Fáilte

Fáilte

Welcome to 365 Songs for 2018, now re-titled ‘365 Songs…your 1-a-Day’with Meithal Ceol. The process of developing this project Started on Jan 1st 2018 and is based on the 4P’s approach.....

The Paradigm:-

Life is complex AND simple (if that paradox works for you). Many issues frustrate, annoy, bother me and yet I’m constantly challenged to ask myself, “Does It Matter?” Uncertainty, Duplicity, Fake News etc is the new norm. Integrity is as fluid as the previously straightforward term ‘gender’ has become....... All that even if you don’t think you have problems.

The Problem:-

Time is flying by, time-space to relax is scarce, conversations are noisy, social media commentary tends towards emotive extremes and vitriol, it’s increasingly hard to become “unplugged”, without having to do a course in mindfulness. For anyone who would like to just enjoy a sing sing, alone or in company, many of us feel inadequate as singers and/or playing a guitar or ukulele, compared to the endless streamable, perfectly canned music. We only know bits of songs, we don’t have lyrics and chords available at hand for everyone to sing along with when we get together after a meal or a party, so sing songs often fizzle out. It’s hard to get started!

The Proposition:-

Imagine having an readily accessible, easy to use. resource of singable, recognizable, commonly enjoyed set of songs with embedded easy-to-play chords available, on an open-source basis, easy to download and/or print off in a clear, decently-sized font. Then envision getting together with friends, neighbours, or common-Interest groups and having an informal sing-song along with basic instruments like guitar, ukelele etc. What about when you are on your own, have a few moments of downtime to spare, and you are looking to chill out and clear out the head wreck, needing to let the fuzzy lack of logic settle and unravel and find that singing a few songs, on the toilet, in the shower etc is just the tonic you need? There are bits of songs and chords all over the web. In fact, like so much online information, that endless breadth of disconnected granules becomes it’s own sorting problem, so this proposition is to pull all the bits together in a One-Stop-Song-platform. Meitheal Ceol arose from the 3Cs, Collaboration, Creativity, and Communication, between a small group of friends over the last few years, getting together in each other’s houses, once a week, for a few hours, learning from and with each other, how to batter out chords, strumming patterns, lyrics, suitable keys and versions of songs which we all enjoyed which could be played relatively easily by “Dummies” (as per the series of Dummies by books).

Our learning resources came from all over the web, ranging from YouTube song tutorials from 10 year old kids to James Taylor free master classes. The cup of tea and biscuits at the kitchen at break time facilitated fascinating, informative conversations, arguments and craic, on wide-ranging topics, including one discussion of the history of gut for nylon guitar strings. Learning through Play, Play through Learning, passionate disagreements about timing, breaking strum patterns down, giving up, moving on, coming back to discover it to be easier second time round, Chaordic, fun-based learning, building camaraderie, sharing stories and company, good for the head, soup for the soul.....all byproduct outcomes of the Meitheal Magic.

A practical reusable, shareable outcome was our putting together a song book, Meitheal Songbook 1, now on version 13 (constantly tweaking lyrics and correcting typos). We got 20 copies printed and bound (thanks to Joe Egan). Now when we would get together with a number of people, just hand round the books, everybody in turn around the circle gets to either sing a song themselves or to nominate a song that we would all sing together......absolutely no pressure......and total Buy-In. The book is also shareable as a pdf with hyperlinks to song videos and tutorials that are all over YouTube. Feedback on the book is super....good big readable font-size for all eyes, a collection of songs where everyone can find one they like and which supports group singalong, easy guitar/use chords and great to open up and read in the dark on Smart phones in landscape mode. Good motivation for an extended repertoire and an improved iteration......

The Plan:-

First phase, to post One Song each day for 2018, so that at the end of the year we will have collected, organized, collated and posted 365 songs from many genres and hopefully in some different languages, which everyone can enjoy themselves performing.

Second phase is to develop an open source online, interactive, community-of-interest platform, which will present all the songs, their backstories, your own user backstories (what the songs mean/t to you), with organized learning resources (singing, playing, groups, sessions info) in a 1-Stop format, in support of hopefully growing Communities of song singers, and soup-for-the-soul sessions with open-door inclusive welcomes.

Phase three envisions extending the propagation of the resource into being a Folláin, soup-for-the-soul open resource for all those who wish to imbibe, ingest, digest and regurgitate their songs.

Beir Bua. Liamog and MaryT. Jan 2nd 2018

Note:-

1. Please SHARE with your friends if you get and like the idea. 2. The words and chords (including inline placement) are our best effort. Please do help us correct mistakes, improve chord selection, add verses, explain song backgrounds and interesting nuggets about songs by contributing in comments. 3. If you have skills, including musical, web design, digital marketing and would like to help out to move this idea along please email meithealceol@gmail.com 4. The font size in the book at 16 points has proven to be a hit with all ages, particularly where light is somewhat dim. The book is accessible for download at (www.meithealceol.com) and it can be opened on a tablet. It can read with ease on a smart phone in landscape and even autoscrolled. 5. This concept is reciprocal and open source at it’s core. The songs come before us, live through us and hopefully will nurture others…when we are gone. As Neil Young sings in ‘Comes a Time’ ….. “We were right we were giving, That's how we kept what we gave away.”