that is a good thing. But at a sing that is open and encouraging to all levels, especially when less experienced singers are present, I sometimes feel the urge to actively shift the balance back toward familiar songs or those with simple choruses. Ideally I prefer for both ends of the spectrum to be represented in a sing. So I've had my ears open lately for good songs with simple (or otherwise easy-to-pick-up) choruses.

I am also thinking a lot these days about the social norms that are upheld through the songs we share. I would like to add more feel-good "we're all in this together" songs. I am interested in songs that flip a harmful social narrative (sexism, racism, homophobia, etc). Years ago when I was just starting out as a songleader, I wanted to learn the songs that people wanted to sing (the ones nobody could lead yet). So I did that, but now I'm finding some of those songs, while they served the community, don't necessarily fit me very well, and the community has grown so it doesn't need me to do that anymore. So I'm happy replacing them when something new comes along.

I learn through repetition, repetition, repetition. Literally. I put a song on repeat in the car when I'm driving somewhere or when I'm doing the dishes and I listen to it a million times until it sinks into my being. Although one trick I use, in order to not end up sounding like I'm imitating the person I got the song from, is that as soon as I feel able, I make a practice recording in my own voice and and key, and use that going forward instead of the original. It's usually kind of messy/choppy, and I have at times created such practice recordings by listening to a line, recording myself singing that line, pausing the recording, listening to the next line, recording that line, pausing, etc. But then I make a smoother one when I'm able, and so forth. I *love* the Voice Memos app on my phone, and I also use Audacity for cleaning up too-long pauses, though I am told that Garage Band is easier than Audacity if you have an Apple computer. 

As for memorization, I look for the story in the song, internalize the key points and flow of the story, then hang the lyrics on that. I also map out the geometry of the song in my mind -- how many verses, what is the rhyme structure like, what is the basic theme of each stanza. I come up with one or two words to represent each stanza and memorize that list. And then: repeat, repeat, repeat. It can take me months or years to learn a song to where I'm really comfortable leading it. That's something I think a lot of people don't realize; it's normal for many people to take a long time learning a new song.

I would love to hear how others approach these things. Thanks for raising the questions, Lynn.

Amanda Witman
Brattleboro, Vermont



On Wed, Jan 29, 2020 at 11:25 PM Lynn Feingold via Song Organizers <songorganizers@lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
Emily,

Thanks for that handy-dandy form! I was able to easily submit a few of my favorite online resources for traditional songs (especially ballads). I'll send you more info as I run across it - I encourage everyone else who is reading this message to click on the links below to see what has already been put into the online resource at CDSS, then use the link to the easy-to-fill-out form to help grow the resource!

Emily, I think you're right in thinking that there isn't a lot at stake if not a lot of people show up for a sing (as opposed to a dance) - fewer people means that there are more opportunities for those present to lead a song. That can be a double-edge sword - if a few of you have repertoires as long as your arm, you'll be all set, but if you come to a sing and there are three singers who each know three songs - well, that's going to end pretty quickly. I try to bring new songs to a sing, and if I frequent the same sing, that necessitates learning new songs - that's always a good thing!

How are people deciding what songs to add to their repertoire? How are you learning new songs? What memorization tricks can you share with us?

Thanks again,

Lynn Feingold
FSSGB


-----Original Message-----
From: emilyetbrent--- via Song Organizers <songorganizers@lists.sharedweight.net>
To: songorganizers <songorganizers@lists.sharedweight.net>
Cc: emilyetbrent <emilyetbrent@gmail.com>
Sent: Wed, Jan 29, 2020 4:30 pm
Subject: [SongOrganizers] Hello from Ottawa + CDSS resource-land

Hi fellow song organizer list members :)

Following up from Amanda's invite to introduce ourselves, I'm Emily Addison from Ottawa, Ontario.

I must admit to having a bit of imposter syndrome as I'm not currently a trad song organizer.  However, I'm definitely interested in the subject and hope to participate in the list on occasion. I'm currently doing some consulting work for CDSS in addition to lots of local community organizing here in Ottawa.  Part of my CDSS work has been to help establish this list so it's so exciting that Amanda, Lynn, Lynn and Suzanne have this conversation space possible.

At this point, I wanted to chime in to encourage you to check out the CDSS Resource Portal which has a brand new section for Singers and Song Leaders.
The greatly expanded Portal only launched a few weeks ago... almost all sections are new with the exception of dance organizers (launched fall 2018).

Hopefully you'll find some interesting song leader and organizer resources in the Portal. However, it's interesting to note that while I was able to dig up large amounts of material for dance organizers, I found relatively little for song organizers.  (I feel like I'm opening a can of worms just saying this!!!!???)

There's so many reasons that this might be the case. For instance, there have been a few conferences for dance organizers which have produced a lot of resources. (As a side note, these conferences have happened largely due to volunteer interest and effort.) In addition, dance organizers tend to submit lots of articles to the CDSS News.  As a long-time dance organizer, I also wonder if dance organizers might be more desperate to learn because of their somewhat higher stakes??? What I mean by this is that many dance organizers need to make close to (or more than!) $1000/night to cover expenses such as the hall, sound, caller, and musicians.  If they don't make enough money to cover their expenses, their series will die. I know this type of stress has made my local dance community mobilize and work much harder on our Saturday night series than our $100/night once a month events.

(On a related note, I would I'd like to acknowledge that I've also heard from a few one song organizer that CDSS has historically focused more on dance than song.  )

In any case, I'd like to put a call out to you all that if you know of some great song organizer and/or leader resources, to please let me know through this easy form: https://www.cdss.org/share-your-resource
Almost all of the resources in the CDSS Resource Portal have been created by community members for community members. 
Related - a year ago this month, we asked a small set of song organizers what they wanted to learn about.  I've included that list below. It would be so wonderful to start building a robust collection of resources that meet some of these interests.

With much thanks and listening with open ears :)
Emily in Ottawa
===============
Vision (e.g., mission and goals; why we do what we do; motivations)
Community culture and vibe (e.g., how to make sessions inclusive and welcoming; what do inclusivity, accessibility, and community actually mean; how to lead by example in creating the culture you want to see)
Singer ability, confidence and participation (e.g., how to support singers who lack confidence or experience; how to be supportive of people who may have issues around tuning and tone; managing singers who take more than their share of airtime; ability, fear, personalities, politics; how to satisfy different levels of trad song knowledge)
Running/managing sessions (e.g., styles of facilitation; what makes a good facilitator; flow)
Venues (e.g., what makes an ideal venue; how to communicate with venue managers.)
Fundraising
Launching a new event/community
Growing/evolving your event/community
Marketing (e.g., how to promote in ways that attract new participants)
Advocacy/benefits of singing
How to support intergenerational community building at song events (e.g., encouraging youth participants)
Repertoire (e.g., setting norms for technology and lyric use; songs to pull people in and get them singing right away or otherwise carry a session; places to find songs; how to cultivate appropriate repertoire to make all singers feel welcome; how best to handle problematic or offensive songs)
The tradition past and future (e.g., the history of social singing; how to keep the tradition alive and evolving)
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