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SINGING THROUGH HISTORY!
PROGRAMS FOR YOUNG FOLKS, SCHOOLS, LIBRARIES,
MUSEUMS & AFTER SCHOOL PROGRAMS
Make a Splash at Your Library
It wasn’t that long ago when only kings and queens were rich enough to have other people play music for them. In the old days, regular folks like you and me had to make our own music. That’s why it’s called “folk music.” This entertaining and interactive sing-along Summer Reading Program introduces youngsters to folksongs about swamps, rivers, oceans, and the creatures who make their homes in aquatic environments.
Woody Guthrie: American Balladeer
In his short life, Woody Guthrie (1912-1967) wrote over 1,000 American folksongs – and he didn’t use an original melody for any of them! The true story of the man who wrote “This Land Is Your Land” – one of the best known English language folksongs in the world.
Colonial Days
A musical exploration of life in the English and Dutch colonies in North America -- broadsides, ballads, and sing-along folksongs from the days before the American Revolution.
The Gold Rush
The discovery of gold in California in 1848 sparked a frenzy that shook the world. People swarmed to the gold fields from as far as China and Australia. The folksongs they made up give insight into the real hardships and triumphs of the 49ers.
Songs to Grow On
Fun, simple, and silly sing-along folksongs with lots of hand movements for small children with big imaginations.
The American Labor Movement
The American Labor Movement was a singing movement. This program features sing-along folksongs by and about the people who built America, and their struggles to improve the conditions of their labor.
Cowboy Songs and Ballads
A musical introduction to Western folksongs: the stories, songs, and attitudes of the real, hard-working American cowboy.
Halloween Songs and Stories
Traditional stories, chants, and sing-along folksongs for All Hallow’s Eve, from the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain to the contemporary trick-or-treat.
Folksongs Lincoln Loved
This sing-along program of American folksongs includes favorites of President Lincoln: songs of the emancipation movement, songs from the 1840’s Illinois lawyer’s circuit, and songs from the War Between the States.
Just For Fun Sing-Along Songs
Sing-along folksongs with easy choruses, musical games and story-songs with an emphasis on having fun singing together.
The Great American Railroad
By 1870, there were over 250,000 miles of parallel steels rails criss-crossing the USA. By 1920 one out of every twenty-eight American adults worked for the railroad! No wonder people still sing so many folksongs about trains, hoboes, conductors, engineers, and the days of the steam engine.
Songs of the Winter Holidays
Well-known (and not so well-known) sing-along songs of the holiday season. Traditional folksongs, carols for the New Year, Hanukkah, Christmas, and the Winter Solstice – from pre-Christian Europe to the twenty-first century.
Evolution of the Ballad
This sing-along workshop explores the relationship between a number of well-known, seemingly different ballads, tracing their evolution through several centuries, continents, and musical genres. By examining the adaptation of these songs to the American oral tradition, we learn about the process of acculturation -- and about the people who sang these songs before we did.
Whaling and Sailing Songs
In every home, 200 years ago, every lamp that burned was filled with oil made from the carcass of a great whale. This sing-along program features authentic 18th and 19th century shanties and saltwater sailor’s songs from the days of Moby Dick.
Folksongs of Working People
Once upon a time, singing was a part of everyday life, just as much as talking, eating, and sleeping. This sing-along program examines the different kinds of folksongs our ancestors sang while pounding grain, paddling canoes, hoisting sails, and walking long journeys.
Paws, Claws, Scales and Tales
Traditional children’s folksongs about farm animals, pets, friendly beasts, and wild critters.
Folksongs of the Second World War
American and the British folksongs made up by (and about) the men and women who participated in the Second World War.
Humor in Folksong
What makes us laugh? What makes a song funny? For centuries humans have used humor to temper the hardships of life. Examples of understatement and exaggeration, the humor in seeing ourselves as others see us, and the differences between parodies, satires, and broadsides.
“The kids loved your presentation and it fit right in with what we studied.”
- Bruce Antal, Fifth Grade Teacher, Palo Alto, CA
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