We Can All Make Music.

Singalongs

How singalongs differ from singing circles

There's no question that singalongs are great fun and that there are many similarities between what happens in a singing circle and what happens at a singalong, particularly since the chief focus of both is the collective pleasure of its participants. There is considerable overlap in the skills required for successful leadership, the repertoire used, the places where they happen and indeed, in leaders and participants of singalongs when compared to singing circles.

This being the case, we realise there are differences between the two forms of group singing (at least from our perspective!) and these differences are quite important. Here are a few of them:

Singing circle	Singalong
Spatial
Circular configuration with everyone facing inwards (and usually standing - and moving - most of the time).	Often replicates traditional performance set-ups with the leader(s) “on stage” and with participants present, almost like an audience we’re people are often seated.
Repertoire
Constantly changing.	Usually consists of old favourites.
Complexity
Uses lots of parts and rounds.	Uses Unison singing.
Leadership
Of course there's focus on the leader(s) but they are part of the circle. Often there are multiple leaders as participants take turns to introduce a song.	Very high entertainment and performance pressure and focus on the leader.
Transmission
Tunes and lyrics are usually learnt by ear, cumulatively, line-by-line in a call and response fashion which makes the “learning” a singing experience in itself.	Lyrics are often clearly visible (eg, projected or viewable on a white board) or distributed in songbooks and / or are well-known and requested by participants.
Instrumental accompaniment
More not than often.	More often than not.
Participant relationship
Lots of personal eye-to-eye contact between leader and participants and between participants.	Very little interaction between participants; the major thing happening is between the leader and an un-differentiated audience
Participant expectations
That they may know no-one and still be welcome. That they will know none of the songs, just like everyone else.	Often occurs among established groups of people whose reason for being together has nothing to do with singing. So, pre-existing and complex social relations fill the space. There is usually an expectation that the repertoire will be familiar, if not nostalgic.

These differences don't make one form of singing “better” than the other, but it is apparent that there are slightly different ends being sought by their participants. The singing circle model which we embrace is designed to find and celebrate harmony among a random group of diverse people who don't have a shared repertoire.

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