A few years ago, Jarvis Cocker made a great BBC documentary about the history of the long-running radio series Singing Together which got generations of children singing in unison.
The origins of the series begin around the outbreak of the second World War when the producer enlisted the services of teacher Brenda Jenkins to practise singing with groups of evacuees. There is a great quote from her describing the grim conditions but pointing out that “singing always helped”.
In 1976, Canadian music teacher Hans Fenger was inspired by German composer Carl Orff’s ideas about music and education. Orff believed strongly in de-intellectualising the practice of music in schools. He was interested in finding out ways of connecting students with music by experiencing it on all levels. He made strong arguments for the inclusion of movement, dance and speech in the practice of singing.
Encouraging children to experience music at their own level of understanding was important, as was a sense of play in the activity overall. To this end, he developed a series of non-pitched percussion instruments to round out the songs that are sung and played. That sense of play is the most important thing. It should be fun. Joy should be at the heart of a group singing together.
By his own admission, Fenger knew little about teaching music to children, but he believed strongly in these concepts and put them into practice around several elementary schools in the Langley region of Canada. The experiment worked handsomely. Thankfully Fenger often recorded the results on a rudimentary two microphone system.
In theory, it shouldn’t work. The choice of music ranges from David Bowie to much lesser lights of the mid-1970s scene. But what permeates the entire collection and makes it hugely enjoyable is that irrepressible joie de vivre that covers over all the cracks and catches you emotionally in all sorts of ways.
There are lulls and missed cues and bum notes but there are enough moments of soaraway magic to make you want to come back again and again. There’s no arguing with music this heartfelt. Orff was onto something.
