What Makes a Room Sing Along? How to Pick a Song for a Holiday Party, Open Mic or Karaoke Night

To get a room singing, choose a song most people already know, with long, flowing phrases and a chorus tune that moves through a few different notes. Then sing it plainly, with energy and clear words, and put it late in the night, once the room has warmed up. That advice rests on the best field study we found on why crowds sing along, plus a few checks of our own.

The season for it is close. Thanksgiving is on Thursday, November 26, and December brings office parties, school and church concerts, karaoke nights and holiday open mics. Singing for a room that joins in is a different job from singing for judges. At an audition you show what you can do. At a party you give people a way in. For the audition version, see our guide to songs for talent shows and auditions.

What the study measured

The study is "The Science of Singing Along," by Alisun Pawley and Daniel Müllensiefen, published in the journal Music Perception in 2012. Over 30 nights in five pubs and clubs in northern England, the team recorded what share of the crowd sang along at each of 1,054 song events. They then analyzed the music in 332 of those events, weighing nine contextual factors and 32 musical features.

Contextual factors accounted for about 40% of the variation in singing along. Adding musical factors, especially those about the vocal performance, explained about another 25%. In plain words: the setting mattered most, and within the music, how the song was sung stood out.

What went with a crowd singing along

• A song that had been a hit. Müllensiefen told Laboratory News that songs which had reached high positions in the UK charts were more likely to be sung along to.
• Long, detailed phrases. The article quotes the finding as "The longer and more detailed the musical phrases, the more likely we are to sing-along."
• A chorus hook with more different notes. The article names "a greater number of pitches" in the hook.
• A clear, committed vocal. The University of York summary lists five elements of the singer's vocal performance: a prominent high chest voice, increased vocal effort, a male singer, greater clarity of consonants and little use of vocal embellishments.
• A plain delivery with a little melodic variation. Laboratory News says a tune with little vocal embellishment but some melodic variation in the hook had a higher chance.
• A late, weekend crowd. People were more likely to sing along late at night and at weekends.

What the study cannot tell you

It looked at pop songs in pubs and nightclubs. It did not look at holiday parties, carols or karaoke, and it recorded what went with singing along, not what caused it. One of the five vocal elements was a male singer. That was a feature of the recordings the clubs played, not a rule about who can lead a room, and the other four are choices about delivery. Müllensiefen's own summary is worth keeping: "It's mainly the singer and not the song."

Five checks before you commit

Use these as a scorecard. The first four come from the study. The fifth is ours.

• Does most of the room know it? Chart hits were more likely to be sung along to. A song nobody knows is hard to join on the first listen, however good it is.
• Are the phrases long and flowing? Short, choppy phrases went with less singing along. Check that you can sing a whole phrase on one breath, because the study did not test how comfortable long phrases are.
• Does the chorus tune move? A hook with more different notes went with more singing along, so a chant on one or two notes is a weaker choice.
• Can you deliver it plainly? Aim for energy and clear consonants, with few runs and frills. Energy is not strain. The NIDCD says trying to talk above noise strains the voice, and advises you to avoid speaking or singing when your voice is hoarse or tired. In a loud room, ask for a microphone.
• Is the key easy for non-singers? Most of your guests are not trained. Choose a key where the chorus sits in a comfortable middle range. Our guide to finding the key of a song shows how to count the steps.

Test your voice, not just your taste

It is easy to pick a song because you love it. In a 2018 study from the National University of Singapore, 245 people compared excerpts of 50 chart songs, and the researchers weighed four factors in choosing a song to sing: how much the person likes listening to it (about 29%), how familiar it is (27%), its genre (24%) and how easy it is to sing (20%). The authors say the gaps were small, but ease came last. That is how a song you love ends up on your list even when you cannot carry it. Sing the chorus three times in a row before you commit.

Where to put it

Singing along was more likely late at night, so we would not open with your sing-along. Warm the room first. A few notes by setting:

• Office or family party: pick one song and make it easy to join. Put the words on a screen or hand out lyric sheets, and give a clear cue for the first line.
• Karaoke night: queue your sing-along for the second half of the night. If the system can change the key, set it for the group, not just for you.
• Open mic: CD Baby's guide to open mics says a slot is 1 to 3 songs, usually capped at 10 to 15 minutes, and advises sticking to your best three songs. Make the sing-along your closer.
• Caroling: pick carols old enough to be free to sing, print the words and start on a note everyone can reach. Our guide to public-domain songs and holiday carols shows what is free.
• School or church concert: ask the director first, because the program may already set the songs. Our guide to licensing a song for a church, choir or school covers the rights.

A worked example

Here is an invented one. You have one slot at a December 18 office party and two candidates. Song A is a winter-party favorite almost everyone knows, with a chorus that rises and falls through five notes and phrases that run four bars. Song B is a new ballad you love, with short phrases, a chorus on two notes and a high belt in the last line.

A passes all five checks once you move it two semitones lower. B fails three: the room will not know it, the phrases are choppy and the last line asks for strain. Sing A for the sing-along. Keep B for a moment when the room is listening.

If you want a song nobody has heard

A brand-new song is hard to sing along to the first time, so use it for the moment when the room listens, and keep one familiar song for the moment when it sings. On Starchild, a license covers performing the song live. Every song can be heard in different styles and voices before you license it, you can change the key and tempo live, and you can duck the demo vocal and sing over it. Browse songs to sing or holiday songs, and see how to build a holiday set list to place both in one night.

Sources

• Goldsmiths Research Online: The Science of Singing Along (Pawley and Müllensiefen, Music Perception, 2012)
• Laboratory News: Dr Daniel Müllensiefen on sing-along-able tunes
• University of York: Pop science, on the sing-along study
• ISMIR 2018: Empirically Weighing the Importance of Decision Factors When Selecting Music to Sing
• CD Baby DIY Musician: 7 Tips on How to Transition from Open Mics to Longer Gigs
• NIDCD: Taking Care of Your Voice