First Shant

Leading a shant for the first time is like a bungee jump – it looks all smooth until you’re standing on the platform ready to go.

Tips for your first shant

Here are some tips which will help you want to jump again (and again).

1. Sing a song the room already knows. See the Redfern Shanty Club top twenty here
2. Practice it at least once out loud without the Longest Johns or the Misbehavin’ Maidens accompanying you – a capella is harder
3. On the night, when you know you’ll be singing, be close to where the singing is going on – that walk from wherever you are to the place is nerve-wracking!
4. You’ll want to record it, but be ok with discovering you’re not always on key yet (that comes when you’re less nervous)
5. Enlist help – find someone you know in the regular singers, and get them to stand near you and sing quietly with you as you lead
6. Learn how RSC teaches songs, see below, and maybe put your lyrics in that order (Chorus first is most important).
7. After you sing, it is likely that the room will break out in a chant of “First Shant”. At Surry Hills Shanty Club you get a free drink after your first shant (we’re working on the other bars!).

How RSC teaches songs

Redfern Shanty Club teaches all of the songs. It’s a purely auditory medium, so we need to do what we can to make them simple to learn and remember.

Here’s how it works:

1. Sing the chorus out loud. If people know it they will join in (this will feel SOOOO good!)
2. Say the words to the chorus out loud. There is no need to explain anything about the song, no need for a segue or patter. Just say the lyrics “The lyrics are…”
3. Sing two lines (or a small enough chunk to remember) out loud so people can hear it
4. Get them to sing it back (we call this twosie-twosies).
5. Continue till you have sung all lines of the chorus you want them to remember.
6. Sing the chorus again with everyone
7. Go!!
8. We tend to repeat the chorus at the end of the song and usually we’ll clap in time along through the song, and stop clapping in the chorus repeat. It’s not a law, it’s just what tends to happen.

Other tips

• You are in charge of tempo. If you want it to speed up, do that in the verse, your legs and feet indicate tempo, and the singers around you will feel your increase and follow you. It’s magical.
• If you want to slow a song down you stand perfectly still and do a levelling motion with your hands. We’ll slow right down and put you in charge again.
• You are also in charge of pitch. You will normally pitch a song at the key we mostly sing it in (also magical). If you find that too high or too low you can alter it. If you need musical know-how ask Cindy or Bod or one of the Dans to help you bring it down or bring it up. You can also change pitch mid song (intentionally or unintentionally) if you want to, the group will follow your lead.
• You need to sing with sufficient volume to be heard in the bar. You do not need to shout or damage your voice. If you’re concerned your voice isn’t strong enough, enlist some friends (new or existing) to mirror your singing. Their job is to bolster you up, not overpower you. Talk to Cindy or Bod or one of the Dans for more help. And singing a song the bar already knows will help you here.

Why am I writing this? I’ve been hanging out with Shanty singers at Redfern Shanty Club (and Marrickville Shanty Club, Chippendale Shanty Club, Surry Hills Shanty Club, Newtown Shanty Club and now Camperdown Shanty Club) for nearly 8 years now. I’m constantly encouraging our new attendees to sing, and I tell them all of this. Now I can just send them to the link!