Singing Through History! Programs for YOUNG FOLKS
SCHOOLS, LIBRARIES, MUSEUMS & AFTER SCHOOL PROGRAMS

Forever Free: Abraham Lincoln’s Journey to Emancipation – Grades 3-12

This sing-along program of American folksongs includes favorites of President Lincoln, songs of the emancipation movement, Black Freemen, Civil War songs of the emancipation movement, Black Freemen, Civil War soldiers, and former slaves.

Catch the Reading Bug at Your Library – Grades K - 6

Traditional American sing-along folksongs about insects, including, "The Boll Weevil," "The Cricket in the Thicket," "The Blackfly Song," "Hey, Little Ant," and many others.

Railroading on the Great Divide – Grades 1 - 12

Robber barons, hoboes, brakemen, section gangs, conductors, engineers, steel-drivers, orphans, and bank robbers - - they all rode the Great American Railroad.

Songs to Grow On – Preschool-Grade 3

Simple and silly songs with lots of hand movement coordination for small children with big imaginations.

Just for Fun Sing-along Songs – Grades K-4

Folksongs with easy choruses, musical games and stories, with an emphasis on having fun singing together.

Paws, Claws, Scales and Tales – Grade K-6

Traditional children’s folksongs about farm animals, pets, friendly beasts, and wild critters.

Halloween Songs – Grades K-5

Traditional and contemporary English and American chants and folksongs for All Hallow’s Eve.

Along Came a Giant – Grades 1-6

Traditional folksongs about damsels in distress, giants with magical powers and the knights who rescue the former and slay the latter.

Songs of Woody Guthrie: American Balladeer – Grades 2-12

Woody Guthrie (1912-1967 wrote over 1,000 American folksongs in his lifetime – and he didn’t use an original melody for single one of them! The true story of the man who wrote “This Land is Your Land” -- the best known English language folksong on the planet.

Whaling and Sailing Songs – Grades 2-12

Songs of the sea, shanties, sailing songs, and whaling songs from the days of Moby Dick.

Songs of the Winter Holidays – Grades 3-12

Well-known and not-so-well-known traditional folksongs and carols for New Year’s, Hanukkah, Christmas, and the Winter Solstice.

Going to the West – Grades 4-12

Folksongs of the Gold Rush: the westward migration, Native American views and values, and stewardship of the land.

Cowboy Songs and Ballads – Grades 4-12

An introduction to Western folksongs: the music of real, hard-working American cowboys and the legends that have grown up about them.

Colonial Days – Songs from the American Colonies – Grades 5-12

An exploration of life in the American colonies: ballads, broadsides and folksongs from the War for Independence .

Songs of the American Labor Movement – Grades 6-12

Folksongs about the people who built America and their struggle to improve the conditions of their labor.

Folksongs of World War II – Grades 6-12

American and the British folksongs made up by (and about) the men and women who participated in the Second World War.

Humor in Folksong – Grades 4-12

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.

Evolution of the Ballad – Grades 6-12

When a folksong becomes firmly established in the oral tradition, it often produces floating stanzas that attach themselves to other, often unrelated songs. Explore the relationship between seemingly different folksongs and ballads, tracing their evolution through several centuries and musical genres.

“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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