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BS: Ideas for singarounds
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Subject: Ideas for singarounds From: Patrish(inactive) Date: 15 Jun 00 - 07:52 AM Last year at the Tap and Spile in Whitby (during Folk week) we had some "different" sing a rounds. Inserting the word "rhododendron" into a song, singing all the old uncle mac songs, seeing how many we could kill in an hour(songs about tragedies) Have any of you got any other ideas? Your thoughts on this will be much appreciated Patrish |
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Subject: RE: BS: Ideas for singarounds From: Patrish(inactive) Date: 15 Jun 00 - 10:59 AM c'mon your ideas will be welcomed Patrish |
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Subject: RE: BS: Ideas for singarounds From: Malcolm Douglas Date: 15 Jun 00 - 11:15 AM I recall a memorable "Sheep Song" night some years back here in Sheffield. There are hundreds, and if at a loss you can always go -as some of us did- for such things as "The Sheep in Distress" or "The Bonny Sheep the Diamond". If you also have instrumental players, there's "The Full-Rigged Sheep", "The Sheep in Full Sail".... Malcolm |
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Subject: RE: BS: Ideas for singarounds From: Patrish(inactive) Date: 15 Jun 00 - 11:20 AM Thanks Malcolm, I don't live very far away from Sheffield - must have missed the "sheep" thing -sounds like a fine idea. I go to the Harlequin on a Sunday when I can - some brilliant musicians there, thanks again Patrish |
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Subject: RE: BS: Ideas for singarounds From: Mrs.Duck Date: 15 Jun 00 - 12:06 PM We also had an Eric night at the Tap and Spile at new year-you know the sort of thing.But just lately at the Jug we have been talking about having theme nights where rather than being tampered with songs we just choose a type of song the favourite being bawdy nights!! Helps shut the melodeons up for a short while anyway! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Ideas for singarounds From: black walnut Date: 15 Jun 00 - 12:11 PM our song circle rarely does 'themes', but once, for someone whose son had died recently, we sang the 'blues'....which, because we didn't know many blues songs, turned into singing songs with the word 'blue' in them. it was very nice..... i know a song circle an hour away from us which always does themes, and i recall they've done songs about 'things in the sky', 'pottery', 'best of the millennium', stuff like that....
i know, patrish, you're looking for something more quirky than theme ideas, but that's all i could come up with for now. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Ideas for singarounds From: GUEST,Banjo Johnny Date: 15 Jun 00 - 01:13 PM How about "Sing your Favorite Song" ... too quirky? --- Johnny in Oklahoma City |
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Subject: RE: BS: Ideas for singarounds From: Hollowfox Date: 15 Jun 00 - 03:00 PM The ones I get to don't usually have a theme, but I like the "kill as many as you can" idea. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Ideas for singarounds From: MMario Date: 15 Jun 00 - 03:11 PM what about "anti-themes" where your song cannot mention or refer to the theme. Once was at a party where we tried to come up with songs that did NOT contain 1) drinking/liqour 2) death/dying 3) love/lust/sex 4)the sea/sailing we pretty much sat around speechless for a while.. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Ideas for singarounds From: Morticia Date: 15 Jun 00 - 04:50 PM swapping songs, i.e. having a bash at a song someone else always does can be good for a laugh....just don't do it better :) |
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Subject: RE: BS: Ideas for singarounds From: GUEST,Mbo_at_ECU Date: 15 Jun 00 - 04:53 PM Try politcal songs, Mario, like Tom Paxton's stuff. It doesn't have to do with any of those 4 things. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Ideas for singarounds From: MMario Date: 15 Jun 00 - 05:02 PM except singing political songs makes one wish for death, want a drink, and politics and sex go hand in hand....*grin* |
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Subject: RE: BS: Ideas for singarounds From: Uncle_DaveO Date: 15 Jun 00 - 06:17 PM I've often thought of--but never had the occasion to do-- a sort of song game like this: First singer sings whatever; say it's "Wreck of the Old 97" for example. Second singer must sing a song that "touches" the first song in some respect, such as being a wreck song, a railroad song, a lover-who-dies-in-the-course-of-work song. So maybe he sings "My Sweet Pinery Boy", where the fiance is trying to locate her logger lover, but he's drowned. Third singer now has drowning, death in the line of work, logging, or some other theme he can justify from the second song. Simply singing the same song won't do, of course, unless it's a strongly different version. Anyone can challenge a singer's offering as not related or a mere repetition, and a vote of the meeting, or maybe the word of an agreed referee, decides the challenge. A singer may be able by quickness of wit to justify what would otherwise seem a remote connection to the prior song. If a singer can't come up with an acceptable (to the group or referee) follow-on song, given two tries at it, he's out of the game, and next one up has to "answer" the previous singer's song. A singer must be able to do a complete song--not just a verse or so and "I can't remember the rest." This would go by challenge also, so that merely not singing a given verse that someone else can remember wouldn't NECESSARILY be cause for disqualification. In one form of the game, you could use a cheat sheet or music if you happened to have it, but not having it available would be no excuse. This would tend to put a premium on memory. Or of course the group could set its rules to allow only songs from memory, which would make it tougher for some. As you can tell from the description of the game, any one song yields a number of possible themes to follow, and it seems to me that this would be likely to bring forth a lot of songs that wouldn't necessarily come up in the usual course. I really would like to try this some time. Dave Oesterreich |
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Subject: RE: BS: Ideas for singarounds From: sophocleese Date: 15 Jun 00 - 06:25 PM How much time do you have to think of a song doesterr. It would be tricky to be next and listen to the previous song without being distracted by frantically trying to remember one song to go with. A friend once tried to figure out how many stalker songs there were in popular music; "Every breath you take, I'll be watching you." So how about love songs with a sinister angle?
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Subject: RE: BS: Ideas for singarounds From: Uncle_DaveO Date: 15 Jun 00 - 06:36 PM FRankly, I never thought of the time angle. But it is clear that the group should set some time parameter in advance. Dave Oesterreich |
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Subject: RE: BS: Ideas for singarounds From: Mrrzy Date: 15 Jun 00 - 06:45 PM Dave, I do something similar when singing on long car trips, which I've always wanted to try in a group. This may also answer Sophocleese's concern. 1) I sing a song, whatever I think of and feel like singing. 2) I sing a song that shares a WORD - just a word (no fair using "the" or anything like that unless you're desperate or suddenly really want to sing a totally unrelated song) with the prior song, and so on, chaining by free-association. That way I don't spend any real time, maybe a minute or so, thinking of the next song. So I could sing The Wreck of the Old 97, then another song that mentions, say, throttle (in any meaning) or husband (can't think of any I want to sing right now) or ladies (ok, I'll sing Come All Ye Fair and Tender Ladies... then Strawberry Fair.... and so on. The word doesn't have to be in the title or even a main part of the plot). Footnote, prompted by a shared desire to be honest and name-drop: I mutated this idea from one of AllanC, from back before I knew him through the Mudcat, who told me once he used to challenge the audience to say a noun and he'd sing a song with that word in it. The only word I can't think of a song about is davenport - I got sofa and easy chair and couch, and even ottoman, but no davenport. I'll spring that on him when he gets back. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Ideas for singarounds From: Uncle_DaveO Date: 15 Jun 00 - 06:47 PM More on the song-chain game: As I envision the game, the rendition doesn't have to be all that great, nor does it HAVE to be accompanied, but the singer should definitely be able to come up with something related that he/she can sing a full song of, however raggedly, however out of tempo, etc. A possibility that just now occurs to me is is that if a singer is disqualified,one of his/her two tries failing for not being able to come up with the full song, the next singer may sing that whole song as his/her offering. I didn't mention, but it should be clear that a singer may, if stumped, confess being stumped and accept disqualification. DAve Oesterreich |
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Subject: RE: BS: Ideas for singarounds From: Patrish(inactive) Date: 16 Jun 00 - 07:17 AM Many thanks for your thoughts. I like the idea of linking the songs. We have done this in the past and some of those links become very dodgy Patrish |
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Subject: RE: BS: Ideas for singarounds From: Bev and Jerry Date: 16 Jun 00 - 03:01 PM We tried this idea of linking songs once at a song circle and it didn't work very well because the level of most people was too low. Many folks had trouble because their repertoires were not big enough. Some people knew a lot of songs but needed to practice anything before they performed it so they couldn't easily pull something out of their songbag.
On the other hand, we once did this on stage at a folk festival workshop. Talk about pressure. It worked very well because people learned quickly that, if you talk long enough, you can link any song to any other song. Also, we learned to help the next person by picking a song that is easily linked to like a train song. In one case, we picked a song that was easily linked to a song that we knew the next person wrote! Bev and Jerry |
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Subject: RE: BS: Ideas for singarounds From: Marion Date: 16 Jun 00 - 03:16 PM It might be fun (on April Fool's Day maybe)to have a song circle where everybody has to lead a song that they hate. Marion |
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Subject: RE: BS: Ideas for singarounds From: GUEST,Corinna of California Date: 16 Jun 00 - 05:16 PM Great idea of the linking songs. I also like theme songs with colors, food (Wine, strawberries, cherries, etc.) names, and places. IF you can get someone to pick the theme for the next person's song with extra points for links from a previous song... |
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Subject: RE: BS: Ideas for singarounds From: Richard Bridge Date: 16 Jun 00 - 06:27 PM One I've seen used with success in Kent is songs about "Willy". ANy sort of "Willy" will do - even the man's name or the theme song to "free Willy". |