Party pieces

I used to have to sing at parties, even though I was terrified.
My party piece was The Bells of St.Mary's. There was a film starring Bing Crosby at the time.

I had to play my latest piano piece.
I think my family knew better than to ask me to sing.

Mine was always reciting poetry - or monologues (usually from Shakespeare).

My two sisters and I were asked to sing. We usually sang as a trio but sometimes individually. It was alright in front of family, but singing in church was a different matter, that was scary.
I can recite the monologue of The Story of Noah, but nowhere near as good as Stanley Holloway. 🤣

I don't suppose today's youngsters would do such a thing. Sad really.

My Dad always used to give us his rendition of Albert and the Lion. (Complete with accent, we're southerners!).

I can still recite it to this day.

ferry23

My Dad always used to give us his rendition of Albert and the Lion. (Complete with accent, we're southerners!).

I can still recite it to this day.

My great uncle used to do this as well, then my brother took it over. I got a copy of it for my son, I'm hoping he or his son will take it on. It reminds me of such happy family times.

One of mine was Jock O’ Hazeldean, and there was also Second Hand Rose, Miss Otis Regrets, Summertime, I could Have Danced All Night, and many more!
My mother sang O Mio Babbino Caro, The Holy City, Bach Gounod Ave Maria, or Tonight, while my father favoured When I Leave the World Behind or Don’t Laugh at Me, ‘Cos I’m a Fool. Together they sang My Heart and I and I Wonder Why. Aunties and uncles also had their favourites, and as long as the whisky lasted, so did the singing!
Some friends of mine who were also singers have died over the last few years, and I’m so grateful to have recorded their party pieces.

I've never had a 'party piece' but I don't think I've ever been to a party in someone's house.

When we were courting my DH worked behind the bar at the local pub. One New Year’s night he was working and I sat in the bar. After the punters had gone we had a drink with the landlords and a couple of their friends. After a while someone suggested we all do a party piece! I was terminally shy then, not much better now. Every body did something, a song or a poem. Then I was the only one left. Panic stricken I croaked my way through “ Daisy,Daisy “ and then they all complained that I had short changed them. I have never sung in public ever again.

We all sung in the house ,round the piano on a Sunday evening so we all had songs we could sing at house parties.My sisters used to sing “Sisters” as a duet and then had their own solo songs which changed with the charts .Things like Cry me a River or I left my heart in San Fransisco ,mum liked Nat King Cole numbers and Dad who sung at gigs for charities had a long list of show tunes and opera.Granny loved her Irish songs like The Rose of Tralee.I had a nice line of songs sung in French ,taught by our teacher in school and I could still perform them now word perfect in my early teens I remember singing Those Were THe Days and a couple of CatStevens songs .We have a friend who still has these houseparties with singing but she has a live band in her Back garden to accompany them .I don’t sing at them nowadays ,only sing in the house

Yes! Mine was poetry, and my grandmother as well, my mum sang folk songs, my dad, his father and uncles used to sing The Miners' Dream of Home. My grandchildren will do something if pushed - they enjoy I'm Still Standing!

I'd never have done it.
I'd probably have cried and spoiled it for everyone.

My gs 9 loves this. He sings and recites. He introduced the anniversary party for his other GPS.

Loving this thread.
I come from a musical family. Both parents and my dad’s family especially. His grandmother played the piano in the silent movies at the cinema. Dad had a voice to die for and I was lucky enough to have inherited it. Now my daughter, and grandchildren have been blessed with the gift of music and two play piano and guitar. It’s wonderful when we all get together. Family voices blend so well and the harmonies are perfect. My voice isn’t what it was though. I have to work hard now to make a decent sound, but I’ll keep going. 😃

We recited poetry, my party piece was The Daffodils’ by Wordsworth. And singing Northern folk songs like ‘I’m a rambler from Manchester Way’ and ‘Poverty, poverty knock’. We didn’t have a piano or other musical instruments but my old dad and uncle had fantastic voices.
Then the old 78s would go on and the adults would dance to Glen Miller’s ‘In the Mood’ and ‘String of Pearls.’
It all stopped once my uncle died aged 44 and then my dad in his early fifties.
But happy memories 🥹

We all had poems too, as did our father. It was our mother who was the great success, she’d been a teenager during the 1920s and to the accompaniment of an old 78 record would Charleston her way round the room to great applause (and the great embarrassment of her children)

MissAdventure

I'd never have done it.
I'd probably have cried and spoiled it for everyone.

I'd be the same. At primary school, we all had to stand up in the assembly hall and sing a line of a song - I froze and got sent packing and made to write lines. It was humiliating.

My father sometimes sang and not that well .
He could also play the piano having never studied it and he couldn't read music .
I think that he played ragtime .
My mother had had piano lessons , but couldn't play anything .

I hadn't had many ballet lessons , but as soon as I had a tutu for a show - I had to put it on with ballet shoes and dance .
It was very much the thing .
I don't remember watching TV if we went out or had visitors .
We used to play games a great deal , but never cards on a Sunday .
My mother used to entertain frequently .
The very idea of not cooperating or refusing to participate never crossed my mind !

Aveline

I don't suppose today's youngsters would do such a thing. Sad really.

My granddaughter does a scarily accurate Brittany Spears 😂

When I was asked to stand up and recite a poem at school I usually stuck to the classics but on one occasion stood up and recorded a poem my old dad would recite often -

‘Owd Johnny Walker were cleaning t’spout,
Ladder broke and he kicked up a shout,
Owd Annie came out said ‘art hurt,
Nay but I fell on mi bottom and ripped mi shirt’

Let’s just say that my recitation was not well received and the teacher made me stand with my face to the wall until home time.
😳

Correction - stood up and recited a poem not ‘recorded’.
😣

Every Christmas, my brother, sister and I would dress up and perform a nativity. There were usually a few cousins involved as well. One year it was just me and my siblings so I wrote a play with two Wise Men and Herod. I think I was around 12. ‘Where is the other Wise Man’, asked Herod. ‘Tending the camels’, was the reply. I think my grandfather recorded the whole thing on his new-fangled tape recorder!