Singing workshop thought

[David Olson]

Dear Singers & Teachers,

Has anybody tried this idea? 

namely...

There are singing schools where people sing from loaner books, followed by a full-fledged singing. Newbies witness an actual singing, with song leaders taking turns.

There are workshops where the instructor prepares hand-outs, everything is chosen in advance. Newbies witness an instructor instructing. 

In terms of marketing, the feature of singers taking turns to call songs is the unique and overwhelming "customer advantage" of shape note singing: newbies may hear about it in a workshop, but they go home without having witnessed it. 

In a PBS video (watch?v=WYFvLujVrxs), soprano Renée Fleming spends 2 hours having her brain scanned while singing (timestamp: 3:53). The read-outs as she sings arias are predictable: brain areas that govern vocal cords light up, etc. The big discovery was what her brain did in between songs, deliberating over what to sing next... 

What if the last page of a workshop handout contained a photocopy of the inside cover of a singer's book : i.e. an exemplar of the way many of us personalize our books with "favorite song management" schemes. Otherwise, in a workshop that we take turns choosing songs can only be mentioned as a custom. Shouldn't the pleasure be mentioned as well?  

Has this idea been tried? 

Has anybody ever made a handout containing a photocopy of a marked-up inside cover? 

Any reason not to do it? 

Wouldn't it also plant the seed that it's beneficial to own one's own book?

Just a thought,

David Olson

Los Angeles