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There's no question that singalongs are great fun and that there are many similarities between what happens in a singing circle and a singalong (particularly that the chief focus of both is the collective pleasure of the participants) - and that there is considerable overlap in the skills required for successful leadership, the repertoire, the places where they happen and indeed, in leaders and participants.
Even so, some of the differences are, at least from our perspective, quite important; here are a few of them:
| Circular configuration with everyone facing inwards (and usually standing - and moving - most of the time) | Often replicates traditional performance set-ups with leader(s) 'on stage' and participants like an audience (often sitting down) |
| Constantly changing | Usually old favourites |
| Lots of parts and rounds | Unison |
| 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 strong entertainment/performance pressure on the leader |
| Tunes and lyrics are usually learnt by ear, cumulatively, line-by-line in a call and response fashion that makes the 'learning' a singing experience in itself | Lyrics often clearly visible (eg, projected or on a white board) or distributed in songbooks and/or well-known and requested by participants |
| More not than often | More often than not |
| Lots of personal eye-to-eye contact between leader and participants and between participants | Very little interaction between participants; major thing happening is between the leader and an undifferentiated audience |
| 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. Usually an expectation that the repertoire will be familiar, if not nostalgic. |
These differences don't make one form 'better' than the other. It's just that a slightly different end is being sought. The singing circle model that 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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