At this weekend's Mid-Winter Singing Festival, there's no such thing as an audience.
The festival, in its second year, was created to include song leaders and song followers and at no point have one person singing on stage, said the festival's creator, Sally Potter.
"We give everyone the words, so any time anyone is singing, everybody is singing," said Potter. "Folk music is the music of the masses; it has a huge, broad definition, but one of its elements is that it's everybody's music. I wanted to make a festival where everybody sang all the songs."
Potter is a well-known name in the Lansing folk arena, having performed for 12 years in the folk trio Second Opinion.
She said she got the idea for creating the festival during Second Opinion's last show.
"We had a final show in East Lansing High School in 2001, and we sang all our old favorites and all night long 800 people sang," she said. "Any time the audience knew any of the words to the songs, they would belt it out and it would sound gorgeous."
The two-day Mid-Winter Singing Festival will be held in the Hannah Community Center, 819 Abbott Road, and will feature four concerts and 23 workshops. The first concert starts Friday at 8 p.m. The workshops and the other three concerts will take place Saturday starting at 11 a.m.
The concerts will be led by various Michigan singers, including Detroit blues guitarist Robert Jones and local eclectic folk guitarist Joel Mabus.
The 23 workshops include: "Traditional Songs in Spanish," led by MSU professor of Latin American Literature and Culture, Miguel Cabañas; "Jazz Standards" led by vocalist Linda Abar; "On the Trail of the Great Leadbelly," with Mark Dvorak; "Secrets of Singing with Young Children," with Julie Austin; and "For Pete's Sake," with Matt Watroba.
Mabus, who has played guitar on numerous studio recordings of various artists, will present the workshop "Backing Up a Song With Your Guitar." The workshop will focus on singing while playing guitar. Mabus will help those in attendance choose keys that are good for singing as well as playing.
Mabus was involved in the singing festival last year and said he expects this year to be even more successful.
"People were just glowing when they left the building last year," he said. "A full night of audience participation is unique these years."
And while sing-alongs may be unique nowadays, they once were a staple tradition in many cultures, Mabus said.
"People have been singing in groups for probably 3 million years, it's just that lately, we haven't been doing it much in America, outside of church, because we're turning on the radio and MTV," he said. "In the folk-music tradition there are singers who have routinely made it a point to sing along. This weekend is about having real people in a room together singing along."
This year's festival has a projected attendance of 3,000 people, Potter said. Last year, attendance was recorded at 1,200.
For more information, visit singingfestival.com
