I often wonder about the place of guitars and other instruments at a singaround. I like to sing with a good accompanist, particularly guitar, piano, or autoharp; but I don't play well enough to use an instrument when other people are in earshot. But I don't like to sing with an out-of-tune instrument, or when the instrumentalist tries to lead me, or when the instrument wants to play on songs that really work better without instrumentation. So, I like our "In Harmony's Way" guidelines that let instrumentation be governed by the person whose turn it is.

I don't really like the idea of a song circle having a leader, but maybe that's an impossible ideal. In our "In Harmony's Way" circle, Sharon, our founder/host, keeps us in line in a gentle, humorous way; and that's very helpful.

Our Sacramento Family Song Circle sings mostly from the Rise Up Singing and Rise Again songbooks, and we have a lot of people who really don't know music - and a lot of beginner guitarists. The late Bob Fitch was one of the people who founded the circle in 1988, and he was the "Alpha Male" when I joined the circle in 1993. He was a great guitarist for group singing, and that helped carry the singing.

Bob moved away in about 1996, and I guess I've been more-or-less the Alpha Male since then. I even dated a number of women Bob had dated first - and I've been married to one of them since 2002. Gradually, people came to depend on me to lead the singing, although I try my best not to dominate the singing and to encourage our more capable members to take the lead when it's their turn. I started working for the songbook editors in 2013, and that kind of sealed my position as leader. I know most of the songs, and I can start songs on key (although I prefer to have an opening chord from a guitar, so instruments can play along). I try to sing underneath the group, so it's not so obvious that I'm leading. I'm not all that sure that I like being leader, but it works.

The Sacramento Song Circle is a community singing group, while most of the other singarounds are based on individuals singing for and sometimes with the rest of the group. In community singing, a leader helps. We sing pretty darn well, and we've been having a good time every month since 1988; but it's the other singaround that feeds my soul.

-Joe-