Ok, I've thrown away the crutch, but I occasionally use a cane...

I sympathise utterly with the feeling that using "reading a song" to replace oral tradition - has both stifled vibrant song circles and caused others to never take off. In the US the saturation of Rise Up Singing is the major problem.

I recently did a workshop at a regional dulcimer festival called "Singing Outside THE BOOK."   Unfortunately, I was preaching to people of THE BOOK - in this case the song & tune book created by the organization's leader - and had a pitifully small turnout. While he's done wonders in getting lots of people to play traditional music, they're so wedded to THE BOOK that in the evening song circles, I've been made to feel like a pervert for wanting to do something in the key of C - which suits MY voice better.

An aside: This plays to another pet peeve about the folks stuck "in THE BOOK" - the attitude that you really shouldn't do anything that the group can't ALL join in playing/singing out of THE BOOK. (as a lap dulcimer group, they never wanted to get out of D, While being wedded to a specific key is appropriate for traditional tunes, it doesn't work for vocal ranges.) I live in a region that's now very sparse in traditional singers & not much in other areas of folk either, so it's a sticky issue to be prissy about someone gushing about just discovering Rise Up Singing. Song circles, pub sings, after festival song sessions - all those have melted away here. I envy those on t'other side the Atlantic who have many places to go to sing with others, and other areas of the US where there are choices in Folk Festivals and venues.

In "Singing Outside THE BOOK" I showed how songs are put together, line, verse, chorus, refrain, and using that knowledge to LISTEN to what people are singing, to THINK, and to KNOW when you can join in - all skills I learned in an atmosphere of aural tradition that barely exists here anymore.

That cane vs. crutch thing - I've mostly "learned" a song from "the singing of-----" But, if I've not had the chance to hear that person sing it often enough to know it completely, I go for the written. Writing it down helps me to learn/remember it & work out chords. I use a personal "fake" book as a tool & it evolves from edition to edition - sometimes just the name and the chords, or a first line of the verses, and adding songs I'm working on learning. I keep the whole text of long songs so I can go over them BEFORE performing EVEN if I know the song. I think of Frank Harte, a man who "knew" thousands of songs & used his cheat book when teaching, but not when performing. The cheat sheet/fake book/"cane" is a tool to be used wisely.

I wish you encounters with wisdom and good songs,


Joanne in Cleveland