There are two ways to get large numbers of people to sing together: you can teach everyone at least rudimentary music literacy & show them the sheet music, or you can sing songs that everyone is already familiar with.
Other ways, all of which I’ve seen at solstices:
Limit to songs with a melody and structure that are really easy to pick up. A lot of praise music does this.
Songs are long enough that even though they’re not super easy to pick up most people will have it after a few verses and there are a lot of verses. Some people are going to find the first few verses not so fun.
For an example of #1 at a solstice, I think The Next Right Thing at the 2023 Boston one went pretty well. You can hear as the audience figures it out and starts singing along. The original version is much more complicated, and this version I simplified intentionally for the event.
For #2, here’s Song of Artesian Water where you can hear people joining in progressively over the course of the song.
For #3, here’s Chasing Patterns, which is also a good bit of #1.
Yeah, I always want at least a run through the particular song’s Chorus, in an ‘All together, now!’ way. Singing can , for many, enhance communal fun, and the joy of togetherness.
Other ways, all of which I’ve seen at solstices:
Limit to songs with a melody and structure that are really easy to pick up. A lot of praise music does this.
Songs are long enough that even though they’re not super easy to pick up most people will have it after a few verses and there are a lot of verses. Some people are going to find the first few verses not so fun.
Leader sings something, everyone sings it back (call and response).
For an example of #1 at a solstice, I think The Next Right Thing at the 2023 Boston one went pretty well. You can hear as the audience figures it out and starts singing along. The original version is much more complicated, and this version I simplified intentionally for the event.
For #2, here’s Song of Artesian Water where you can hear people joining in progressively over the course of the song.
For #3, here’s Chasing Patterns, which is also a good bit of #1.
Yeah, I always want at least a run through the particular song’s Chorus, in an ‘All together, now!’ way. Singing can , for many, enhance communal fun, and the joy of togetherness.