Dear Colleagues,

Below is a compilation of your suggestions for songs by decade for
Joyful Noise's October program. Additional recommendations are welcome!!

ORIGINAL POST:

Joyful Noise, a chorus of adults with disabilities, has been asked to
prepare a program for our host organization's 125th anniversary in
October. We've been asked to choose representative songs through the
decades, from the 1880's through 2008.

Our singers do well with songs that have shorter lines of text,
feature motion by step or small leaps, are at moderate tempos, have
rhythmic motives but limited syncopation, and have a range of
approximately an octave (we transpose when necessary).

Would you be interested in sharing your favorite song composed in any
of these decades? (For instance, we might choose a Beatles song for
the 1960's. I'm thinking of "I'm looking over a 4 leaf clover" for
the 1920's.) Suggestions would be especially welcome for catchy/
familiar songs written in the 1880's-1910's ... or the 1980's-2000's.

RECOMMENDATIONS:

* Stephen Foster: songs around the turn of the century

* The Fountain in the Park (1884) ("while strolling in the park one
day...")

* America the Beautiful - You'd have to decide if you wanted to place
it in the 1890's for when the text was written (1893, if I remember
correctly), or early 20th century when it became a popular song.

* 1890's - Daisy, Daisy (Daisy Bell Wikipedia)
The Band Played on (Casey Would Waltz with the Strawberry Blonde)

* "Alice Blue Gown" was a hugely popular song in one of the first two
decades of the 1900s. It's in the musical "Irene," though it may
have been composed independently of that show.

* "My Merry Oldsmobile" starts: "Come with me, Lucille, in my merry
Oldsmobile." I think there are a few other popular songs about
"motoring" from the early 1900s.

* The Walla Walla Choral Society just did a similar concert, "As Time
Goes By". For the 1900's and 1910's we did "Take Me Out to the
Ballgame" (1908) and "Look for the Silver Lining" (1917?). We had a
blast.

* k k k katy (1917) [We probably wouldn't choose a song about
stuttering, even though it's cute. -AF]

* Over There (1918) or other George M Cohan songs

* Five Foot Two (1925)

* Kalamazoo (1942)

* "Sing" from Sesame Street (1970s)

* There is a medley by Mac Huff that has a ton of songs from
1890-2000 called Encore. The actual medley may not work but it would
be a good starting place for composers/songs, etc.
http://www.musicforte.com/shop/lyrics-and-sheet-music/songlist.php?
toc‡41747

Thanks especially to: Brian Bailey, Christine Janis, Chuck Jonah,
Christopher Rhodes & Bruce Van Hoven.

Many thanks,
Allison Fromm
allison(a)joyfulnoisechorus.org