CDSS Resource Portal: Singers & Song Organizers

Introduction

Singers gathering on a porch at summer camp This section of the CDSS Resource Portal is for traditional singers, song leaders, and song organizers involved in traditional participatory song. You’ll find resources organized by topic, recommendations for online discussion groups, links to song collections, and much more.

We are looking for community input to expand this section of the resource portal!

Do you know of a resource that we could add? Maybe even something created by you or your local community? Let us know through this form.
Is there a resource in the portal that should be updated? Let us know through this form.
Have comments regarding the portal? Email portal@cdss.org.
The CDSS Online Store also carries a wide range of resources for singers and song leaders. View those resources here.

Many thanks from CDSS for all you are doing to support your community!

Resources by Topic

This section includes a wide range of resources organized by topic.

A few highlights include:

CDSS Starter Kit for Folk Song Organizers
October 2019 Web Chat on Connecting Community Sing Organizers. Slides, recording with video, and Q&A responses are available.
Also - take a look at the Dance Organizers section of the portal. There are resources on topics such as marketing or community safety that have been created by the dance community which can be modified and used in the song context. That is also where we have placed all of the resources relating to doing sound for dance, song, and music events.
And - check out the Educators section of the portal if you work with school-aged participants. That section contains all the resources specifically designed for teachers/educators of traditional dance, music AND song.
Reminder: The CDSS Online Store also carries a wide range of resources for singers and song leaders. View those resources here.

We are working to expand this section of the resource portal.

In January 2019, we asked some song organizers what they wanted to learn about. Here is what they said:

Vision (e.g., mission and goals; why we do what we do; motivations)
Community culture and vibe (e.g., how to make sessions inclusive and welcoming; what do inclusivity, accessibility, and community actually mean; how to lead by example in creating the culture you want to see)
Singer ability, confidence and participation (e.g., how to support singers who lack confidence or experience; how to be supportive of people who may have issues around tuning and tone; managing singers who take more than their share of airtime; ability, fear, personalities, politics; how to satisfy different levels of trad song knowledge)
Running/managing sessions (e.g., styles of facilitation; what makes a good facilitator; flow)
Venues (e.g., what makes an ideal venue; how to communicate with venue managers.)
Fundraising
Launching a new event/community
Growing/evolving your event/community
Marketing (e.g., how to promote in ways that attract new participants)
Advocacy/benefits of singing
How to support intergenerational community building at song events (e.g., encouraging youth participants)
Repertoire (e.g., setting norms for technology and lyric use; songs to pull people in and get them singing right away or otherwise carry a session; places to find songs; how to cultivate appropriate repertoire to make all singers feel welcome; how best to handle problematic or offensive songs)
The tradition past and future (e.g., the history of social singing; how to keep the tradition alive and evolving)

Our goal is to have a wide range of resources on all of these topics. Your contributions are welcome!

Resources for Traditional Song Organizers

This section is all about how to organize and facilitate traditional participatory song events.

Title	More information
The Mermaid's Tavern Guide to Zoom Singing	The Mermaid’s Tavern The Mermaid's Tavern Guide to Zoom Singing is a blog-based website for planning, producing, and participating in community song sessions and concerts online. It includes an extensive resources section of over 25 additional guides to various aspects of online music, dance, and song. (Submitted by Lynn Noel)
CDSS Starter Kit for Folk Song Organizers	Julia Friend and Nicole Singer 2011 The starter kit for folk song organizer outlines some of the key considerations for leaders to consider when launching a sing. This includes vision, finding a venue, publicizing your event, the format of the event, and how to facilitate a sing
A Guide to Songleading and Communal Singing	2016 Ben Kramarz A complete guide on how to get a singing session together including tips on teaching, repertoire, location and more. Available for purchase through the CDSS Online Store.
Web Chat: Connecting Community Sing Organizers	CDSS Web Chat 2019 Dick Thies, Kurt Smith, Kathy Whisler, Tony Barrand, Amanda Witman, Linda Henry, Katy German & Emily Addison This one-hour online session (audio + slides available) features organizers from three separate participatory song events. Each discusses the reasons for their success. This is followed by a Q&A with session participants.
College Organizers Handbook	c. 2010 CDSS This handbook provides advice on how to create dance/music events on university and college campuses. It includes tips on programming, campus publicity, working with college administration, and much more.
Issues in Traditional Song Past & Present	2016 Youth Traditional Song Weekend This document is a product of groups discussions in a workshop attended by members of the YTS community. Participants explored a number of issues within traditional song.
Fostering Intergenerational Community	2015 Youth Traditional Song Weekend This document is a product of groups discussions in a workshop attended by members of the YTS community. It focuses on what works, what doesn't, and how individuals can raise intergenerational issues within their community.
Race in the Trad Song Community Discussion	2019 Youth Traditional Song Weekend This document is a product of groups discussions in a workshop attended by members of the YTS community. It focuses on issues of race within traditional song and what individuals can do to address those issues.
Singing from Memory	2019 Amanda Witman In this blog post, Amanda cites the reasons why her local sing encourages singing from memory.
How to Lead Groups in Song In 10 Easy Lessons	Ben Kramarz Just as the title suggests! (Submitted by Peter Blood, February 2020)

Resources for Singers

This section contains resources specifically to support singers.

Title	More information
New Old Songs: Writing Within the Tradition	CDSS News: Summer 2020 Alex Sturbaum As the title suggests!
Breaking Down the Legacy of Race in Traditional Music in America	2020 National Public Radio This NPR radio piece and associated article explores the intersection between racism and traditional music & song. Both Jake Blount and the Youth Traditional Song Weekend are featured.
Taking Care of Your Vocal Cords	2013 Carol Ormand As the title suggests! This resource was developed for callers but is also useful for singers.
What is a Memory Prompt?	2019 Amanda Witman In this blog post, Amanda writes about how to use a memory prompt as a support when leading a song.
Vocal Range	2019 Jeff Kaufman This blog post looks at what is a comfortable vocal range for singers - helpful to know when leading songs.
Getting Permissions for Songs	Annie Patterson & Peter Blood This post focuses primarily on copyright issues relating to publishing songs. (Submitted by Peter Blood, February 2020)

Community Stories

This section contains stories of events and people within the traditional song community. Some of these stories are inspiring and may give you ideas for your events.

Title	More information
Youth Traditional Song: The New Kid’s Tale	CDSS Blog January 2014 Zoë Madonna Zoë's reflection on Youth Traditional Song Weekend.
Exceedingly Good Song Night	CDSS Blog January 2014 Zoë Madonna Zoë's reflection on an evening of song.
The First Annual Youth Traditional Song Weekend	CDSS Blog January 2013 Natty Smith, Anna Nowogrodzki and Ian McGullam As the title suggests!
Youth Trad Song: A New Weekend in January to Focus on Youth Involvement in Traditional Song	CDSS Blog October 2012 Nicole Singer This article describes how the Youth Traditional Song Weekend came to be.
A Feast of Song: Attending the First Annual Youth Traditional Song Weekend	CDSS News Spring 2013 Emma Schneider As the title suggests!

Reflections on the History and Evolution of Traditional Song

This section is about the history of social singing and how to keep the tradition alive and evolving.

Title	More information
The Folk Scholarship Roots and Geopolitical Boundaries of Sacred Harp’s Global Twenty-first Century	CD+S Online 2019 Jesse P. Karlsberg This article describes some of the history of Sacred Harp from its infancy until today.
Folk Streams	"A national preserve of documentary films about American roots cultures, streamed with essays about the traditions and filmmaking. Includes transcriptions, study and teaching guides, suggested readings, and links to related websites."

Song Repertoire

This section of the Portal contains links to many of the best collections of traditional songs. You could get lost for days in these collections so grab a coffee or tea and dig in!

Also - the CDSS Online Store carries a wide range of song collections. View those resources here.

Title	More information
Mudcat Cafe	Mudcat Cafe is not only a forum but it includes a database of traditional folk songs.
The Full English Project	English Folk Dance and Song Society The Full English Project is the world's biggest free digital archive of traditional folk music and dance tunes. It also includes song!
Mainly Norfolk: English Folk and Other Good Music	Mainly Norfolk is a great resource for background information on English folk songs and singers, including variations of traditional ballads from different singers, and links to recordings. (Submitted by Lynn Feingold, January 2020)
Archival Sound Recordings - World and Traditional Music	British Library Ethnographic collections predominantly from Africa, South Asia, and Australasia.
A Folk Song A Day - Jon Boden	Jon Boden's project to record a folk song a day yielded a total of 365 folk songs with introductions and notes. This is a searchable database, or you can scroll through an alphabetical list of the songs. (Submitted by Lynn Feingold, January 2020)
Broadside Ballads Online	Bodleian Library at the University of Oxford Broadside Ballads Online presents a digital collection of English printed ballad-sheets from between the 16th and 20th centuries, linked to other resources for the study of the English ballad tradition. The Collection includes many primitive woodcut illustrations, and words, but rarely musical notation. (Submitted by Lynn Feingold, January 2020)
The Music Box	Rise Up and Sing The Music Box is an extensive searchable online database of over 2500 songs that includes information on the song (where it can be found in songbooks, composers, song genre, culture) as well as a way to listen to recordings of the song by a variety artists. (Submitted by Peter Blood, January 2020)
Rise Up Singing	Peter Blood and Annie Paterson The community singing book has been a favourite of singers, teachers, camps, and people everywhere since it was first published 30 years ago. Contains words, chords and sources for nearly 1200 songs. Available for purchase through the CDSS Online Store.
Rise Again Singing	Peter Blood and Annie Paterson The 2015 sequel to the legendary community singing book from Peter Blood and Annie Patterson. The original book has been beloved by singers, teachers, camps, and people everywhere since its publication 30 years ago. Contains words, chords and sources for 1200 new songs. Available for purchase through the CDSS Online Store.
On the Banks of Coldbrook	Tony Barrand This extraordinary volume contains nearly 100 songs compiled from three generations of Vermont singers by Dr. Tony Barrand, with tunes selected and transcribed by John Roberts. Available for purchase through the CDSS Online Store.
Classic English Folk Songs	Edited by R. Vaughan Williams & A.L. Lloyd Contains 73 classic songs in an easy‐to‐read format with music notation. Extensive notes are also included on the songs as well as the tradition and the singers. Available for purchase through the CDSS Online Store.
Let Us Sing As We Go, Votes for Women!	Compiled by Steve Woodbury This collection contains suffrage lyrics to commonly known tunes that are in the public domain.
Marrow Bones	Edited by Frank Purslow. This book played a crucial role in the burgeoning folk song revival of the 1960s, providing young singers with a whole new repertoire. Out of print for many years, Marrow Bones has been completely revised by Malcolm Douglas and Steve Gardham, with new and extensive notes on the songs. Available for purchase through the CDSS Online Store.
Amidon Choral Music	Peter and Mary Alice Amidon Peter and Mary Alice offer over thirty (and adding more all the time) free downloads of sheet music of accessible choral arrangements, mostly a cappella SATB, that are steeped in traditional music. Most are Amidon arrangements; there are a few by other old and new composers and arrangers, including a selection of classic American shape note songs. (Submitted by Peter Amidon, February 2020)
Digital Library of Appalachia	Appalachia College Association "Several thousand non-commercial sound recordings that document much of Appalachian music's geographic, ethnic, vocal, and instrumental diversity."
Digital Archive Streamer	Berea College Southern Appalachian Archives Virtual radio station of music archives. Streaming tool that searches several online archive at once and makes playlists. Great for easy listening and new discoveries. Includes Sacred Harp, Lomax recordings, Honking Duck collection of 78 rpm records, and more.
Australian Folk Songs	Mark Gregory Lyrics, notation, artists and publications. Extensive links to Australian and other English-language resources.
Alan Lomax's Sound Recordings	Association for Cultural Equity Epic collection of folk music from many parts of the US as well as areas of the Caribbean, Europe, and Asia. Includes video recordings and many research resources. Digitized and preserved by the Association for Cultural Equity.
Andreas' Songs & Ballads Link List	Andreas Heising A set of links containing traditional songs, folksongs and ballads from Germany, France, England, Brittany, Ireland, Scotland as well as from North America and other regions.
The Performing Arts in Colonial American Newspapers, 1690-1783	Mary Jane Corry, Kate Van Winkle Keller, and Robert M. Keller (compiled by) This publication fills a major gap in access to eighteenth-century American sources for research in the performing arts and related humanities fields. It includes all references to music, poetry (lyrics), dance, and theater found by our readers in American newspapers, from the earliest extant copy (1690) through the end of the Revolutionary War (1783).
GEMS: The Best of The Country Dance and Song Society Diamond Jubilee Music, Dance and Song Contest	1993 CDSS This online collection contains American (e.g., contra; mixer; triplet) dances, English dances (with music), tunes, and songs composed by the country dance and song community.
Historic American Sheet Music	Duke University Libraries This collection provides access to digital images for over 3,000 pieces from the collection, published in the United States between 1850 and 1920.
Irish Traditional Music Archive	Taisce Cheol Dúchais Éireann ITMA is "a national public reference archive and resource centre for the traditional song, instrumental music and dance of Ireland." The archive includes many song recordings
Canadian Folk Music	Canadian Folk Music is a journal published by the Canadian Society for Traditional Music and it contains articles, notices, reviews and commentary on all aspects of Canadian folk music. This includes many songs in the archives which are available online.
Juneberry 78s - Early American Roots Music	Tom Norm Morrison Early American roots music. Huge collection of music from the 1920s and on. Many genres of early US folk as well as Cape Breton, Calypso, Irish, and more.
Early American Songsters, 1734-1820: An Index	Robert M. Keller (compiled by) This resource is an index of all of the known songsters currently available. Lowens defines a songster "as a collection of three or more secular poems intended to be sung." Most of the songsters do not include music, although many contain references to the names of tunes to which the song could be sung. References to where to find the songsters is provided.
Early American Secular Music and Its European Sources, 1589–1839: An Index	Robert M. Keller, Raoul F. Camus, Kate Van Winkle Keller, and Susan Cifaldi (compiled by) This is a series of indexes derived from a database of musical information compiled from primary sources covering the 250 years of the initial exploration and settlement of the United States. It consists of over 75,000 entries that are sorted by text (titles, first lines, recitatives, chorus and burden), by music incipits (represented in scale degrees, stressed notes and interval sequences), with additional indexes of names and theater works.
Take Six	EFDSS A searchable database of the archives of six of the UK's most prominent folk song collectors.
The MacEdward Leach collection of Songs of Atlantic Canada	Memorial University This collection includes songs from Cape Breton and Newfoundland.
The Max Hunter Collection	Missouri State University An archive of almost 1600 Ozark Mountain folk songs, recorded between 1956 and 1976.
The Sea Shanties from Stan Hugill’s book ‘Sea Shanties’	Hulton Clint Hulton Clint's recordings of the works found in Stan Hugel's canonical collection. Currently over 80 videos.

Online Discussions

Do you want to connect with other singers and song organizers right now? Then check out the following online groups. You can ask questions and get immediate responses from singers and organizers throughout North America and beyond. These online communities are full of supportive people who share similar interests with you.

Title	More information
Shared Weight: Song Organizers	This mailing list (email group) welcomes anyone interested in organizing song events. List members ask/answer questions, discuss issues that come up for them, and share helpful resources. There are both new and experienced organizers from throughout North America and beyond. Join the discussion! You can also read about the group in this CDSS News article.
Mudcat Cafe	Mudcat Café is a discussion forum for folks interested in traditional song. While the discussion focuses primarily on topics of interest to singers (e.g. sharing song history and lyrics), there are occasional topics of interest to organizers. It's also a great place to get a general sense of the larger trad song community.
Two Shape-Note Listservs	Sacred Harp Singing hosts two email mailing lists for shape-note. One focuses on events and individuals while the other focuses on the historical and technical aspects of shape-note singing.
Facebook Group: Song Session Organizers	This Facebook group connects song session organizers in discussing issues relevant to song session organizing.
Traditional Music Today	This Facebook group “attempts to be a safe(r) space to discuss traditional music, culture and our lives as members of it.”

In-Person Gatherings

CDSS is currently recommending that no in-person events be held given the COVID-19 pandemic. However, we are maintaining a calendar of online events and have also included links to other virtual event listings on our calendar page. Check out the listing of online events here.

There are many in-person networking and learning opportunities for both singers and song organizers. These types of events are a great way to be inspired, learn about new techniques that you might want to try, and gain answers to questions you may have.

Check out the regional/national gatherings below!

If you have an event to add, please email portal@cdss.org. Please note - events that are listed here need to to have a regional or national scope and include some level of training, preferably for song organizers. If you have a more local song event, you can submit it to our events calendar.

And - Consider organizing your own gathering for traditional song organizers. It could be as simple as a one-hour discussion as part of pre-existing event or as complex as a full-weekend conference. Here are some resources that the dance community has created which can help to get you started.

How to Facilitate an Organizers Discussion: This resource not only provides a number of tips on how to facilitate a discussion but it also includes a how-to on including a session at a pre-existing event or creating your own day-long gathering.
CDSS News article on how to include organizer discussions at regional events: A fantastic read for regional organizers of dance, music or song!
Mastering the Art of Facilitation: A great resource on facilitation skills developed by Delia Clark (community & contra dance caller based in Vermont).
A how-to on Impact/Feasibility Assessment as used at the Puttin’ On The Dance 2 conference.
A how-to on Peer Feedback Circles as used at the Puttin’ On The Dance 2 conference.

CDSS offers grants for weekend workshops and more. Grants are usually between $250-$500. Get in touch with us at resources@cdss.org if you have an idea that needs a little financial support to make into a reality.

Title	More information
CDSS Camps	Many of CDSS’s annual summer camp weeks are wonderful opportunities or connecting with other song leaders. In addition, there is often an intensive (course) for educators that focuses on how to teach children traditional song, music, and dance. Scholarships are available!
Youth Traditional Song Weekend	The Youth Traditional Song Weekend is a youth-focused three days for singers and session leaders interested in traditional song. There are lots of opportunities to talk about leadership and organization throughout the weekend.
Sacred Harp Singing	The Sacred Harp Singing page lists a number of shape-note singing events throughout North America including large regional gatherings.
Singalong and Song Circle Locator	Rise Up and Sing Rise Up and Sing provides a list of regular song swap/singalong groups that are open to the general public, organized by geographical location. (Submitted by Peter Blood, January 2020)

Other Resources

This section contains even more resources that may be of interest to traditional singers and song organizers.

Share your resources: Do you have a resource you think should be shared on The Portal? Fill out this easy form to let us know about it!

Umbrella Organizations
Directories and Calendars
CDSS Affiliate Directory	The CDSS Affiliate Directory contains contact information of all of the organizations that are currently members of CDSS. It’s a great resource to find organizers with whom you might want to connect.
CDSS Events Calendar	The CDSS Events calendar lists traditional dance, music, and song events throughout North America. View events that others have submitted and add your own.
Youth Trad Song’s list of singing events and resources	In 2016, Youth Traditional Song Weekend created a list of some traditional song events.
Sacred Harp Singing	All things Shape Note, provided by the Sacred Harp Musical Heritage Association.
English Folk Dance and Song Society	Based in England, EDFSS was founded in 1932 to preserve, promote, and develop the English folk arts (specifically songs, tunes, and dances). Activities supported by this incredibly active organization include advocacy, learning, participation, and performance and artists' development. They have taken on many initiatives to support local organizers.
Still More Resources
CDSS Affiliate Insurance	CDSS offers our Affiliates the opportunity to participate in our Group General Liability Insurance Policy. Click the link to learn more!
Shop Talk	Shop Talk is a free quarterly e-newsletter from CDSS that is specifically for traditional dance, music, and song organizers. It contains interesting resources, best practices, inspirational stories, and training opportunities.
CDSS E-News	This is CDSS’s main e-newsletter with announcements, articles, and other news. You can browse through past issues and sign up to receive the news.
CDSS News	CDSS News is our quarterly print publication, and in a slightly shorter format, an online publication. Each issue is full of fantastic articles as well as other content (e.g. songs; dances; announcements). You can browse through past issues. Become a CDSS member to receive the print publication.
Country Dance + Song	CD+S is an online journal with articles that explore how Anglo-American dance and song traditions continue to reinvent and refresh themselves..
Country Dance and Song Archives	This webpage contains the 26 volumes of CDSS's Country Dance and Song publication which ran from 1968-1998. The articles are available free online and cover a wide range of topics from ritual dance to social dance to traditional song.
The Country Dancer Archives	This webpage contains CDSS's Country Dancer Archives, which ran from 1940-1966. Many of the articles focus on news from the dance music and song community although there are articles on music/dance style, song contributions, and more.
CDSS Library & Archives at the University of New Hampshire	The CDSS Library at UNH is a collection of nearly 3,000 books, 400 periodicals, pamphlets and sheet music, and close to 2000 recordings all about traditional dance, music and song. The CDSS Archives are another 64 boxes of manuscripts, personal papers of individuals prominent in the teaching and collection of American traditional dances and songs, microfiche recordings, and archival materials dating from CDSS's founding in 1915.
Sing Out! Magazine	A hub for social singing resources and publications. Focuses on all traditional and contemporary folk music.
English Dance and Song	EFDSS' magazine is the oldest magazine for folk music and dance in the world. While the magazine must be purchased to read most of the articles, samples are provided with some articles being applicable to our context in North America.
Folk Music Journal	EFDSS' scholarly journal focuses in part on the history of traditional song. While the full articles aren't available online, brief overviews of each article are.
Canadian Folk Music	Canadian Folk Music is a journal published by the Canadian Society for Traditional Music and it contains articles, notices, reviews and commentary on all aspects of Canadian folk music. This includes much about song. Past issues are available online.