Ideal for singalongs at nursing homes, senior residences or just at your own home. Bound in a loose-leaf binder of durable vinyl, unsnaps for access to pages. (To see a photo of the book, click 
Singalong songbook in action
Our little family band has been using a slick new version of the songbook we use for singalongs we lead three times a week at local nursing homes and senior residences.
The songbook, entitled Sing along with ease, is now in production, and we are, to put it bluntly, plugging the hell out of it. In fact, I’m thinking of changing the name of this weblog to reflect that it has become, while still a library of written works, basically a promotion for this songbook.
Because I think the book is a great idea — specifically, a great help to volunteers or staff members who would like to have singalongs at their nursing homes or senior residences but don’t feel equipped to do it. This book would take them a long way to doing it.
Our band — we call it the Hat Band because we all wear hats — are not professional singers or musicians, but then again, neither are our audience members. We’re all the same — all folks along in years who enjoy sharing those good oldtime songs.
The photo at top shows our songbook in action at a singalong just yesterday. Well, the book is sort of upper-left-center on the music stand in front of the glamorous lady in the blue sweater and wide-brimmed hat — my mother-in-law, Virginia Sunderman, looking across at the very relaxed banjo player, Glenn Sunderman, her husband and my father-in-law. My wife, Bonnie, their daughter, plays with us on weekends. I am represented in the photo by my guitar sitting upright in my chair while I am taking the picture.
The songbook is a great help to amateurs like us who enjoy getting together and singing along. It shows lyrics, simple one-note melody lines and chord progressions that can be played — or learned — by the most basic guitarists or pianists.
And there are more than 300 oldtime favorites, all songs we’ve collected over the years. Here’s a sample of the titles:
America the Beautiful, Ain’t We Got Fun, April Showers, Auld Lang Syne, The Band Played On, By the Light of the Silvery Moon, Carolina in the Morning, Danny Boy, Frankie and Johnny, Freight Train, Hava Nagila, Home on the Range, In the Garden, I Love You Truly, I’ve Been Working on the Railroad, Jingle Bells, Let Me Call You Sweetheart, Memories, Missouri Waltz, My Melancholy Baby, Paper Doll, Pretty Baby, Red River Valley, Santa Lucia, Silent Night, Silver Threads, Take Me Out to the Ballgame, When Irish Eyes Are Smiling, The Yellow Rose of Texas.
And that’s just a tenth of the listings.
We produce the songbooks, and we’ll be glad to answer questions about them. They’re $39.95 plus $3.16 for shipping anywhere in the United States. That’s less than 13 cents a song — World War I prices for sheet music. So far, the best sheet-music songbook I’ve found on the Internet offers only 53 titles and sells for $79.95.
Even if you don’t want to run around your town annoying senior citizens with your music, it’s a great songbook for family gatherings or just playing by yourself on the old upright piano or that old guitar you haven’t touched since the 1960s.
– Sid Leavitt
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