This teacher's guide stresses the need for more singing in schools and cultural institutions. Cultural traditions "charge" songs with amazing energy. The charge comes from the sense of identity the song creates. When a song connects people emotionally with a culture, the deep-rooted traditions of that culture add meaning to the singing. Children need not sing generic songs. They can sing songs steeped in tradition, steeped in power. In the folk music process, the song leader learns to own the song and to make simple changes to give a folk song more power. The book is divided into three parts. Part 1 examines the power of singing from both cultural and physical perspectives. Part 2 is an in-depth explanation on how to teach songs and how to make the songs as powerful as possible. Part 3 is a summary identifying why singing and music are so important to education and to life itself. The book concludes with song, supply, and age recommendations, a resource guide, and a bibliography. (Author/LB)