Introduction  The ECRS Approach  Games  Cultural Messages  Play Parties  Dancing  » Singing  Exploring Outdoors  Dramatics  Informal Dramatics  Small Scenes  Storytelling  Puppetry  Crafts and Art  Special Populations  Program Planning  Dear Eddie  Past, Present, Future  Resources

       Singing, to some people, is like breathing. This becomes a necessary, daily use of the body and mind, a voice connection which is food for the soul. What could be more natural than breathing? What could be more natural than singing?
       For other people, singing is not immediately as easy to enjoy. The control of one's sounds is personal. Often a period of getting accustomed to singing is embarrassing or painful. Insecurity comes from disuse and misuse of the voice.
       Try humming. Let the waves of sound grow softer, then louder. Play with sound through open and closed lips. Control the strength of the air exchange. Listen. Slow down. Relax. Appreciate. Try the gentle "Hoven, hoven, gurry och ho, gurry och ho, gurry och ho..." Feel the consonants on the lips and teeth, mingled with the occasional vowel: add gentle rocking of the body from side to side. Let the song and your voice take you to others, if you are singing in a group. Open up your mind's ear and voice to include and allow others to hear you. This becomes mutual appreciation, mutual advantage.
       What a relief! You as well as I can let loose with sounds that are pleasing, or even unpleasing! It is in the trying and the event of singing that delight grows. Joy compounds when singing freely in a group. Stay with the humming and vocalizing. If you need a longer time alone to give yourself more control over the flow of sound, take the time. In fact, learn to sing that song "Take Time In Life, 'Cause You Got Far Way To Go..." This is a folk song from Liberia that has a repetitive melody line with simple, meaningful words. Sing it alone, or with a friend. Sing it in traffic or in an elevator. This is the kind of song that travels well. Once you are where you want to go, share the song. It makes a great gift.
       Fun comes with the weaving of sound amidst the delight of security and growth. Discord may occur. Forgive yourself! Delight in the making and trying! Call the discord "jazz" and accept it with tolerance, understanding and love.
       All this with singing? Yes, and more.
       Ed Moyer loved the simple "Go Tell Aunt Rhody," and could introduce it with a story about his own geese, ranging freely in their large pen. City persons would hear where the softest feathers on a goose are, and it became a real song about real people and real geese - all in a folk song.
       "It's a me, it's a me, it's a me O Lord, standin' in the need of prayer . . ." is a splendid spiritual, sung by splendid and unsplendid voices, relaxed and joining together in the moment of song. The survival of many spirituals, both within the black culture and in white rural religions, comes from the beauty of a simple phrase combined with a singable melody.
       Try simple folk songs, revive yester-year musical tunes, make up songs of the moment, recapture lullabies, try humming, recall intricate majestic works of choral art, play with weaving rounds, decorate the halls with canons - and sing!

• Brings a group together.
• Is restful after active play.
• Can be calming or exciting.
• Can create, or appeal to, a variety of moods: serious, silly, sentimental.
• Offers different levels of participation. The listener is still part of the group while the child who is ready to make an individual contribution can do so legitimately.
• Can stimulate the imagination.
• Is a pleasant way to learn about people, places, events, languages.

• Arrange singers in close seating because scattered voices cannot support each other. Place yourself where you can be seen and heard but not apart from the group.
• Prepare a program of varied songs but be ready to change it as you go. Allow time to include suggestions from the group.
• Instrumental accompaniment is useful but not essential. Use an instrument if you play one, but only if it still allows you to concentrate on the group and the song.
• Start with songs that you think will be already familiar to the group.
• If you are concerned about finding that first note, share your problem with the group. They will help.
• Avoid wordy songs.
• Teach small units at a time. Hum, whistle, la-la-la... Words can wait.
• Encourage improvisation where appropriate.
• With large groups, use your arms to help everyone start, sing and finish together.

1. I left my darling lying here, lying here, lying here.
   I left my darling lying here
   To go and gather blaeberries.

2. I found the trail of the mountain mist, mountain mist, mountain mist,
   I found the trail of the mountain mist
   But not a trace of baby-o.

3. I found the track of the fawn in the woods, . . .
   But not a trace of baby-o.

4. I found the wee brown otter's tracks, . . .

5. I found the track of the swan on the lake, . . .

   Sing the chorus after each verse. What other tracks or trails could be found?

   * Ho'ven and gurry och ho are terms of endearment.

Follow the Leader:

With recorded music (in a 4/4 beat) as background, the leader does a series of motions/sounds for the group to follow. For example:

(Count):	1	and	2	and	3	and	4	and
	Clap		Clap		Snap		Snap
	Snap,	Snap		Clap		Clap	Clap
	Clap		Clap		Snap	(right)	Snap	(left)

Possibilities are endless. Use tongue, cheeks, chest (drumming), shoulders, arms, bending, stretching, etc. Some members may prefer to improvise and should be encouraged, provided they stay with the beat.

Echo the Leader:

Same as above but the group waits until leader has done a unit (to four counts or to eight).

Nonsense Sounds: same method as echoing, using sounds such as: Wow, Hay, Gee, Oops Yipee, Yea, Eek, Boo

Dialogue:

The leader does a unit (as in echo) and the group answers (each member as will) but in a different way, using the same number of beats. For example, Leader: Clap, Clap, Lap, Snap; Group members: Lap, Lap, Snap-snap, Clap. After some practice, leading can be done by volunteers from the group.

Ha, Ho, Hay:

Select a song that can be irreverently treated (for example, "Jingle Bells," "Three Blind Mice"). Let the group sing it through once. Divide the participants into three groups, assigning to each group the syllable "ha", "ho," or "hay." They are to follow the melody of the chosen song (in its syllabic rhythm) but sing on their given syllables and only when the leader turns to them. In random fashion, the leader conducts one group at a time, for short segments, occasionally including two or three groups. This activity usually calls for a repetition.

Companion Rounds with Rhythmic Ostinati:

Divide the gathering into three groups. Assign to each group "Frere Jacques," "Row, Row, Row Your Boat," or "Three Blind Mice." Encourage each group to invent a short rhythmic body sound/movement pattern (an ostinato) to accompany their round. For example:

1. Row... Your Boat: clap, clap, snap, snap
2. Frere Jacques: patch*, -- patch, --
3. Three Blind Mice: snap, snap, clap, --
*slap lap

Let each group do theirs, one at a time. Then starting with group 1, bring each group in until all are singing and doing their respective ostinati. End by stopping one group at a time.

Rhythmic Chanting:

Divide group into four sections. Each section is assigned (or chooses) a word of one, two, three or four syllables taken from one category; for example: names of flowers, vegetables, places, games, people.

As the leader conducts the common beat 1, 2, 3, 4, the groups enter one at a time until all are chanting in unison. (Note that each word fits into one beat.) Ostinati may be added by each group (see Companion Rounds above).

Dance Inventions:

Song: Any familiar song

Formation: A standing circle, hands joined, with or without partners

Action:
1. Sing the song
2. Identify phrases (units that seem separable). For example:

a) Twinkle, twinkle, little star
b) How I wonder what you are
c) Up above the world so high
d) Like a diamond in the sky
e) Twinkle, twinkle, little star
f) How I wonder what you are.

3. Encourage the group to select dance movements that will feel good in sequence, a different one for each phrase. For example, in the above song:

a) Walk 4 steps clockwise
b) Turn singly in place (counter-clockwise)
c) Walk 4 steps to the center
d) Walk 4 steps back
e) Walk 4 steps counter-clockwise
f) Turn singly in place (clockwise)

For a round, arrange the group in two or more concentric circles. Starting with the innermost, each circle will begin and end dancing and singing at the appropriate time.

Sculptures:

Formation: Participants are divided into several groups of four or more, equal in number.

Action:
1. After some practice with individual sculpture-like body positions, each group composes its own sculpture, all members contributing to a connected whole.
2. Repeat the above (or make a new) sculpture to a count of 1.2.3.4. Each member, in turn, starts on count 1 and is finished in position by count 4.

If the group so chooses, they may show their sculpture to the others.

- From Songs to Sing and Sing Again by Shelley Gordon. Copyright 1984, Shelley Gordon.

CAN YOU DIG THAT CRAZY GIBBERISH
A SPEAKING ROUND

- Source Unknown

I HAD A LITTLE OVERCOAT

       "I Had A Little Overcoat" is about repeated resilience in the face of adversity: about satisfaction derived from creative problem-solving. For instance, what can you do when you have two children and only one egg? Make an omelet! And when you are down to absolutely nothing? Well, you can always make a song out of it.

Group 1	peas.	peas.	peas.	peas
Group 2	carrots,	carrots,	carrots,	carrots
Group 3	celery,	celery,	celery,	celery
Group 4	rutabaga,	rutabaga,	rutabaga,	rutabaga

- Teddi Schwartz

Original Yiddish: "Hobikh Mir a Mantl." English translation by Teddi Schwartz and Arthur Kevess.
- From Tumbalalaika - 17 Jewish songs for singing in English, Copyright 1956, copyright renewed 1988. Teddi Schwartz, New York, NY. Used by permission.

PETER AND PAUL

* "High-mah-she," the family name comes first in Hungary. Peter and Pal are brothers; when one is absent, his name is silent. Translated by Suzy Sann Harsanyi. (c) 1957, C.R.S., Delaware, Ohio.

       The first time I took an ECRS singing class, I was enchanted. My singing experience until then had mostly been in groups where the intent was to find intricate and challenging songs, polish them to perfection, and then perform them for an audience. I enjoyed that kind of singing, enjoyed the intellectual challenge. What would informal recreational singing would be like at ECRS, I wondered.
       I made sure to take a Song Leadership class at my first ECRS event. The first thing that surprised me was the nature of the songs that the song leader chose. They were simple songs, ones you didn't have to work at, songs I might have felt embarrassed to suggest to a group because they were so unsophisticated. And yet they were songs with an integrity. They often had had their rough edges worn away by the folk process, and the messages were clear and direct. Often these songs told of the kind of human experience that transcends time and culture. At the beginning of a song session, these songs were new to many of us. Yet they were accessible enough that we could enjoy singing them without hard work.
       The next thing I noticed was that singing was meant to be a playful experience. We used our imaginations to embellish a melody with a drone or harmony, we sometimes added motions or dance steps, we put on a rhythmic accompaniment... As long as the original spirit of the song was honored, it could be a medium for creativity and enjoyment. I forgot to worry about how good or bad the song might sound to someone who was listening. Somehow that was not even relevant anymore.
       I started thinking about music in a different way. After this first ECRS experience, I saw singing more as a natural human expression, and I thought about people all over the world who broke out in song in times of trouble or in times of celebration. I thought about how singing together can bring a group closer for a common purpose: sometimes to set a rhythm and a mood for hard physical work, sometimes to bring a spirit of reverence and awe, sometimes expressing pain, or pleasure, or just plain silliness. This perspective added a kind of magic to the experience of singing with a group. I felt connected with people down through the ages who have done this very thing, expressed their humanness in song. I went home from my first ECRS event with my eyes opened to the exciting possibilities of group singing.
       As I came back to ECRS again and again, I started to learn more about how a leader can help to make a good singing experience happen: to make wise choices in material, to know the group and what will work well at what point in a program, to be able to teach clearly and effectively, and above all, to keep the focus on the activity and the group process (not on how well the leader sings or plays the guitar!). I drummed up my courage and took advantage of the chance to practice-lead a song as often as I could. And now that I am teaching classes of my own. I still have a sense of awe about the power of song, and a real gratitude to ECRS for the musical world it has opened up to me.

- Nan Fawcett Cope

TAKE TIME IN LIFE

SONGS FOR GROUP SINGING

       There are many, many fine collections of songs available on the market today. The resource section at the end of this volume lists some good ones, and you probably have run across others as well. We have included the music and words to just a few songs in this chapter, concentrating more on what you want to look for in a good group song, and how to lead one when you find it. Below is a list of some ECRS favorites which we hope will jog your memory as you look for good singable songs.

Ain't Gonna Worry
Away, Away with Rum
Bells of Norwich
Bright Morning Stars
Bring Me a Little Water, Sylvie
Careless Love
Crawdad Song
Deep Blue Sea
Dillon Bay
Dona Nobis Pacem
Don't Throw Your Junk in My...
Down in the Valley
Drunken Sailor
Ego Sum Pauper
Every Time I Feel the Spirit
Follow the Drinking Gourd
French Cathedrals
Frere Jacques
Go Tell Aunt Rhody
Goodnight, Irene
Haida, Haida
Hail to Britannia
Hevenu Shalom A'leychem
Hey, Ho, Nobody Home
Hurry, Hurry, Come on the Run
I Gave My Love a Cherry
Ingunyama
It's Me, It's Me, 0 Lord
Johnny's My Boy
Like a Ship in the Harbor
Lovely Evening
Lullaby Song (When You Sing...)
Make New Friends
Michael Row
Mil habe lu lu bi shembel
Mole in the Ground
My Dame Has a Lame Tame Crane
New River Train
Oh, Aunt Lucy
Oh, Brandy Leave Me Alone
Oh Mary, Don't You Weep
O1' Texas
Old Abram Brown
On Ilke Moor Bat'at
One Man's Hands
Orchestra
Peace of the River
Promises to Keep
Sing When the Spirit Says Sing
So la la Cubanina
Study War No More
Sweet Potatoes
Three Blind Mice
To Stop the Train
Tumbalalaika
Vine and Fig Tree
Vive 1'amour
Waterbound
Waters of Babylon
Wearing My Long White Feathers
When I'm on My Journey
Why Shouldn't My Goose
Wild Mountain Thyme
Wimaway
Worried Man Blues
You Take a Stick of Bamboo

COME AND GO WITH ME

1. There ain't no sorrow in that land . . .
2. There ain't no Jim Crow in that land . . .
3. There'll be joy in that land . . .
4. There'll be singing in that land . . .

WHITE CORAL BELLS

I CAN FEEL THE SWEET WINDS BLOWING

WHITE SAND AND GRAY SAND

PRACTICE-LEADING AT ECRS

       One of ECRS's most valued leadership training processes is that of practice-leading. At each major event, there are usually several classes designated as leadership courses, and these provide the opportunity to learn leadership by doing, with honest and supportive feedback. One need not take advantage of this opportunity, but it is there whenever an individual feels ready. Deciding to practice-lead a song, game or dance does not mean one is necessarily heading for a career in recreation. It can just as often be a purely personal challenge. And the leadership skills gained come in handy in most any setting.
       A class with practice-leading will spend some time in discussion: Ñwhat makes effective leadership? Ñhow does one choose good materials? Ñwhat role does the participant have in a successful play experience? This discussion sets the stage for helpful and informed feedback when students volunteer to lead an activity. After the activity has been taught, there follows a structured evaluation session. First the practice leader describes things that went well in his or her leadership, giving specific examples. Then the group is asked for examples of how the leadership was effective and helpful for them. Next the practice leader may mention any aspects of the leading that were difficult or which he or she would like to do differently. At this point, the group can contribute suggestions and comments.
       Practice-leading does require courage. Yet the chance to take risks in an honest and supportive climate is a rare treasure, and one which generations of ECRSers have valued as an important process in their personal growth.

Next: Exploring Outdoors »