Intimate, anecdotal, and spell-binding, Singing Out offers a fascinating oral history of the North American folk music revivals and folk music. Culled from more than 150 interviews recorded from 1976 to 2006, this captivating story spans seven decades and cuts across a wide swath of generations and perspectives, shedding light on the musical, political, and social aspects of this movement. The narrators highlight many of the major folk revival figures, including Pete Seeger, Bernice Reagon, Phil Ochs, Mary Travers, Don McLean, Judy Collins, Arlo Guthrie, Ry Cooder, and Holly Near. Together they tell the stories of such musical groups as the Composers' Collective, the Almanac Singers, People's Songs, the Weavers, the New Lost City Ramblers, and the Freedom Singers. Folklorists, musicians, musicologists, writers, activists, and aficionados reveal not only what happened during the folk revivals, but what it meant to those personally and passionately involved. For everyone who ever picked up a guitar, fiddle, or banjo, this will be a book to give and cherish. Extensive notes, bibliography, and discography, plus a photo section.

Lyrics and guitar chords for traditional and modern folk songs.

Can you change the world through song? This appealing idea has long been the professed aim of singers who are part of choruses affiliated with the Gay and Lesbian Association of Choruses (GALA). Theses choruses first emerged in the 1970s, and grew out of a very American tradition of (often gender-segregated) choral singing that explicitly presents itself as a community-based activity. By taking a close look at these choruses and their mission, Heather MacLachlan unpacks the fascinating historical and cultural dynamics behind groups that seek to change society for the better by encouraging acceptance of LGBT-identified people and promoting diversity more generally. She characterizes their mission as “integrationist rather than liberationist” and zeroes in on the inherent tension between GALA’s progressive social goals and the fact that the music most often performed by GALA groups is deeply rooted in a fairly narrowly conceived tradition of art music that identifies as white, Euro-centric, and middle class--and that much of the membership identifies as white and middle class as well. Pundits often wax eloquent about the power of music, asserting that it can, in some positive way, change the world. Such statements often rest on an unexamined claim that music can and does foster social justice. Singing Out: GALA Choruses and Social Change tackles the premise underlying such claims, analyzing groups of amateur singers who are explicitly committed to an agenda of social justice.

An oral history of North American folk music revivals that draws on more than 150 interviews to explore the musical, political, and social aspects of the folk revival movement.

Shake, clap, jump, and wiggle your way through this classic Raffi sing-along book! Join a group of happy campers on a fun moonlit night in this beloved Raffi Song to Read. The rhythm, rhyme, and repetition of singing support and encourage speech and listening skills, laying the foundations for later reading.

Born during World War II, Marilee Eaves has long struggled to fit into the New Orleans elite—secret Mardi Gras societies that ruled the city—into which she was born. Then, as a student at Wellesley, she’s hospitalized at McLean psychiatric hospital, where she begins to realize how much of herself she’s sacrificed to blend into and be fully accepted by the exclusive and exclusionary white Uptown New Orleans culture to which she supposedly belongs. In Singing Out Loud, Eaves tells of her journey to stand on her own two feet—to find a way to be grounded and evolved in the midst of that culture. Along the way, she wrestles with bipolar disorder, alcoholism, and the effects of her bad (heartbreaking, and sometimes hilarious) choices. Raw and funny, this book offers hope and encouragement to those willing to be vulnerable, address their issues, and laugh at themself in order to embrace who they truly are.

Black gospel music grew from obscure nineteenth-century beginnings to become the leading style of sacred music in black American communities after World War II. Jerma A. Jackson traces the music's unique history, profiling the careers of several singers--particularly Sister Rosetta Tharpe--and demonstrating the important role women played in popularizing gospel. Female gospel singers initially developed their musical abilities in churches where gospel prevailed as a mode of worship. Few, however, stayed exclusively in the religious realm. As recordings and sheet music pushed gospel into the commercial arena, gospel began to develop a life beyond the church, spreading first among a broad spectrum of African Americans and then to white middle-class audiences. Retail outlets, recording companies, and booking agencies turned gospel into big business, and local church singers emerged as national and international celebrities. Amid these changes, the music acquired increasing significance as a source of black identity. These successes, however, generated fierce controversy. As gospel gained public visibility and broad commercial appeal, debates broke out over the meaning of the music and its message, raising questions about the virtues of commercialism and material values, the contours of racial identity, and the nature of the sacred. Jackson engages these debates to explore how race, faith, and identity became central questions in twentieth-century African American life.

The Sing Out Loud series is an innovative vocal training program designed specifically for kids, teens, and beginning singers. Each book is filled with pictures, illustrations and audio files, designed to function like a personal vocal coach, with easy, fun, step-by-step assignments that will help the beginning singer develop their singing voice. Sing Out Loud Book I: Discovering Your Voice is all about finding your own voice. Understanding the three vital steps to vocal technique as well as vocally experimenting with a variety of sounds will help you discover your own unique sound and help you discover a healthy, effortless new way to sing.

Singing from the inside out : exploring the voice, the singer and the song' is a practical guide to singing technique, practicing, performing and auditioning in pop, jazz, rock and hard rock, R & B, country, folk, musicals, reggae, ska, and other styles. This handbook is essential for both beginners and advanced singers. The many exercises, valuable tips and clear explanations it contains make it a useful tool for singing teachers as well.

'I'm singing in the rain, Just singing in the rain. What a glorious feeling. I'm happy again!' Based on the classic song, this beautifully illustrated picture book celebrates rain and all its fun. Jump in puddles, raise umbrellas, and dance with joy through the pages of this gorgeous story. Sweet and positive in its message, with bright, eye-catching art, this book is an uplifting celebration of rain! 'Singing in the Rain' is one of the world's best-loved songs and the centrepiece of one of my favourite films. I love the song's positive message, and the iconic sequence of Gene Kelly dancing in the rain always raises a smile. As adults we tend to think of rain as an inconvenience rather than the joyous thing that it is. Next time it rains, step outside, feel the rain on your face, and give the clouds up above your biggest smile!'