Sing Out!
Encyclopedia
Sing Out! is a quarterly journal of folk music
and folk songs that has been published since May 1950.
al corporation of the same name. According to the organization's web site, "Sing Out!s mission is to preserve and support the cultural diversity and heritage of all traditional and contemporary folk musics, and to encourage making folk music a part of our everyday lives." Irwin Silber
was an important co-founder and long-time editor from 1951 to 1967. Its current editor and executive director, since 1983, is Mark D. Moss. The editors apply a very broad definition of folk music including material from contemporary singer-songwriters, Americana
, roots
, blues
, bluegrass
, and world music
.
One defining feature of the magazine is the inclusion of 15 or more songs with lyrics
and music within the pages of each issue—supplemented since 2001 with an illustrative CD. The magazine also contains in-depth articles profiling musicians and musical traditions, "teach-ins," reviews of recordings and print publications, a comprehensive festival and camp listing, and columns covering topics such as songwriting, storytelling
, children's music
, and the folk process.
The corporate headquarters of Sing Out! is located on the southside of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania
which is also home to the Sing Out! Resource Center. The magazine is distributed internationally by mail subscriptions and can be found in many bookstores and libraries throughout North America.
, Rise Up Singing
.
Folk music
Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....
and folk songs that has been published since May 1950.
Background
Sing Out! is the primary publication of the tax exempt, not-for-profit, educationEducation
Education in its broadest, general sense is the means through which the aims and habits of a group of people lives on from one generation to the next. Generally, it occurs through any experience that has a formative effect on the way one thinks, feels, or acts...
al corporation of the same name. According to the organization's web site, "Sing Out!s mission is to preserve and support the cultural diversity and heritage of all traditional and contemporary folk musics, and to encourage making folk music a part of our everyday lives." Irwin Silber
Irwin Silber
Irwin Silber was an American journalist, editor, publisher, and political activist.-Early years:Irwin Silber was born October 17, 1925 in New York City to ethnic Jewish parents....
was an important co-founder and long-time editor from 1951 to 1967. Its current editor and executive director, since 1983, is Mark D. Moss. The editors apply a very broad definition of folk music including material from contemporary singer-songwriters, Americana
Americana (music)
Americana is an amalgam of roots musics formed by the confluence of the shared and varied traditions that make up the American musical ethos; specifically those sounds that are merged from folk, country, blues, rhythm and blues, rock and roll and other external influential styles...
, roots
Traditional music
Traditional music is the term increasingly used for folk music that is not contemporary folk music. More on this is at the terminology section of the World music article...
, blues
Blues
Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...
, bluegrass
Bluegrass music
Bluegrass music is a form of American roots music, and a sub-genre of country music. It has mixed roots in Scottish, English, Welsh and Irish traditional music...
, and world music
World music
World music is a term with widely varying definitions, often encompassing music which is primarily identified as another genre. This is evidenced by world music definitions such as "all of the music in the world" or "somebody else's local music"...
.
One defining feature of the magazine is the inclusion of 15 or more songs with lyrics
Lyrics
Lyrics are a set of words that make up a song. The writer of lyrics is a lyricist or lyrist. The meaning of lyrics can either be explicit or implicit. Some lyrics are abstract, almost unintelligible, and, in such cases, their explication emphasizes form, articulation, meter, and symmetry of...
and music within the pages of each issue—supplemented since 2001 with an illustrative CD. The magazine also contains in-depth articles profiling musicians and musical traditions, "teach-ins," reviews of recordings and print publications, a comprehensive festival and camp listing, and columns covering topics such as songwriting, storytelling
Storytelling
Storytelling is the conveying of events in words, images and sounds, often by improvisation or embellishment. Stories or narratives have been shared in every culture as a means of entertainment, education, cultural preservation and in order to instill moral values...
, children's music
Children's music
Children's music is used here to refer to music composed and performed for children by adults. In European influenced contexts this means music, usually songs, written specifically for a juvenile audience. The composers are usually adults. Children's music has historically held both entertainment...
, and the folk process.
The corporate headquarters of Sing Out! is located on the southside of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania
Bethlehem, Pennsylvania
Bethlehem is a city in Lehigh and Northampton Counties in the Lehigh Valley region of eastern Pennsylvania, in the United States. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 74,982, making it the seventh largest city in Pennsylvania, after Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Allentown, Erie,...
which is also home to the Sing Out! Resource Center. The magazine is distributed internationally by mail subscriptions and can be found in many bookstores and libraries throughout North America.
Sing Out! publications
In addition to the quarterly magazine the corporation also offers an extensive mail order catalog of printed material on folk-music and folklore. The catalog includes other Sing Out! publications, such as the popular folk music fake bookFake book
A fake book is a collection of musical lead sheets intended to help a performer quickly learn new songs. Each song in a fake book contains the melody line, basic chords, and lyrics - the minimal information needed by a musician to make an impromptu arrangement of a song, or "fake it."The fake book...
, Rise Up Singing
Rise Up Singing
Rise Up Singing is a popular folk music fake book containing chords, lyrics, and sources. There are 1200 songs in the 2004 edition.The book does not include notation of the songs' melodies , meaning that users must either know the tune, or find a recording, to be able to learn many of the songs...
.
The Sing Out! Resource Center
The Sing Out! Resource Center (SORCe) is a collection of recordings, photos, books, periodicals and other items. It is located in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.Sing Out! Radio Magazine
The Sing Out! Radio Magazine is a weekly syndicated radio program featuring songs, news and interviews with musicians. The show is hosted by Tom Druckenmiller and airs Sundays 10-11 a.m..External links
- Official site
- text from recent issues from findarticles.com
- additional text reprints from highbeam.com
- Sing Out! Magazine Discography from folklib.net (not up-to-date).