My Camp Songs Obsession Finds an Outlet in Mongolia!

WE FINISHED OUR CD AND SONGBOOK!!!

As some of you know, my friend Kevin and I have been working on a project to create a cd and songbook for Mongolian and Peace Corps English teachers to use in the classroom. Now, after several months of scheming, proposal writing, budget planning (with LOADS of help from the budget-master himself, Jimmy, of course), materials purchasing, RECORDING, editing & mixing, printing and burning, our project is (practically) complete! We're burning the final of the 275 cds, and distribution of the cd/songbook 53-song sets will begin next month.

Kevin and I are both really happy with how the cds and songbooks turned out. And the process of creating them, while peppered with snafus and moments of frustration, was satisfying and loads of fun--especially the hours spent recording with my students. Kevin brought his laptop to Cho (he lives in Selenge aimag, north west of Ulaanbaatar, a 20-hour bus ride away), and we recorded everything on his Garageband program in classrooms.

One of the 4th grade classes we recorded with. They sang "My Grandfather Had a Farm" (we've been learning family names) and "Bingo," which featured "my grandfather" as well.

Most of the songs were sung by my 8th grade students, immediately after learning them. They're remarkably fast learners! Sometimes I would sing the song just once, they'd sing it 3 or 4 times, then we'd record. Now, I won't say they sound professional, and there are moments that my high school choir director would have had heart palpitations over, but the teachers and students who listen can easily follow along with the words and tunes of each song.

My 8th

graders in one of our smaller sessions.

The impetus for the project was a desire to share songs with Mongolian teachers that can be easily sung and memorized, in order to increase students' speaking fluency. Many teachers use full-length songs from pop singers to help with vocabulary and grammar study. But often those songs are really difficult to learn well. So I decided to use my love of camp songs, and (after 15+ years as a camp counselor) the vast storage of songs that dance around endlessly in my brain to create this teaching cd for English language teachers. Kevin, my exceedingly talented friend, agreed to take on the project with me and was just as enthusiastic about it as I was. He is a whiz with Garageband, and was able to turn a bunch of kids singing in a classroom into a real live, high quality cd. And, considering he has always hated "camp songs," preferring to write his own music in the vein of Pearl Jam and Tool, he was an awesome sport, even agreeing to sing a few of the songs (including "Itsy Bitsy Spider"!) himself. And speaking of "guest singers," Jimmy even puts in a performance or two (you should hear his sheep noises --uncannilly real)

Kevin & I during the "scheming" phase, in his ger in Selenge.

So now, as we receive help from our friend Boloroo at the Peace Corps office in UB in the form of cd burning, we have turned much of the project over to PC staff who will distribute the cds and songbooks to volunteers and schools. We are happy to say that Peace Corps Mongolia is also very pleased with the final product and has endorsed it and offered their help with it enthusiastically. I think that in the years to come, as I look back on this Peace Corps experience, this cd and the creation of it with my students and Kevin will be the thing I feel was our biggest achievement. I have such a great sense of satisfaction about it, and I look forward to sharing it with folks back in the States when we return next summer!

Following are just a smattering of photos from recording sessions and times when we made music JUST for fun!