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The community sing last night was so much fun. Bookman and I biked over to Minnehaha park, about a twenty minute ride on a bike path along Minnehaha creek near our house. The event was held in a covered picnic area with benches so we didn’t have to unfurl our blanket on the ground. The sing leaders had a microphone and guitars and a tambourine set up. We all filled in on the benches, about 150 of us old and young and a few canine. One particular dog was having a great time. If there was applause after a song, the dog would give a few happy barks in lieu of clapping. The weather was gorgeous, clear sky, light breeze, and temperature around 73F (22.7C). The area is on a bluff overlooking the Mississippi, a really lovely spot to gather and sing.
What did we sing? Well, a small group from the Twin Cities Labor Chorus was there so we sang several union-related songs. We also sang a few songs written by local musicians including one about the Welna Hardware store and another about locally grown food from CSAs (community supported agriculture, i.e. farm shares). It was crunchy granola Minneapolis at its best. Oh how I love this city!
But there were more well known songs too. The evening started off with In the Good Old Summer Time and Down by the Old MIll Stream. The Happy Wanderer got a rousing loud sing especially on the chorus. John Lennon’s Imagine was also enjoyed by all, perhaps the adults more than the kids. We sang Haul Away Joe as a call and response which was lots of fun. And our memories as well as the song leader’s memory (who goofed up) were challenged by The Rattlin Bog. King of the Road made me want to get up and foxtrot since it is a song Bookman and I used to dance to during ballroom dance lessons. A woman sitting next to us attempted to channel Tina Turner while we sang Proud Mary. She succeeded in being highly amusing but her Tina impression needs work. And what would a sing along be without A little Woodie Gutherie? We did all the verses of This Land is Your Land. I only ever knew the first two and had no idea there were so many. Bookman was disappointed we didn’t sing the Carpenter’s song “Sing.” So Bookman, this is for you:
The event lasted about an hour. There were some people there who could sing really well, but being able to sing well is not a requirement which is good since while I can sing in tune more or less, I don’t have a nice voice. But when you have 150 people singing together it doesn’t matter how your voice sounds since it gets blended in with everyone else’s.
There is actually quite a history of community sings in Minneapolis. They started being held in the parks in the summers of 1918 and continued well into the 1950s. In 1919 an annual prize began to be given out for the best singing park. The quality of the voices weren’t judged as much as enthusiasm and participation. The summer of 1929 logged the largest attendance record of over 300,000 people. I think it’s a really pleasant way to spend an evening and can’t fail to lift one’s spirits. We are planning to attend the next one at the same location on July 16th.
We don’t have a tradition of community sing-a-longs here but our Symphony Orchestra and Chorus do invite the public to come along every year and perform something along the lines of Faure’s requiem with them. Unfortunately for that you really do have to have a fairly decent voice and not even The Bears, who love me dearly, would pretend that that was the case where I’m concerned. Your system sounds so much better. Next time my counsellor calls demanding that I vote for him I shall tell him only on the understanding that he establishes community sing-a-longs immediately.
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Alex, too bad the chance to sing in your area requires a decent voice. Do demand community sings from your counsellor. They are not expensive, you get to meet new people and and everyone has a good time and leaves feeling happy.
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Sounds like a lot of fun and a great way for the community to come together. Glad you are finally getting good weather too!
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boarding, we were lucky in the weather. And I hope everyone else who was out enjoying picnics in the park enjoyed our singing.
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Sounds like you had a great time!
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Helen, oh it was a blast!
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What a fun local tradition! It sounds like something I would have suspected that Garrison Keillor made up.
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Jeanne, community singing started before Keillor was born but just proves that not everything he makes up about Minnesota is far-fetched 🙂
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Must have been a moving experience. Glad to follow your write-up about this sing-along. Did they have lyrics projected out for you? or printed? I mean, how do people know all the words to the songs?
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Arti, it was really moving. I have always loved big group sing alongs ever since I was a kid. My elementary school used to have an all-school sing once a month and then family vacations were always camping and campgrounds often had ranger-led campfires that included a nature talk, stories and songs. We did have a song sheet for this event that had most but not all of the songs on it. The songs that weren’t on the sheet were either so familiar to most people that words were not required or were so easy and repetitive that the sing leaders could teach it in really quick before we all tried it together.
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Sounds like great fun (and free, too, so you can’t beat that!). I had not heard of them until you mentioned it before–I wonder if Omaha ever had anything like that–it does sound like an old-timey sort of thing. I can’t imagine 300,000 people–that’s pretty amazing-it would have been right at the beginning of the Depression–people must have needed a serious pick-me-up!
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Danielle, it was great fun and free and is good! Omaha might have had something like it. Supposedly the sings began because Minnesota passed a law that required them and we weren’t the only state that had such a law. It was supposed to build community and patriotism after the war and of course during the Depression is was free entertainment as well as a pick-me-up. I am glad there are some who are reviving the event, this time without the state mandate!
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I went to college in Winona, so Minneapolis was considered the mecca. Although I never visited there myself (I was from Chicago and was pretty smug about it) I always envisioned Minneapolis as an ultra sophisticated but still very cool place. I’m glad to see my vision was correct. Oh, and may I add..”sing…sing a song…sing out loud…sing out strong…” Bookman, go ahead and sing it loud and strong.
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Grad, I didn’t realize you had gone to college in Winona! Not sure that Minneapolis is ultra sophisticated but it is big in arts and culture and there is a definite hipster vibe and a lot of people who care about community and the environment. We get offended that we are often overlooked because of Chicago but then we are secretly glad too because it means a lot of people stay away and we are overrun by out of towners. 🙂
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Every time I see or hear Karen Carpenter I feel like crying. What a special person she was – and how sadly vulnerable. Still, I loved that clip. I’m a terrible singer – and can really only hold a tune if I’m with others but I love to sing. Community singing is just for me. (I kept going to church for some time after I realised I didn’t believe because I loved the hymns!). Do report on the next one too.
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whisperinggums, oh I know, Karen Carpenter had such a gorgeous voice and such a tragic end to her life. Heh, I always though the hymns were the best thing about church 🙂 Sounds like community singing would be right up your alley. I will be sure to let you know how the next one goes!
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I really look forward to it … And hope my city cottons on to the idea. We have a lot of choirs here so it would probably go down well.
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What a wonderful community event! And, it sounds like it was the perfect evening too – bike riding, the weather, what fun.
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Iliana, it was fun and we were lucky in the weather. Hopefully we get just as lucky at the next one!
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Oh, this sounds like such fun, really. And I love it when a person “loves their city”… I really do. I think that is SO NEAT!
May this singing festival become a tradition for you!
I would have loved to be there, singing “Imagine” which is one of my favorite songs ever. Which would of course, be followed by that lovely dog barkplause you mentioned.
Cheers!
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That really sounded brilliant and such fun. Community singing like that is the only way I would inflict my voice on anyone! I am one of those people who think “Imagine” abit of a dirge (sorry Cipriano!) – “Proud Mary” is more like it. Hope you enjoy the next one in July.
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Ian, it was great fun. Yeah, being able to lose my voice in a crowd is the only way I’d inflict it on others too 🙂 I don’t think “Imagine” a dirge, though it is slow but all of us singing it together made for a moving experience. And “Proud Mary” was a hoot because we all do-do-dooed that guitar lick after the chorus each time.
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Cirpriano, I do love my city, warts, winters and all. I hope the community sings become regular events too and that I get to go to them every summer 🙂 I love “Imagine” too and it was really wonderful singing it with 150 people. And yes, it was followed by dog barkplause! I hope that dog is there next time too.
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What a great image this is! I love to sing, and think that we just don’t do enough of it anymore — this community sing idea is one that I could see successfully transplanted into my small home. I’m sure the ‘crunchy granola’ people here would love it 😉
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Melwyk, it was lots of fun and could probably be transplanted just about anywhere crunchy granola folk or not 🙂
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This sounds so much fun! I sing when I’m baking and driving the car, which is to say, situations where I’m alone. Sometimes the cat’s around when I’m baking and he then leaves fast. Enough not said. 😉
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Litlove, I sing when I am doing chores around the house and no one else is around. The cats don’t leave but they don’t exactly look pleased. You’d do well at a community sing! If you are ever in the neighborhood when when is scheduled I will drag you along 🙂
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