Latest Articles by Sarah Canice Funke
Is there any venue for group singing these days besides the church?
I was struck by a curiosity to know this when I played a few parlour songs for class, and people really didn't know how to sing with each other. To me, having grown up in church, and spent years as a music major, this concept of singing together is nearly as fundamental as that of breathing.
Strange when we realize that our experience is not the same as the world's...
I suppose pop and rock concerts might count...
I started thinking of this question when I taught Animal Farm for the first time, and the animals made such a big deal about singing "Beast of England" together...and then the pigs made such a big deal about not singing together, except when singing the praises of Napoleon.
Then I started thinking of the times we do sing together. There's church, no matter if your ritual is to sing out of a hymnal, sing out of the bulletin, or sing off an overhead/projector. For us Covenant College people, there was chapel--and most notably "All for Jesus." Then there are baseball games and "Take Me Out to the Ballgame." There's the national anthem at sporting events.
I think singing together fosters a sense of community and ritual. I'm not a musicologist or a musician or a psychologist, but there's something about corporate singing. It's more than the lyrics or the tune. It's more than the individual parts, partly because it produces such a reaction of unity and togetherness.
Well, that's my very undisciplined and unorganized thoughts on your question. And a poor conclusion to a writing assignment. Oh well.
Posted by: Krista at 23.09.05 11:34One of the nice things about being at home again is being able to sing with the family. Now you know me, I am always singing even in the grocery store (much to the embarrassment of my mother), but I would really like to get involved in a small non-family group that sings fun songs together. Unfortunately, there just isn't much of that going on nowadays. *sigh*
Well, best of luck to ya darlin!