Should we start a campaign to bring back singing in school assemblies?

[PaulaYatesBiggestFan]

I LOVE hymn singing and find it very uplifting on the rare occasions i get to do it!

Would it benefit children to bring it back...?

following on from 'The Choir' i feel inspired

Teachers is this possible or just not worth thinking about?

(I'm an atheist too)

we had a teacher in the juniors who brought in his guitar and had us singing Nowhere Man, Where Have All the Flowers Gone, Pack Up your Troubles, Streets of London, On Ilkley Moor etc.

The general consensus at school was that hymns were hated, but that 'Their words my thoughts' book has stuck with me.

Singing is a wonderful thing - have been in bands and choirs. Am currently choirless and miss it desperately.

streest of london

you can just imagine th eteacher who picks that

We actually had a school chapel

Every morning several hundred heathens would gather together and sing

Oh stuff like

To be a pilgrim

Was fab. Thoroughly fab. Everyone should start the day with a rousing chorus

He who would valiant be,
Let him come hither;
One here will constant be,
Come wind, come weather.
There's no discouragement
Shall make him once relent
His first avowed intent,
To be a pilgrim.

Whoso beset him round
With dismal stories
Do but themselves confound;
His strength the more is.
No lion can him fright,
He'll with a giant fight,
But he will have a right
To be a pilgrim.

Hobgoblin, nor foul fiend,
Can daunt his spirit:
He knows, he at the end
Shall life inherit.
Then fancies fly away,
He'll fear not what men say,
He'll labour night and day
To be a pilgrim

When a knight won his spurs in the stories of old ....

My favourite hymn Quatt .

Rarely sung in Churches, sadly.

...He was gentle and brave he was gallant and bold
With a shield on his arm and a lance in his hand
For God and for valour he rode through the land

No charger have I and no sword by my side
Yet still to adventure and battle I ride
Though back into storyland giants have fled
And the knights are no more and the dragons are dead

So let faith be my shield and let hope be my steed
Against the dragons of anger the ogres of greed
And let me set free with the sword of my youth
From the castle of darkness the power of the truth

I loved that!

I was romantic even at six apparently .

Thanks Blu.

Oh but there are so many

That's the best one obviously but what about all the other stuff?

Morning has broken ...

The Lord is my Shepherd

It's all about shared experience - it's not about religion (necessarily) it was fun and good and everyone EVERYONE should do it.

Don't you think?

As a teacher I do singing with children all the time. Singing in assembly is not dead.
If it's dead in your school, make a fuss to the head.

Fight the good fight with all thy might;
Christ is thy Strength, and Christ thy Right;
Lay hold on life, and it shall be
Thy joy and crown eternally.

Run the straight race through God's good grace,
-
--
--

Faint not nor fear, for He is near,
He changeth not, and thou art dear.
Only believe, and thou shalt see
That Christ is all in all to thee.

Oh Blu, that was fun

Jan Struther was a parent herself and wrote some great non-churchy hymnns for children
We had an excellent songbook for assembly at my C of E primary, The Golden Cockerel. I recall a lot of the words from that being non-denominational.
But we also had Singing Today. You did not even need a pianist for that, you just tuned the huge old wooden radio in to BBC Schools
I love Gareth Malone and like YLL, I was transfixed by the boys' barnets. Especially Tom's mop of horizontal thatch. I also wanted to give little Michael a huge hug.
I agree with others that this school was an extreme example of lack of collective music-making, I don't think it is representative of secondary schools in general in the UK

Blu we have just been rehearsing Forty Days and Forty Nights for Ash Wednesday
There are some fantastically dated hymns for Lent

I have been singing '40 days and 40 nights' to DS and DP - to educate them...and 'There is a green hill far awa, without a city wall...'

But I had to ring up my Mum and ask when Pancake day is.

"it's on Feb 4th" says she
"eeek, that's Tuesday" says I
"yes, she says, a little pained, "irt's always on a Tuessday"

oh, yes.

5th actually.

And singing is the main thing.

It's been a long week...must go to bed.

"Tempted and yet undefiled"
Lent is the earliest it can possibly be in the Christian calendar this year, you are entitled to be caught out

quattorcento - i sing the ffirst verse differently

He who would a valiant be 'gainst all disaster
let himin constancy folow the master
there's no discouragement, shall make him once relent
his first avowed intent to be a pilgrim

what about 'when a knight won his spurs'

i used to love

Far round the world thy children sing their song;
From East and West their voices sweetly blend,
Praising the Lord in whom young lives are strong,
Jesus our guide, our hero, and our friend.

1. Where thy wide ocean, wave on rolling wave,

Beats through the ages on each island shore, They praise their Lord, whose hand alone can save, Whose sea of love surrounds them evermore.

1. Thy sun-kissed children on earth's spreading plain,

Where Asia's rivers water all the land, Sing, as they watch thy fields of glowing grain, Praise to the Lord who feeds them with his hand.

1. Still there are lands where none have seen thy face,

Children whose hearts have never shared thy joy: Yet thou would'st pour on these thy radiant grace, Give thy glad strength to every girl and boy.

1. All round the world let children sing thy song,

From East and West their voices sweetly blend; Praising The Lord in whom young lives are strong, Jesus our guide, our hero, and our friend.

i am not a bit religious but these songs are 'belters'

someone musucally intelligent will come and tell you that 'when a knight' is not a hymn. It is a school asssembly thing. It's come up befor eon a thread.

Blu

re 'there is a green hill far away'

For years it confused the hell out of me. I used to think, 'But I've never seen a green hill with a city wall'

It frustrated me when we are in a large number of people who can't sing, but mumble.

Went to the kids Xmas concert. there must have been over a thousand adults there and could they sing? Could they buggery. It was just so sad. Ir sapped all the fun out of what should have been a jolly sing song to mark the start of the Christmas holiday. There was a family behind me and the kids belted out the carols, and at the end, I complimented them.

the kids where i work never sing (secondary school).

And if you tried to get them to sing 'pop' songs most of them would decry that as 'lame'. It is just so sad.

My own kids sing regularly in assemby ( church school) and have timetabled singling lessons. Which isn't that surprising, as it is a cathedral school. It really builds their confidence. DS (who is dyspraxic) volenteered to play the recorder in front of the whole school in 'Talents Assembly', was mildly awful, but was cheered to the rafters. Came home on cloud 9

M

Our year groups have 15 mins of assembly once a week. Often not even that as 7 years in the school, they have to rotate. Also hall often used in exams, so no assembly.

No time for singing at all, too much info to give out Kids would loathe it, and I HATE singing as cannot sing. Save it for those who enjoy it.

I rememeber naughty boys at secondary school, marching to "Onward Christian Soldiers". It was the only song anyone would sing

I used to love singing at school. I have a crap voice (think Les Dawson on a bad day) but it was great. The words didn't really matter - it was the community feeling and just opening your lungs a bit that I enjoyed.

Re 40 Days and 40 Nights - we used to sing that to a really 'jazzy' tune - it never really seemed like a hymn. Oh Jesus I have promised too. It was probably the same tune - well with my singing it was lol!