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HomeSong Circles (Virtual)


TWO VIRTUAL EVENTS.  CHOOSE ONE... OR BOTH!
 

Saturday Night Virtual Song Circles

For almost five years, PFS has been hosting virtual song circles (VSC) online, every Saturday night. They are great fun - any kind of music is welcome, and there are always some folks who just come to listen. You can stay for five minutes or five hours - it's up to you.

If this sounds interesting, please do come by and check it out.

However, if you are new to VSCs, please check out the information on this page. It is designed to help make sure you have a good time, and everyone else has a good time.

The link is below.
Every Second Sunday Virtual Songwriters Spotlight

We are happy to announce a new initiative, the Virtual Songwriters Spotlight - VSS. This will take place on Zoom on the second Sunday of each month starting Sunday December 8, 2024. Zoom will open by 6:15 pm and we'll start singing at 6:30 pm. We will go around and sing songs we have written. Everyone welcome, and all genres of music welcome. You'll get a number when you come in, and when it gets to your turn, you can sing a song you have written. Please, no pre-recorded anything. 

We'll share our original tunes and enjoy other songwriters' unique creations. Feedback on songs may be welcome - it's up to the singer - but it will take place in private chat only.The VSS will be hosted by Sonya Kazen, Ken Gaines, and Paul Rippey.

If this sounds interesting, please do come by and check it out. The link is below.

Virtual Song Circles

When we realized that Covid was like a real thing that we had to pay serious attention to, in March 2020, we pivoted to getting together on line, and it worked beautifully. Now, after a hundred plus virtual song circles, we know they aren't a stopgap substitute for in person events. They are a loved tradition that enables people from all over the world to get together. If you haven’t been to online singing events, they are a lot more fun than you might imagine. You don’t have to drive anywhere to attend. You can come when you want and leave when you want without bothering anyone or having to climb over their autoharp. You can see everyone's face. No one climbs over you to get their seat. And you get to be with a variety of particularly nice people from around the world. Seriously, these are great!

When? How?

We open up a "room" on Zoom at 6:00 PM Pacific time every Saturday evening. We start singing at 6:30 PM and we keep it going until the last person leaves. Feel free to come in anytime, and stay as long as you like. We run it kind of like a physical song circle. Everyone who wants to can sing once, and then we’ll do another round, and just keep going around as long as you like. Of course, it is totally fine to just listen and some people do that.

Here's the link:  https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87176553766. That's all you need if you are coming in on a computer, tablet or browser of any sort. If you are dialing in, you'll need more information, available below. Keep scrolling...

Who can come? 

Pretty much anyone. This is not just for PFS folks at all. Most of the participants are from the Pacific Northwest, but we are honored to have singers come from all over.

What's the musical focus?

Any style and genre is welcome. We have old ballads, '60's folk rock, singer songwriter numbers, show tunes, Beatles, rock, rap, poetry, jazz, cowboy, Hank Williams... We define folk music as music made by folks, so everything is fine. 

What's excluded?

We don't want to hear recordings of your music. Some people have sung along with tapes they have made, and - well - we didn't mute them, but this is mostly about live singing. Anything we can see on YouTube, well - we'll just watch it on YouTube, not at the VSC. There may be occasional exceptions to this - we might make a highlight version of someone's songs if they pass away. But - generally - this is exclusively for live music.

A lot of folk music - like everything else - has roots in racism, misogyny, sexism, and other parts of our cultural heritage that may be offensive. Let's remember that some people are going to be sensitive to some things that we aren't sensitive to, and we want our song circles to be safe and fun for everyone. 

We shouldn't think that saying "it's just a joke" keeps a song or remark from being hurtful. It doesn't. In general, it's probably good practice to avoid any songs that categorize groups of people, whether Italians, transsexual people, women or men. Exception might be made for a group of which you yourself are a member: for instance, it's probably fine for an old white male to sing a song poking fun at old white males.  

Here are some approaches to dealing with favorite songs with offensive lyrics:

-  We can preface the song by saying, "This song reflects the era it was written in, and talks about men treating women in a way that I abhor."
-  We can change the song a little bit, say, by replacing ethnic terms by geographical terms or proper names, for instance, singing about Black Jack Davy instead of Gypsy Davy.
-  We can change the song a lot. Look for rewritten versions of potentially offensive songs on the internet, like this clever reworking of Baby, It's Cold Outside.

Everything said here about song choice applies equally to the comments we make between songs, and what we write in the chats. If we have an inkling that something might be offensive, it probably is, and we should probably avoid it.

Thank you!


Themes

On the third Saturday of every month, our Virtual Song Circles have themes, reflecting the seasons, holidays, or the whims of the hosting team. Some of the participants choose songs to sing that have something to do with the themes, and it's fun to hear their choices and the sometimes byzantine connections they make between their song and the theme.

Some folks love the themes, others are indifferent, and it doesn't make any difference because the themes are completely optional. But if you want to play the Theme Game, here are our themes for 2024.

Thanks to the VSC team for coming up with these through an excruciatingly democratic process, and to Terry and Dave for getting the ballots counted and for attaching the right themes to the right months!

November 16, 2024 Theme: High and Low
 
High and Low 2
2024 VSC Themes


VSC Guidelines

  • When your turn around the circle comes, you may perform a song, request someone else sing a song, or pass.
  • Please introduce yourself briefly, even if you think everyone knows you.
  • We usually go around two or three or five times, in a mostly orderly fashion - but at some point in the evening, the orderly circle transforms into a small group of people just singing and chatting. On line, you can stay as long as you like, until the last person is ready to leave. 
  • There is never a need to rush through a song but - please keep the circle moving along
  • It's polite to be ready to sing when your turn comes. "Hm. What shall I sing?" is not a good way to begin your turn.
  • Please don't worry about how "good" you are. You are unlikely to be either the "best" or the "worst", and no one cares. Really. It just folks singing songs.
  • People sometimes choose songs out of the "blue book" (Rise Up Singing) or the "red book" (Rise Again). If you use these, let others know what page your selection is on.
  • Sometime people paste the lyrics of the song they are singing in the chat, especially if it is an obscure song or one they have written. Some participants appreciate this a lot, while others just like to listen. It's up to you.
  • Sometimes people have friends over to their house to sing on-line with them. Please be responsible for your own health and safety if you do that.
Chatter


Please avoid off-subject chatter. It's fine to offer a brief complement to the singer, but if you have comments about musicology, or the weather, or the person you fell in love with when you first heard the song thirty years ago, or your health, or what you did today, or how you feel - please realize that people come to the song circles mostly for the music and the magic that happens when people sing. If you absolutely have to share about something else, please put it in the chat. Really. Every Virtual Song Circle has a team of volunteers whose job it is to keep things moving smoothly. Please make it easy for them! If you have any questions about what is appropriate, please send a chat message to the EmCee. 


Here are a couple of qualifications to the above. First, later rounds of the song circle, after the first two, are more informal with fewer people and more time for personal remarks; when the number of people is small and it's winding down, then use your judgement. Second, sometimes you need to explain the song you are about to sing so that people can understand it and enjoy it. It's okay to comment briefly on your own song

Would you tell me the link one more time?

Sure. It's https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87176553766


New to Zoom?


If you want to see and be seen, hear and be heard, you'll need a computer with a microphone and camera, plus a reasonably stable connection to the internet. Some people have good equipment, others not so much. Don't worry. It's all good. If you are coming in by phone, great! See the phone information, elsewhere on this page.

We use the Zoom platform for meetings. If this is brand new to you, there are dozens of videos on YouTube and countless internet sites, that will take you through what you need to get started. Mostly all you have to do is click here (that's the same link as appears elsewhere on the page) and then say yes to everything. 

When you do that, on Saturday night, you will be placed in a virtual "waiting room". Please just be patient and we will let you in. If we don't know you, we might send you a message asking who you are. Sorry about the inconvenience; we do this to protect everyone from unwanted disrupters.

We come on early and someone will be happy to help with any technical questions. Please mute yourself whenever you aren't singing.

Sing close to your mic. If you aren't sure how you sound, just ask. Pease turn on "Original sound" when you are singing (there should be a button in the upper left hand corner of your laptop or desktop screen).

When you come in, we'll give you a number, and we run through the numbers in order, everyone singing one song in turn, or passing if they like. We like to do the first round without too much chatter between songs so everyone can sing at least once, even people on the East Coast and in Europe. After the first round, there is usually more conversation.

We  record the sessions. We will not use any recording of you without your permission. If you don't want to be recorded while you are singing, just say so and we will pause the recording. If you would like to record yourself on your own computer, you can do that. Send a chat message to the EmCee, a few songs before your turn, and they will give you permission.

Connecting by phone: Please note that connecting by phone may use up a lot of your monthly data plan. But if you have no limits, some people regularly connect by phone and that's fine. You will need the following. Meeting ID: 871 7655 3766

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Paul's Child Ballad Adventure: Everyone Invited!

Read on.

Sing the Child Ballad Whose Number Corresponds to the Number of the VSC

At our 200th VSC, on January 6 2024, Mariam happened to sing (beautifully) Willie O Winsbury, which is the 100th Child Ballad. That coincidence led me to think it would be fun to sing the Child Ballad that corresponds to the number of the VSC. Since there are 305 Child Ballads, one could keep doing that for two years. So I decided to take that on as a project, and at session 201, I sang Child Ballad 201, Bessie Belle and Mary Gray. This was a stroke of luck, because I was already familiar with the song, it tells a good story with unrequited love and hints of lesbian love, it's short, it has an attractive tune, and everyone dies in the end. Doesn't get better than that!

So I was going to sing that, but found another version by Australian Daniel Kelly, who said "I went looking for an old ballad that combined feminism and environmentalism, but had no luck. So I have taken some liberties with this Child PaulBallad." Well, liberties he did take, in a charming way:

Oh Bessie Belle and Mary Gray, they are two Bonnie lasses.
A bower they built on river side, and ficked it o'er with rashes.
They ficked it o'er with rashes strong, their cattle to recycle.
They don't drive a polluting car but an electric motorcycle.


If you find this at all interesting, then please feel free to join in this project. Here are the rules. Rule 1: there are no rules. You can sing anything you want. It's totally fine if you sing the song I'm singing, because you will almost certainly sing it better than me. I will probably be deviating from the traditional words and tune  anyway, and some of my versions may be unrecognizable. I actually have no idea what's going to happen.

If you would like to play, I have posted a list of the upcoming Child Ballads.

Paul Rippey
Upcoming Child Ballads (from Wikipedia)

CB 245-251


 

March 30: Child Ballad 212: the Duke of Athole's Nurse

A man looks to meet his love—sometimes through the intermediary of the Duke of Athole's nurse—and is directed to wait for her at an inn; she will come in the morning. Armed men come instead. In most variants, he pleads with the innkeeper, who dresses him as a woman and sets him baking, so that the men do not find him.

We had two renditions of the ballad, one traditional and one, well, not so much. Check out the results (see videos).


Christmas

For some of us, Christmas is a time to remember the birth of the infant Jesus and all that means to Christians.

For others of us, it's a time to get together with family and friends, sit around a fire, eat goodies and talk about football or the election.

But for a few of us, it's a moment to remember Tommy, the great rock opera by The Who. And one of the great songs from it is Christmas, the story of how the deaf, dumb and blind Tommy related to the world through his Helen Keller-like barriers. 

See me, feel me
Touch me, heal me

December VSC Crews

                                                         
Date
MC1
MC2
Tech
Starter
Dec 7
Terry
Helene
Casey
Casey
Dec 14
Paul
Dave M
Ginger
Ginger
Dec 21
Val
DavidC
Jonathan
Dave M
Dec 28
Lorna
Val
Ginger
Dave M

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  Comments, questions, about this site? Write to pfs-online@portlandfolkmusic.org