Also I guess it would be fair to reply to my own questions that I asked from Alpo:
I think there are several possible ways to help new songleaders
- läsy/donkey bridges workshops
- practice sitsits
- maybe some “open mic” type sitsits, which are targeted at the people outside the ones who already joined the committee - to help stir up the interest in songleading
Whichever of those would end up being done, I think it’s important to organize it more that once a year, so more people can make it and have more opportunities to get into the committee.
You can always try to get attention with the gong/ollaan hilja/some crazy long and loud greeting, etc, and then hold it with a good story. That said, sometimes the house is inevitable and unstoppable, and then you can just relax and continue songleading as you wish - after all, if everyone’s having fun, why shouldn’t you?
Songs in English definetely belong in a purely Finnish-speaking sitsit, as there are songs you would put there not for being in English, but simply for being good songs (e.g. Paratrooper, Program in C, and one of my favourites - Beer Romance).
The opposite is also true - non-Finnish-speakers usually love to sing in Finnish even if they cannot understand a single word. A songleader can definetely enhance the experience by providing some explanation before or after the song.
Continuing one of my previous responces, “What’s your totem public bathroom”
My personal opinion - if there’s no word skål when drinking during the song, I skål in the end. My motivation is that skåling != just drinking, but also an act of communication with your peers. But the first rule of the sitsit is not to be a stickler about the rules of the sitsit, and most of all, no one should push anyone to drink, so that question should be left to everyone’s own discretion.
Answer to a very similar question in a previous post
:,: Make him sing this song all evening :,:
Make him sing this song all evening
Late night at the sitsit