hymns

[smurfie1]

When you sang hymns in assembly, how did you read the words?

When I first started school two older children had to stand at the front and hold up a giant hymn sheet with the words on for us all to read. This was ok but I had only just started school so couldn't read. I had some intresting words to Lord of the dance.
After a couple of years we had progressed to an OHP.
Then I moved areas and my new school had hymn books - Junior Praise.

[Heather74]

Re: hymns

In Primary school children were chosen to hold big cards with the words written on by the teacher and in high school we had a two double sided A4 cards, one for every day and the other full of festival type songs, which had to be passed along the rows.
In most assemblies it was turned into a boy girl competition to see who could sing the loudest, me I couldn't sing a note so I just mimed

[Marine Boy]

Re: hymns

...Then I moved areas and my new school had hymn books - Junior Praise.

Were they the ones with the swirly blue and green lines on the front? If so, that's what we used from about 1969 to 1973/4. I recently discovered something very similar, (trying to recall the title) in a local church and a slight thrill went through me.

Otherwise, especially when singing more modern hymns, it was the overhead projector. The words were usually handwritten. (Bit different to the downloading and interactive whiteboards we have in the school where I work at the moment!)

On Friday mornings we had hymn practise for the hymns we would be singing the following week. At the end there was usually time for requests. I think 'When a Knight Won his Spurs' was favourite, with 'Lord of the Dance' coming a close second. I also recall 'Oh Jesus I have Promised' - to the modern bouncy tune, and 'As Jacob with Travel'.

[Solo]

Re: hymns

Ahh I loved the songs we used to sing in assembly, from a blue "Come and Praise" book - the ones I can remember are:

When I Needed a Neighbour (we all giggled during the "I was cold, I was naked" part)
Autumn Days(?)
Lord of the Dance
Kumbayah
He's Got the Whole World In His Hands

looooads more that I can't remember now! And I loved Christmas time, we had a different book and just sang carols...aaah, magical!!

[Marine Boy]

Re: hymns

...When I Needed a Neighbour (we all giggled during the "I was cold, I was naked" part)...

You just reminded me; we giggled too! I expect most kids did, come to think of it.

There was a song that went, "We are travelling on a journey," and all the children would repeat 'journey' a second time as there was a space for it in the music. It used to drive the music teacher to distraction. She just couldn't stop us! lol

[Richard1978]

Re: hymns

At primary school we sang hymns almost every day in assembly.

I remember liking some hymns more than others, some of them had potential to mess around a bit & pretend you misread the OHP. Luckily I never needed to use that excuse.

With Lord Of The Dance I sometimes tried to end the lines with an ee sound notes that Mariah Carey would struggle with.

There was the hymn with the line ending King Of Kings, with another line at the end of the verse ending with just King, but most people kept getting that wrong.

While I never got caught singing things wrong, I remember one teacher complaining that some pupils were just badly mouthing along, like a "tank of goldfish"!

Memorable mis-sings winclude "When At Knight Won At Spurs" & "Oh Lord, Come By Car".

Some songs that aren't really hymns used to be features including Yellow Submarine (often mis-sung as yellow washing machine) & The Ink Is Black, The Page Is White" (which I came up with a cheeky resung version).

At secondry school we didn't bother with hymns in assembly, apart from one time we had to sing London's Burning for about 10 minutes non-stop for no obvious reason.

[Heather74]

Re: hymns

There was the hymn with the line ending King Of Kings, with another line at the end of the verse ending with just King, but most people kept getting that wrong.

We sang that one too... Give me joy in my heart ( sing hosanna)

[Solo]

Re: hymns

The Ink Is Black, The Page Is White" (which I came up with a cheeky resung version).

Ahh yeah! I loved that one - at the end of the chorus when it went "together we learn to read and write, to read and write" we would all yell out "DOOPY-DOOP-DOOP-DOOP" and it drove our teacher nuts!

At secondry school we didn't bother with hymns in assembly, apart from one time we had to sing London's Burning for about 10 minutes non-stop for no obvious reason.

You didn't go to a school in North Yorkshire did you? I did the same thing with London's Burning (at primary school at the time), I think it was some sort of radio thing a lot of schools took part in? Talk about a waste of time!!

[Marine Boy]

Re: hymns

...At secondry school we didn't bother with hymns in assembly, apart from one time we had to sing London's Burning for about 10 minutes non-stop for no obvious reason.

Don't recall having to sing that, but at secondary school, I experienced the same thing as you. We just didn't seem to sing like we did in primary. On the odd occasion there was a song or hymn, hardly anybody joined in and I think the teachers just gave up.

I remember a new music teacher arriving, Mrs Yendol, (sp?). She was very enthusiastic, determined to turn things round and get us all singing. My memory is that even she failed.

[Richard1978]

Re: hymns

Ahh yeah! I loved that one - at the end of the chorus when it went "together we learn to read and write, to read and write" we would all yell out "DOOPY-DOOP-DOOP-DOOP" and it drove our teacher nuts!


You didn't go to a school in North Yorkshire did you? I did the same thing with London's Burning (at primary school at the time), I think it was some sort of radio thing a lot of schools took part in? Talk about a waste of time!!

Mine rewrite had the lines "Together we learn to scream & bite, scheme & fight", "Now the end of the world has just begun, so let's bring out the worst in everyone, everyone"!

I'm not sure if I actually dared to sing them in assembly, but I remember attempting to hit very high notes at the end of some lines, like I did with Lord Of The Dance.

I was at Marple Hall School when we sang London's Burning ad nauseum.

[smurfie1]

Re: hymns

Ahh I loved the songs we used to sing in assembly, from a blue "Come and Praise" book - the ones I can remember are:

When I Needed a Neighbour (we all giggled during the "I was cold, I was naked" part)
Autumn Days(?)
Lord of the Dance
Kumbayah
He's Got the Whole World In His Hands

looooads more that I can't remember now! And I loved Christmas time, we had a different book and just sang carols...aaah, magical!!

I love Autumn days, heardly anyone knows it, I annoy my husband alot with it. We never sung it in assembly, only at hymn practice.

[smurfie1]

Re: hymns

On Friday mornings we had hymn practise for the hymns we would be singing the following week. At the end there was usually time for requests. I think 'When a Knight Won his Spurs' was favourite, with 'Lord of the Dance' coming a close second. I also recall 'Oh Jesus I have Promised' - to the modern bouncy tune, and 'As Jacob with Travel'.

I had forgotten "When a knight won his spurs". I loved "Oh jesus I have promised" to the new tune, had it at my wedding. Would of had "IF I was a butterfly" but no one would let me.

Sorry for posting twice in a row, I don't know how to put multiple quotes in a reply. :cry:

[Star Attraction]

Re: hymns

I love Autumn days, heardly anyone knows it, I annoy my husband alot with it. We never sung it in assembly, only at hymn practice.

Okay, here's as much as I can remember of Autumn Days from the BBC hymn book Come And Praise.

Autumn days when the grass is jewelled
And the silk inside a chestnut shell
Jet planes meeting in the air to be refuelled
All these things I love so well

So I mustn't forget
No I mustn't forget
To say a great big thank you
No I mustn't forget

The above is what I know from memory. During my last year or two at primary school we sang that sometimes, and that's how much of it has stuck in my memory. The music teacher noticed whenever we were asked to choose a hymn, we always picked the same ones, and Autumn Days never got picked, basically because we'd never sung it (I don't think it had been on the BBC radio show "A Service For Schools" which we always used to listen to each Thursday morning week by week). Therefore the music teacher decided to teach us Autumn Days, hoping we would want to sing it when given the chance to choose a hymn.

[Marine Boy]

Re: hymns

I had forgotten "When a knight won his spurs". I loved "Oh jesus I have promised" to the new tune, had it at my wedding. Would of had "IF I was a butterfly" but no one would let me.

Sorry for posting twice in a row, I don't know how to put multiple quotes in a reply. :cry:

*bump"

I still don't know how to do muliple quotes from different posts. lol

'If I were a Butterfly' is a staple in the schools I've worked in over the past 15 years, but I don't recall it at school in the 70s.

[moonvisage]

Re: hymns

We had small red hymn books.When i first went into assembly in the first form,the older boys sitting next to us would have to share their books with us younger ones,when we all stood up to sing.In reality,they never really shared the books,they would hog it to themselves,and maybe tip it once in a blue moon in the direction of the first formers eyes,so the first former got at least one glance of a hymn.