No carol singing in school....

With a shed load of respect I do wonder if August is a good time for this conversation. Things tend to go by the wayside in Secondary.

I was saddened many years ago when the Harvert Festival slipped quietly away from Primary school. Also some sadness at the latest Christmas show which involved booking a seat via an App and voting on the best act via I pad.

I totally agree that choirs singing Christmas Carols are one of life’s joys. So does Classic fm. Carols dominate their playlists from mid November, it seems. Of course some carols are entirely secular, actually.

We’re going to have to get used to it.

This is wokery at its best.

What a shame! My Gdcs’ primary in Oxford is very multicultural, but I’ve always seen obviously Muslim parents at the annual Nativity plays and they certainly learn traditional carols.
It is a C of E school though, so parents who are anti are free to send their dcs elsewhere. I suspect they prefer not to, though, since the school is highly regarded and is usually over-subscribed.

Sago

We’re going to have to get used to it.

This is wokery at its best.

No. it's a child transfering to a Secondary school where life is less parochial.

Harvest Fesitival disappeared 20 years ago near me. I doubt the 2 Chinese children in the all white school played a part in this.

Unless carols are specifically part of a Music lesson it’s difficult to see where else they would fit into a Secondary school curriculum.

If you are picturing a singing assembly or a kind of get-together to sing I think you are still thinking of Primary school.

Secondary is very much about individual subject lessons.

Your granddaughter said she didn’t know and hazarded a guess. I don’t recall carols at senior school in my day, juniors and infants yes.

RE is still theoretically compulsory in secondary schools though none of the schools my GCs go to teach it. They do not have assemblies, teach class music or do school plays. So not much opportunity for carol singing. Although one of my GSs did learn bhangra dancing for a term.

My 12 year old grandson has just finished his first year at Grammar School. They have quite a high proportion of Asian pupils but at Christmas we went to the Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols in the school chapel with all the boys taking part.

StripeyGran

With a shed load of respect I do wonder if August is a good time for this conversation. Things tend to go by the wayside in Secondary.

I was saddened many years ago when the Harvert Festival slipped quietly away from Primary school. Also some sadness at the latest Christmas show which involved booking a seat via an App and voting on the best act via I pad.

The conversation took place in August because she wants to play in this event. She is a beginner and will need plenty of time to learn the pieces, so we were transposingbthem.
I am not sure how this alters the conversation.

OK, sorry.Change and transitions can be challenging.
Best of luck with it.

Others of my GC go to secondary schools where carols are sung and played as part of their musical education. Composers over centuries gave been inspired to write some of the best of western music by the Christmas story.
I cannot see how it helps other religions and cultures that this musical opportunity is passed over. I know that they examine the music of other cultures ... quite rightly ... but why is their ownnleft out?

Jaxjacky

Your granddaughter said she didn’t know and hazarded a guess. I don’t recall carols at senior school in my day, juniors and infants yes.

I remember Carol's, one or two of which we had to learn in Latin.
It wasn't a religious school.

Primary school Harvest Festivals and Christingle services were always lovely and I miss going to those in the village church when the DGC were at Primary School.
I have no idea what they do at Secondary school, apart from one Christmas Fair we went to, parents and grandparents are not invited, not even to sports day.

Wandering apostrophe!

Singing and playing carols is not "parochial" .... it is a musical joy.

Luckygirl3

Singing and playing carols is not "parochial" .... it is a musical joy.

It's certainly not parochial although they are sung in parish churches!
Huge congregations sing Christmas carols.

Nor are primary schools parochial, in the other sense of the word either.

I would be very happy to sing or play music from any culture, and indeed have done so on many occasions.
If I lived in another place/culture I would expect to be involved in music from that culture.

As you wish, possibly a poor choice of word.

I feel this is less to do with Muslims and more to do to with going to Big School.

It's a big change being a tiny minnow in a big pond.

Music is a big part of Christmass I agree- though hard to get my head round in August.

I once worked in a secondary school where the majority of kids were Muslim. The staff put on a panto every year and it was legendary.

Also the only Christmas cards I got from students were from the Muslim kids!

I think it has far more to dowith the traditions and ethos of the school than the profile of the students.

My GD now being a "tiny minnow" (as indeed she very happily is) has nothing whatever to do with my concern that the school chooses not to use Christmas music in their curriculum!

Hope all goes well with the new musical project.

I was chatting to GD and working on some music with her, transposing it for her clarinet
Yes, well done (I'm in awe!)
I have a musical DD, no idea where she inherited that from, I played the piano as many of us did years ago but was never very good!

Don't be in too much awe! We were using a music editing programme on the laptop!

Oh! Thanks, I'm much relieved. 🎵🎶🎵🎶🎵