Think about your camp songbook. If you don’t have one, create one! It’s the best way to formalize your song collection and to recognize songs that may have outlived their appropriateness.
While analyzing every song in your collection may seem daunting, here are some simple suggestions for organizing, reviewing, updating, adding, and deleting your camp songs.
1. Think about your camp values:
Define them, clarify them, write them down, determine how they apply to, and support, all areas of your operation, including your song collection. Include them in your songbook. This is really the most important part of the review process.
2. Organize your song collection:
Create categories — is this an active song, a quiet song, a silly song, a round, a song with hand motions? Organize your songbook by category so you can easily find the right song for the right moment, and include an alphabetical index for quick reference.
3. Think about the content of your songs:
Are there songs that seem dated or that use language someone might consider inappropriate? Do any have histories that ridicule groups of people or that work against your camp values?
4. Develop a thoughtful process for revisiting songs:
Create a committee that includes members from all areas of your operation, including administration, program leadership, counselors, campers, parents, and community members. Be sure there is plenty of diversity, including age, gender, racial, and ethnic representation.
5. Define a procedure for reviewing songs:
An annual review will help keep things up to date. And removing or modifying songs will be less daunting when it’s part of the routine.
6. Make a list of questions that can guide your process:
Does the song demean a person or a group? Does it perpetuate a stereotype? Does it reflect universal “truths” or cultural values of a specific group?
7. Determine a procedure for handling complaints about songs:
Be sure to take complainants and song complaints seriously, and review them thoughtfully. A formal process normalizes questions and complaints about songs, which encourages people to express their concerns.
8. Practice having courageous conversations within the committee:
Not only is this an important skill, but it is absolutely critical for having robust and respectful discussions and making thoughtful decisions.
Finally, it’s important to remember that song review is tough but essential work — essential to building and maintaining a song collection that is broad, inclusive, fun, respectful, and supportive of your camp’s values.
For more detailed information on creating and maintaining a formal songbook review process, check out Singing Together: How to Teach Songs and Lead Singing and “What’s Wrong with This Song!” in the September/October 2021 issue of Camping Magazine.
Jacki Breger is a veteran song leader in camp, school, and concert settings, and has been a camp counselor/song leader and director in both day and resident camps. She authored Singing Together: How to Teach Songs and Lead Singing, hosted a radio program for kids about folk and classical music, and has produced five albums of songs for children. She has been working with camps to help them develop their own review process. You can reach Jacki at singingtogether.net.
