Organizing campfire singing may vary from a spontaneous, spur-of-the-moment occurrence to a well-planned programme. Some of the most pleasurable singing of camping songs has been both spontaneous and planned.
After a successful day of fishing on Henry’s Lake, my brothers and their families would gather around a campfire (near Yellowstone). Brad, my brother, would pull out his guitar, and I would pick up my banjo or guitar. Mom would ask us to sing “You Are My Sunshine,” and then we’d go on to “I’ve Been Working on the Railroad.” On those two songs, Mom enjoys singing harmony. We usually ended up performing 7 or 8 songs. We don’t normally utilise music since I am quite good at figuring out chords for most camp songs.
For certain Boy Scout camporees, I also coordinated singing and utilised scout songs. They weren’t any more coordinated than our family sing-alongs.
If you want to increase your chances of having a nice time, my advice is to plan ahead of time. Begin by requesting that someone be prepared to play the guitar for accompaniment. Select a few campfire tunes and notify them ahead of time. Purchase a copy of the music for them.
If you really want to go all out, have many folks bring their guitars. Add a banjo, ukulele, autoharp, or mandolin to make it even better. Or any combination of the above. A large group of accompanying instruments may provide an amazing sound. You could even include a violin.
If you add a melodic instrument (one that can only play one note at a time and will most likely play the melody), they can play the melody while everyone else sings. They might even play a chorus or verse in between the vocalists’ lines.
Making ensuring the instruments are in sync with one other is one thing that might assist. The instrumentalists should be able to tune their instruments with one another.
Also, unless the musicians have already memorised the chords or melody, they will most likely want copies of the music. You may just give them the copy with only the text and chords if they are only playing the chords. If they are performing the melody, they will only need the copies with written music.
If the musicians cannot read music but can read tablature, you may provide them with the music in tablature form. The songbook is available as tablature on the guitar, banjo, and mandolin tab sites. Only the melody is provided in tablature. The chords for these songs should be familiar to the players. For all of the songs in the Campfire Songbook, I made a concerted effort to employ largely basic, open chords.
If you’re planning a large campfire, you should generally utilise more than one instrument. I would utilise two or three guitars or other accompanying instruments for groups larger than 30 individuals. It also depends on how far apart the group is. The more people there are, the more instruments should be used.
Using amplified instruments is another option for a big ensemble. If you do, you’ll run into an issue with power. You could come upon a living shrub! A generator is another option, although they may be rather noisy and distract from the campfire. You’d probably sound better singing a cappella (without accompaniment). Personally, I like to utilise exclusively acoustic instruments, and I have numerous. Using an electronic guitar in the wide outdoors simply doesn’t feel right to me. But I must admit that I have done it a few times myself. Just be mindful to other campers if you do. The majority of folks go camping to get away from it all. If you go camping to get away from it all, don’t bring everything with you!
What about those who refuse to sing? If you sing, you can get others to sing. But it’s not the end of the world if they don’t. There are no campfire song cops to keep an eye on the gathering. It’s not school; if someone doesn’t want to sing, don’t make them. Allow them to appreciate the pleasure of being a listener.
Make sure to check out The Great American Campfire Songbook. It’s a fantastic resource, including over 80 of the greatest and most requested camping tunes.
Above all, remember to have fun. Don’t take anything too seriously, and have fun on the way!
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