Rock Out with Trackers!
Here at Trackers Earth we are always working to take our skills training and nature connection beyond camp. From our journals to outdoor guidebooks to comics and upcoming graphic novels. This summer we’ve been creating original campfire songs. Maybe you’ve even heard your kids humming a Trackers tune after a busy day of camp.
Why are we making songs? Good question. Tracking and music are more closely connected than you might think. We all had an ancient ancestor who followed animal tracks, and most of those animals had four feet. A moving animal creates a gait pattern that is a lot like notes on the landscape: four tracks in the earth, four beats on a sheet of music. That’s probably not a coincidence. Studies also show that listening to music releases neurochemicals in our brains that make us feel connected and singing together releases endorphins that make us feel good.
It’s a fact: music connects us to nature and to each other in powerful ways! And those are core Trackers values.
This summer, we assembled a team of incredible songwriters who crafted 13 songs about the Trackers world. They wrote songs about how to build a fire. About how to carve without blood. About the gear goblins who steal your stuff when you leave it messy. About how to ID tracks by counting toes. We have songs for each of the Guilds your kids join when they do Trackers programs—a Rangers rock anthem, a Wilders bluegrass ditty, a Mariners pirate shanty, and an Artisans dragon ballad. We even have a pop song called “I Love It When It Rains”… because we do love it when it rains! Trackers are gritty!
We invite you and your kids to check out these Trackers tunes together. Here’s how:
- Trackers Campfire Songbook: A printable songbook with lyrics and guitar chords, for those who want to learn to play the songs on guitar.
- Trackers Karaoke Channel: A YouTube channel with karaoke-style videos, for those who want to learn the songs by singing along. You can click on the links below to get to the channel or to each individual song.
- Bonus Song! The Captain Nick theme song from our Comic Book!
We hope you enjoy these Trackers songs. Sing them in the shower. Sing them at the campfire. Sing them on a summer road trip. There are some truly amazing tunes here—they’ve been stuck in my head for months!