Songs You Learned at School

[doversoul1]

Other them hymns, what songs did the forum members learned at primary school? Were there songs that all/most children learned at school or were they picked up from the popular songs of the day? And if you were a music teacher at a primary school now, what songs would you like to teach the children?

And did you like what you learned?

[Serial_Apologist]

Other them hymns, what songs did the forum members learned at primary school? Were there songs that all/most children learned at school or were they picked up from the popular songs of the day? And if you were a music teacher at a primary school now, what songs would you like to teach the children?

And did you like what you learned?

Mostly traditional folk songs back in the late 1940s, such as "Sweet Lass of Richmond Hill", to the accompaniment of the clangorous out-of-tune school piano, which had probably somewhow survived the blitz, along with the paint-peeled rusting corrugated tin hall it was located in, probably long since demolished.

[Richard Tarleton]

Hi dovers, I think I mentioned before that singing Fine Knacks for Ladies in an inter-school singing competition in Hastings aged 10 or 11 was my intro to Dowland.....I can't say it really clicked at the time, that came a bit later with the Fantasia P1 for lute..... In other years (I daresay the songs for the competition were chosen by whoever organised it, not by our music teacher) we sang (ugh) Cherry Ripe , The Ash Grove and Linden Lea - the last two a bit lugubrious at that age... At school we had a song book full of ballads, sea shanties, traditional folk songs - the sort of things Britten was to arrange - oh, and songs by Stephen Foster. I really liked those. It sounds like another age now, doesn't it....well it was....

[Serial_Apologist]

Hi dovers, I think I mentioned before that singing Fine Knacks for Ladies in an inter-school singing competition in Hastings aged 10 or 11 was my intro to Dowland.....I can't say it really clicked at the time, that came a bit later with the Fantasia P1 for lute..... In other years (I daresay the songs for the competition were chosen by whoever organised it, not by our music teacher) we sang (ugh) Cherry Ripe , The Ash Grove and Linden Lea - the last two a bit lugubrious at that age... At school we had a song book full of ballads, sea shanties, traditional folk songs - the sort of things Britten was to arrange - oh, and songs by Stephen Foster. I really liked those. It sounds like another age now, doesn't it....well it was....

It certainly was, Richard! My parents were by no means rich, yet my father, who always had ideas above his station, was insistent on me having a private school education, so I was sent to the local Frobel school at age 3. A group photo clearly indicated the social stratum from which most of the children came. It was taken in the bomb site which served as playground, next to the abovementioned shack. One of the ways boys would entertain themselves was by chucking bits of brick, masonry and anything else discarded there at each other - I can still remember the names of two of my tormentors, who went on to the next school I attended at age 7.

[greenilex]

Anyone remember the New National Song Book? I have one copy with music and several with just the words.

[vinteuil]

.

... we had the usual 'Sweet Lass of Richmond Hill', 'Bobby Shaftoe', 'Weel may the keel row', 'My bonny lies over the ocean', Campdown Races', 'Men of Harlech', 'British grenadiers', various sea shanties...

But I also remember William Appleby and :

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Singing_Together_(radio)

.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-30210485

,

[Dave2002]

I have vague recollections of these:

The Lincolnshire poacher - probably my strongest memory

Silvia - we didn't know the words were by Shakespeare, nor did we care much. To the first line I feel we used to think "who cares anyway ...?"
I don't know which setting we sang to, either.

Men of Harlech - why I have any memory trace of this I don't know, and we had no connection with Wales.

[Serial_Apologist]

I would have loved some of those folk songs in their Percy Grainger arrangements, rather than the Victorian settings we were forced to sing.

[Padraig]

doversoul, I'll start with your final question: Did I like what I learned?

I certainly did. And I still love songs of practically any description. I posted one last night that I learned in fourth class -P6. The teacher, a Mr Kelly, was a singer and enthusiast. He was fond of Moore's Melodies and so am I to this day; we learned several. He also liked Stephen Foster,(Richard), and this too has passed down to me, though I'm sad that these songs have virtually disappeared. We had many carols and hymns too.
Mr Kelly no doubt had his scheme of songs, but I can only remember single items in no particular order: The Ash Grove, John Brown's Body, Clementine, Loch Lomond, Early One Morning, The Farmer's Boy, John Peel I imagine were common everywhere, but some which stick out as a bit odd for us boys included Men Of Harlech, Land of my Fathers, Marching Through Georgia, Drink to me only, The Vicar of Bray - Mr Kelly gave us the gist of that last one. These are all just off the top of my head. I could go on!!!

Not long after Primary School I fell in love with Kathleen Ferrier and her songs took me in new directions. But I never got the hang of Opera.

Thank you for this doversoul, and Thank You Mr Kelly.

[french frank]

I'm not sure about primary, but at 11 or so we had the Community Songbook with 'Sweet Lass of Richmond Hill'. 'The Mermaid', 'Flow gently, sweet Afton', 'Fairest Isle', 'The Lincolnshire poacher', 'The British Grenadiers' … The one thing I definitely remember from primary school was (slightly unexpectedly) 'The Yeomen of England' from Merrie England - surreptitious giggles at the line: 'Stained with the ruddy tan … '. The headmistress (there were headmistresses in those days, rather than headteachers) played the upright piano, as did the other teacher - there were only two teachers. And after lunch the headmistress intoned the opening 'Thank you …' for the grace: 'Thank you for the world so sweet (Thank you for the food we eat, Thank you for the birds that sing, Thank you God for everything').

... we had the usual 'Sweet Lass of Richmond Hill', 'Bobby Shaftoe', 'Weel may the keel row', 'My bonny lies over the ocean', Campdown Races', 'Men of Harlech', 'British grenadiers', various sea shanties...

Add lots of those that Padraig mentions.

[doversoul1]

Thank you everyone. Lovely to read your memories.

I thought I’d ask you what it used to be like. I have attended a few school concerts (one school, a few concerts) by now and have found that most songs (up to 8-year old) the children perform are from popular musicals including Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and Do re mi. I suppose these songs are now part of ‘folk songs’ for today’s children but I wonder what will happen to those old songs. There have been songs new to me which may have been composed for children to sing but they are, to me, all very rhythm driven. They are not, in my idea, songs ‘learned at school’. Still, the children seem to enjoy singing as a group which can only be a good thing.

Stephen Foster. Oh! Susanna, Swanee River, and Jeanie with the Light Brown Hair. I loved them all. I tried to work out the words of Camptown Races with my newly acquired English

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Anyone remember the New National Song Book? I have one copy with music and several with just the words.

There were slightly different versions of this, and the piano accompaniments were far better in later editions.

[Richard Tarleton]

I have attended a few school concerts (one school, a few concerts) by now and have found that most songs (up to 8-year old) the children perform are from popular musicals including Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and Do re mi. I suppose these songs are now part of ‘folk songs’ for today’s children but I wonder what will happen to those old songs. There have been songs new to me which may have been composed for children to sing but they are, to me, all very rhythm driven. They are not, in my idea, songs ‘learned at school’. Still, the children seem to enjoy singing as a group which can only be a good thing.

Indeed - we hear about the doings of our neighbours' (very talented) grandchildren, who are aged in single figures, and see clips of their performances - they do numbers from today's musicals - Annie, The Greatest Showman, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory......

[LeMartinPecheur]

I remember singing two songs from Die schone Mullerin before the age of 11! It was admittedly in Germany but these were in English translation in British forces schools, and presumably from standard UK school songbooks. IIRC each was introduced to us merely as 'a fine song for singing', with no mention of Schubert or the story of the cycle.

Specifically, they were nos. 1 "To wander is the miller's joy, to wander" and 9 "Along the brook grow many flowers/ Below the mill in sun and showers/ And past them flows the murm'ring stream/ Whose waters in the sunlight gleam./ These are my own forget-me-nots (repeat)" . You can tell they left a mark - it was pleasant to discover where they came from c.8 years later.

Otherwise it was pretty standard folk-song fare as far as I recall.

[LMcD]

From 'The Mermaid', I remember the class singing:
While the landlubbers lie down below, below, below
While the landlubbers lie down below'