Disappearance of communal singing in US

Subject: RE: Disappearance of communal singing in US
From: Desert Dancer
Date: 28 Mar 12 - 03:35 PM

FloraG - cross-posted with you. Not-necessarily-planned singing in pubs with other than group members joining in -- that's definitely missing in the US.

~ Becky

Subject: RE: Disappearance of communal singing in US
From: GUEST,mg
Date: 28 Mar 12 - 03:34 PM

I think there are probably several factors.

One is there are often Christmas carols around the tree in the town square..although that is probably being squelched.

One is that songs are looked on as a way to scold often as opposed to heal or regroup. In general, I am not fond of those songs, but others obviously are..but sometimes they are sung to make people feel bad rather than good.

Churches have lost many of their congregations. And I will keep saying it till I drop dead but the Catholic church turned from beautiful to very ugly music overnight and lots of people are Catholic and lost their beautiful hymns.

We live in bigger cities and often don't have communities except at work and most work environments don't lend themselves to singing..although they say if you go out at night you can hear the Mexican Americans singing as they dig oysters near here...

A lot of music has been uglified over the years.

A lot of scorning takes place..if someone likes country western etc...they can be scorned in many places..but that is about as close as we can come to group music often.

People are afraid to be leaders...we do believe in America about people being equal etc...but they can't usually start singing int he same key and same tune etc. without strong leaders..

There are all sorts of political boundaries etc...

But we had a fishing catastrophe here recently..I did not attend the service for the one local man, but I suspect that they did all sing...

Well, that is enough for now...

Subject: RE: Disappearance of communal singing in US
From: Desert Dancer
Date: 28 Mar 12 - 03:33 PM

It is good to hear of organized group singing opportunities, and as the author said, "People who enjoy singing get together in homes to make music with friends, and choral groups abound."

What this article gets at is more public functions of group singing: "It's the community-oriented, community-building, sometimes spontaneous kind of singing that's suffering." Her examples that I quoted are the ball game, the public mourning gathering, Occupy Wall Street.

I have seen reports of "We Shall Overcome" being sung recently at demonstrations about the Trayvon Martin case. Presumably a crowd of that kind would have a cohort of people who had sung that before and who could lead it...

~ Becky in Tucson

Subject: RE: Disappearance of communal singing in US
From: GUEST,FloraG
Date: 28 Mar 12 - 03:26 PM

In England we are lucky that a lot of morrris sides ( not all ) keep the singing tradition alive. After a few dances they will go into the pub and after getting the drinks in someone will start up a tune or a song for others to join in.
FloraG.

Subject: RE: Disappearance of communal singing in US
From: Deckman
Date: 28 Mar 12 - 03:19 PM

Community singing is VERY strong in the Seattle area with the song circles. bob(deckman)nelson

Subject: RE: Disappearance of communal singing in US
From: foggers
Date: 28 Mar 12 - 02:32 PM

I think much the same can be said here in UK. Interesting article! Unless one belongs to a choir or faith community, communal singing is just not part of life. When non-folkie friends of ours have come along so sessions it is the power of communal singing that if often commented upon as a remarkable thing.

Subject: RE: Disappearance of communal singing in US
From: RTim
Date: 28 Mar 12 - 02:31 PM

Well there was plenty at Pinewoods CDSS Harmony of Song & Dance last year, in fact a little too much for me, who prefers solo or singing on choruses.
I preferred the old Folk Music week format - but people stopped coming to that!!

See this years line up at link below:

http://www.cdss.org/harmony.html

Tim Radford

Subject: RE: Disappearance of communal singing in US
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 28 Mar 12 - 02:04 PM

I was at a recorder workshop recently, and I remarked "There is a sublte undercurrent in our culture which discourages people from making their own music."

Somebody replied, "I disagree. It's not subtle."

Thanks for posting.

Subject: Disappearance of communal singing in US
From: Desert Dancer
Date: 28 Mar 12 - 01:43 PM

How Communal Singing Disappeared From American Life, And why we should bring it back, by Karen Loew in The Atlantic.

Excerpts:

With the crack of baseball bats across the land, the singing season for Americans is about to begin. At ballparks from Saint Louis to San Diego, people will stand during the seventh-inning stretch and belt "Take Me Out to the Ballgame." They will feel the pleasure of singing a bouncy, easy song with thousands of other fans. They will be cheered by the sunny lyrics, even if their team is down. They will lose themselves in a bond stretching around the stadium, a few minutes of carefree unity.

And when the season's over, that'll be it until next spring.

Adults in America don't sing communally. Children routinely sing together in their schools and activities, and even infants have sing-alongs galore to attend. But past the age of majority, at grown-up commemorations, celebrations, and gatherings, this most essential human yawp of feeling—of marking, with a grace note, that we are together in this place at this time—usually goes missing.

The reasons why are legion. We are insecure about our voices. We don't know the words. We resent being forced into an activity together. We feel uncool. And since we're out of practice as a society, the person who dares to begin a song risks having no one join her.

This is a loss. It's as if we've willingly cut off one of our senses: the pleasure center for full lungs and body resonance and shared emotion and connection to our fellow man.
...
One new communal occurrence in contemporary life cries out for song: the post-shooting vigil. The event is inherently public and emotional, made for group singing. ... In news reports, we see photos of hugs and tears and shocked faces, and then candlelight vigils. These events, which apparently will continue, seem even sadder without the relief of song.

When, if not here, are blues and spirituals called for? Where, if not here, would they provide a measure of healing? Healing for all, not just the performer with a guitar at the front of the crowd. Perhaps the vigils will inspire a powerful new folk song—one that's easy to sing, memorable, "viral"—to be written.
...
Occupy Wall Street is another new phenomenon built for communal song. Music has been a major element of the demonstrations, now blossoming again along with springtime, but "not widespread songs we've been singing together," said Nelini Stamp, a Brooklyn resident and singer who's been involved since the beginning in September. Although they're more fragmentary, the protest moments involving song still have Stamp excited: from ongoing sing-ins at courthouses to resist home foreclosures, to the night when Occupy was evicted from Zuccotti Park in November, when dozens of arrested activists sang "Stand By Me" and "With a Little Help From My Friends" in the halls of central booking.
...
To be sure, musicmaking is alive and well in America. The YouTube platform for performance sharing is just one sign. Online lessons have empowered wannabes to learn. Folks sing in religious settings as much as ever. People who enjoy singing get together in homes to make music with friends, and choral groups abound. It's the community-oriented, community-building, sometimes spontaneous kind of singing that's suffering.

Following on that last paragraph, what I see is there's so much focus on individual performance and on "performance", rather than self-entertainment. YouTube exemplifies that. And the TV examples of group singing (Glee and that acapella singing contest show) are about highly-arranged performances with star soloists. People don't think they can measure up. And without practice, they have more trouble feeling comfortable letting anything out.

The article mentions the "Get America Singing...Again! campaign [from the National Association for Music Education] in the 1990s, which put forward 88 songs as a shared repertoire for Americans". But, the common repertoire is still thin and disappearing.

Anyway, this is a complaint we've certainly covered here before, but I thought it was interesting to see it come up, and be well-outlined, in a mainstream press outlet.

~ Becky in Tucson