To think all schools should teach children the old traditional hymns

[Staringintothevoid616]

Just switching between channels and Songs of Praise came on. It was a run down of the most popular school hymns.complete with recorders It brought back many memories and how important communal singing is. It doesn’t matter what your religion is, everyone should know the most popular hymns as a way of uniting society.

Why? Are you some kind of sadist?

there has been evolution a long the way but hymns are traditional with a long history

No, are you some kind of Philistine?

Or, let them shape the future of Christianity by letting them worship as they would choose with songs they like. The church will not survive if it lives in the past.

I certainly don't think attending Rememberance Day events or services is of vital importance (though generally remembering the horrors of war, and sacrifices it has required, I do agree is rather more so).

Although most people participate in the 2 minutes silence, I imagine the number who go to parades and services is a very small percentage of the population (less than 5%). The parade in London is the largest event, and in 2025 public attendance was ~12,000.

300AD was about 1,500 years before hymn singing became popular in the UK.

I recognize a couple of names of Hymns from that list but haven't sung any (and we did do some Hymn singing in school).

I do love the music of Bach, Haydn, Beethoven - while I am far from an expert, I especially love the music of Bach who I understand was inspired by his spiritual beliefs. I would much rather the schools were given the resources to teach young people to play musical instruments and appreciate music, or to paint, go to galleries to see modern and classical art, to watch plays in theatres etc. This does not require that they learn hymns.

A long history in the Middle East and Southern Europe, sure.

Less so in the UK.

Church music has a long history hymns areza strong part of that tradition l

She doesn't want to answer it, does she?

Oh dear Sooty, it’s not surprising you like speaking on behalf of someone is it? I assumed people would be intelligent enough to link the bias of the BBC to that comment after everything in the news.

No, let's go forward instead. I love Nightwish, by the way. My oldest uni friend whom I've known for 37 years introduced me to them and I'm a convert.

But no to old hymns, or to exclusively hymns. Yes to communal singing, but make it varied, appealing and relevant. And don't use it coercively to make people attend hypothetical national events.

I asked you as well. You're still refusing to answer the question.

Church music does have a longer history in the UK than hymn-singing, but it was generally reserved for ceremonies in monasteries and cathedrals.

There are various songs, still widely known today, that predate Hymn singing in the UK - Greensleeves, Scarborough Fair and Drunken Sailor to name a few...

I am also interested to hear the answer.

I’m not sure Remembrance Sunday is hypothetical.

But yes Nightwish are fantastic. I wish they would tour again - but won’t be for another couple of years, if ever - although if they returned in 2027 that would fill my Iton Maiden gap nicely!

But a hymn is not going to push.you into a religion. It just isn't. I cant recall anyone saying 'oh I sang a hymn at school and I turned to Christianity as a result....' It's just songs about religion but hardly deep. Singing lifts the soul!

Obviously Remembrance Sunday is real. But it's the only national thing you have cited as an example, which isn't a lot.

My uni friend has been backstage with them.

Hymns aren't songs about religion. They are songs of praise and devotion to God and to Christ. They are not stories about religion set to music, they are prayers set to music. The issue isn't about coerced conversion its coerced worship.

And while Rememberance Sunday is certainly a significant day in the calendar, it's not one that the vast majority of the country participate in (certainly not through in-person attendance).

Many schools do, especially religious ones.

Why not singing things atht are less controversial ? Oh my darling Clementine or whatever ?

Then why fixate on this specific music from fairly recent history? If you accept there has always been evolution, why insist that it must stop with hymns?

Indeed, but we need to continue compelled hymn signing for children, just on the off chance adults decide to attend, otherwise society will regress to Cro-Magnon levels, or something.

I do think all primary schools should teach children to sing traditional songs and nursery rhymes, certainly. Whether they use hymns or not would be open to debate.

A friend of mine is a private music teacher and he is always taken aback when the kids are learning a simple well-known tune from Book 1 and they've never heard of it and don't know how it goes.