Elementary classroom teachers too often lack the confidence to present music to their students, because they themselves have little formal training in this area. SONGWORKS emphasizes singing as the means to teaching music in the elementary classroom. The authors assert that everyone sings (as a family on a car trip, singing as a child, singing the national anthem at a baseball game, singing Happy Birthday), therefore this is the most natural and effective basis for teaching music, and builds confidence among future teachers.

(Lead Sheets: Melody line, lyrics and chord symbols). Chicago's Old Town School of Folk Music, a non-profit organization committed to celebrating American music and global cultures, is the largest community school of the arts in the US. Founded in 1957, the school provides a wide ragne of music and dance classes, concerts and drop-in workshops to people of all ages, abilities and backgrounds. This songbook is the current iteration of a tradition going back to the founding of the school. Originally issued to new students, the pages were punched and placed in a binder, so all students could start with the same colletion of songs. Each week, students and teaching artists gather to study and share music together, and this songbook is a living and breathing representation of not only the classroom experience but a repository for notes, handouts, sketches and scribbles. This 60th anniversary edition features ancient labors of love, wrought over hundreds of years of anonymous and credited authorship as well as reference materials for every step of your musical journey.