The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #79364   Message #2592260
Posted By: GUEST,jorra
18-Mar-09 - 10:24 PM
Thread Name: History - BBC's 'Singing Together'
Subject: RE: History - BBC's 'Singing Together'
I have just stumbled across this thread. What a treat. We were listening to a record of Vaughan Williams' "The Bees" and I said..doesn't this remind you of..what was that music in schools program called that we all had in the primary school? I dredged in my memory and came up with "Mr. Appleby at the piano". Then I had to Google it to see whether there was anything about the BBC's schools music programs. And bingo..there you all are, with my memories! We both remember..the radio on a high shelf above the teacher's desk in the corner at the front of the room. The pamphlets. I remember a bunch of the songs still...and sometimes the songs from new-to-me folk bands rekindle memories. "Soldier Soldier won't you marry me?" "The Mermaid". SOmething about a valley. I now realise that many of those songs were censored...the verses about Polly's apron hanging down low, or Polly finally giving in to the soldier's charms and going into the sentry box and wrapping herself in his cloak, and then...and then the 9 month consequences...all deleted! But I remember enjoying these lessons hugely. I didn't even mind the Music and Movement in the gym. I try not to be a crusty middle aged grump, but I do wonder whether we play down to children a bit these days. We did Maypole dances for May Day and we all did the plaiting...in the INFANTS' school. I have pictures! 1955. East Sussex. I remember learning the Valeta, and the Sir Roger De Coverley, and looking back I think how on earth did the teachers get all of us to do that. We had over 40 to a class, as well. And I don't remember noise in the Singing Together classes, until we were older. I think that my sense of the importance of these is heightened because we have lived in the US for over 20 years, and we raised our two children here...quite bereft of this casually acquired background of shared songs and harmonies. (Americans don't even sing nursery rhymes that aren't commercial.) I can go to the piano and bang out a tune to sound like any of the styles of English folksongs, and I'm sure it's because our neurones ended up being hardwired to Pretty Polly going for a soldier to meet her love, or The Ash Grove, while our children are primed for jazz chords and rock. One last thing. What was the lady's name who did the Music and Movement? Irene something? Ilene?