The Singing School

[Jolly]

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Singing_school

I was looking around at church today and was appalled at the lack of congregational singing. It's a blended service, where you have a couple of praise songs and a couple of hymns (albeit with modern arrangements which sucks).

When I was a younker, churches held singing schools, mostly using shape note hymnals. When people receive just a smidgen of singing education, they sing better. They sing louder. And everybody enjoys the service more.

Bring back the singing school.

[Copper]

I bet that church would welcome a volunteer voice coach.

[Jolly]

Wouldn't be me. Unless we're teaching dogs to howl.

Seriously, singing schools were not super common when I was a kid, but every few years a local church would have one. Usually one week, sometimes two, meeting four or five nights a week. By the time it was finished, the song service benefitted tremendously.

For a minor investment of time and money, it paid major dividends for years.

[Mik]

What a talented coach can do for a mediocre voice in just a lesson or two is phenomenal. I agree, Jolly...if you're gonna sing, do it well.

[Doctor Phibes]

When I lived in Wales, I'd walk past the local chapel on a Sunday morning. The singing was always incredible - just the most amazing sounds. The entire country seems to be able to sing so well.

In the pubs on a Friday night, the whole bloody place would sing along to Tom Jones.

[taiwan_girl]

@Doctor-Phibes said in The Singing School:

When I lived in Wales, I'd walk past the local chapel on a Sunday morning. The singing was always incredible - just the most amazing sounds. The entire country seems to be able to sing so well.

In the pubs on a Friday night, the whole bloody place would sing along to Tom Jones.

And how did the two compare? 555