About the Event
There’s nothing that brings people together better than singing our favorite songs. It recalls summer nights around the campfire: someone strumming the guitar and all singing a mix of folk music, familiar songs we heard on the radio, and occasional new songs that someone shares.
Join us the second Monday of the month for Song Circle at The Marsh, 2120 Allston Way in Berkeley, just steps from Downtown Berkeley BART.
Nobody has to worry about whether you know the songs or can sing like a pro. This is our chance to share the joy of singing simply for the fun of it.
Date and Time
SONG CIRCLE RETURNS THIS FALL!
Second Monday of the month | 7:30 p.m.
Sep 14 | Oct 12 | Nov 9 | Dec 14 | Jan 11 | Feb 8 | Mar 8 | Apr 12 | May 10 | Jun 14
Who should attend?
Everyone who wants to sing favorite songs and learn some new ones, too.
How should I prepare?
No preparation is required! Just join us for an hour of musical fun with friends.
Is there a cost?
Sliding scale: $10-$25
How do I attend?
Register HERE in advance – or just show up and get your ticket at the door.
Meet the Mentors
Cary Sheldon is a singer, songwriter, and beloved Berkeley voice teacher with 30 years’ worth of grateful students. She has been playing and teaching in the Bay Area for the last 40 years. Her love for R & B music led her to be part of Zazu Pitts Memorial Orchestra in the 1980’s. Other affiliations include The Henry Kaiser Band, The Henriettas (a recreation of DeZurick sisters, a popular country music duo from the 1940’s), who appeared on Prairie Home Companion, and most recently her band DanceChant, a joyful community-inspired R&B band that encourages audience participation. She continues to be inspired by her love of singing in community. “Singing together with others is one of the greatest joys in my life.” Now in her 60’s, she returns to influences from her early life. Her grade school music teachers included John Langstaff, creator of the Christmas Revels, and the repertoire was based on the American folk tradition, including old English ballads, spirituals, freedom songs, and the popular folk and protest songs of the 1960’s. She hopes to inspire others to explore the depth of this material and rediscover the joy of community singing.
Photo by Jeanette Yu
Guest Artists
Song Circle features a rotating crew of wonderful Guest Artists who join Cary (and sometimes even take over for a session).
All our guest artists bring their expertise and love of community to inspire us to join together in singing. We explore multiple genres and styles, all grounded in creating an hour of fun in song.
Check out some of our past (and returning) guest artists!
Upcoming Song Circles
On OCTOBER 12 join Randy Craig and Candace Johnson for a Broadway & Show Tunes sing-along!
A Marsh regular and popular favorite, Randy Craig has been delighting bay area music lovers for decades.
Randy is a founding member of Pickle Family Circus, and of San Francisco Make*A*Circus. He’s been an Academy Award nominee and has won an OBIE, a Bay Area Criitcs’ Circle Award, and is a two-time winner of Best of San Francisco Fringe.
He’s performed in most of the United States, including Alaska, and internationally in Germany, Denmark, London, and Istanbul.
He has scored “too many shows!” including “One of the ten best shows of the year” (SF Chronicle theatre critic Rob Hurwitt) “Scapin” with MacArthur Award winner and clown supreme Bill Irwin.
Soprano Candace Johnson has led AMN’s Juneteenth Choral Celebration since its inception in 2020. The AMN community knows her through her commitment to the power of the Negro Spirituals tradition, but Candace has a deep connection to theater and to the music of the Broadway stage.
A voice instructor at UC Berkeley for 17 years, in 2022 Candace also became the director of the University Gospel Choir. A lyric coloratura soprano, she crosses musical boundaries performing classical, jazz, musical theater, pop and gospel. She has sung on many stages, including Carnegie Hall and The Manhattan Center.
Also a playwright and actress, Candace premiered her first one-woman show, Vox in a Box, in UC Berkeley’s Hertz Hall in 2018, which led to her becoming a resident solo artist at The Marsh theater (Berkeley/San Francisco). Candace has written and performed 5 full-length one-woman musicals. Her most recent show, Scat-ter Brain: The Music of ADHD, was commissioned by The Marsh in 2024 for its inaugural IFOYE festival of new works by women-identifying playwrights. Following an extended run, Scat-ter Brain was nominated by Broadway World SF for Best Solo Show of 2025.
On NOVEMBER 9 join Cary and Hank Maninger for another fun sing-along evening.
Hank Maninger has been playing in the Bay Area music scene his entire life. He started off as the bass player for Bonnie Hayes and the Wild Combo, recording two records and placing two songs on the soundtrack of the movie Valley Girl. He played bass with Chuck Prophet for a few years, touring Europe, and played guitar with surf revival pioneers the Aqua Velvets. As a member of the critically acclaimed western soul band the Hacienda Brothers, Hank toured the world and recorded four albums, in addition to a recent compilation of unreleased cuts.
Lately Hank has focused on teaching and performing in the Bay Area with his own trio, and with Nashville Honeymoon, a classic country/Americana band that he leads with his wife, Lynne Maes. They have released three records of original material.
Workshop Materials
Access song lyrics at the Song Bank
THE SONG BANK is where we stash the song lyrics for our sing-alongs. And we’re adding new songs all the time.
We might not get to all of them, we might bring in some others.
Note that sometimes the key of the recording on YouTube is different from what we will sing together. This is because not all these recordings are in keys that are ideal for all voice parts, and we want everyone to be able to join in.
For specialty genres we’ll create special lists:
Access song lyrics for BROADWAY SONGS & SHOW TUNES
Thank you to our partner!
