Anyone else have any fond (?) memories of singing in church?

[Archae]

Yes, I am being sarcastic.

I grew up in a UCC church, and when we'd sing hymns, first off, they were so

Then there'd be someone within earshot who tried singing the hymn from memory, but they'd screw it up.

And the loudest singer in the congregation was always the one who sang the worst.
Off-key at best.

[grasswire]

1. actually, I do

My grandfather led the singing in the church of my childhood, and he was a musician with an ear for syncopation and a trombone player's verve. He always picked the hymns out of the Baptist hymnal that were the most rousing and melodious. I would sit between my uncle (bass) and my father (tenor) and they would sing the parts as written, and yes.....I do remember it fondly!

[bluedigger]

2. I was in the church choir as a teen.

We sounded pretty good, and I enjoyed singing in latin (also UCC). It was the sermons that drove me away.

[surrealAmerican]

3. Well, not church ...

... (I grew up Jewish), but my father used to like going to services because it was the only place he could sing without being told to please stop. He couldn't carry a tune. I liked to see him sing, even though it didn't sound good.

[Gidney N Cloyd]

4. Mainly I remember the air filling up with stale coffee breath

[HopeHoops]

5. No.

Well, other than "We three kings of Orient are, smoking on a big fat cigar." I got grounded for that one.

[mzteris]

6. the only thing I "miss" about church

is the music.

I think that's what helped keep me there so long.

Haven't touched my horn since I stopped going. No place to play. Don't ever get to sing much anymore either unless its in the car. alone.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

7. I have great experiences singing in church NOW

I'm part of an excellent church choir, and we sing all sorts of things, especially wonderful anthems from the Anglican choral tradition. Tomorrow, we're singing one anthem by the contemporary Estonian composer Arvo Pärt and one by the early 20th composer C.V. Stanford.

I've been Lutheran and Episcopalian, and both of them have strong musical traditions.

[trusty elf]

8. We chanted and sang in Latin. I remember sort of enjoying it.

I also remember dropping fuzz balls from my sweater on people's heads while in the choir loft.

That's me in the back row, second from the right.

[IMG][/IMG]

[hunter]

9. My wife was in the choir when I first began dating her. I have very fond memories of that.

I soon joined the choir too, even though I'm a terrible singer. I can't keep any rhythm, I can't cleanly hit any note.

Still I had fun singing in the choir despite the occasional sharp glances I'd get from the director informing me to drop it done a few notches and merely lip-sync.

My wife has a lovely singing voice. I don't.

My singing either annoys or amuses bystanders, but it's no matter if I'm feeling the spirit, in church or out.

The most fun I have is wrestling with Spanish, Welsh, or Latin... (Or English, for what it's worth.)

[Xipe Totec]

10. I do.

Singing and guitar playing in Catholic mass. There was a group of us, about fifteen kids, ages 14 to 19.

Very fond memories, very beautiful music.

[Buck Turgidson]

20. Folk Mass.

Pete Seeger songs, Simon & Garfunkel instumentals, bluegrass, gospel.

[Populist_Prole]

11. Yeah, lots. Not fond ones though. I always faked it and lip synched.

Church/Sunday School was more or less compulsory to me, and my siblings, till about age 13: Our parents would drop us off, and then come get us. I truly believe deep down our attendance had more to do with our parent's desire for a quiet kid-free sunday morning than their desire to inculcate us with virtue, but they were able to rationalize it thanks to the plausable deniability of it all.

[Neoma]

12. I was persuaded to sing in front of 300 people.

I wish I didn't.

[WCGreen]

13. Try singing along to the stodgy tunes of the Unitarian nature...

Yuck.

[Taverner]

14. No. I actually hated going to church.

Hated the whole "stand up, sit down, kneel, lather rinse repeat" about the whole thing

Hated waking up early

Hated pretty much all of it

[Generic Brad]

15. All my fond church memories involved loud farts reverberating off of wooden pews

The whole somberness of church made that extra funny - especially when I knew I would get in as much trouble as the gas passer if I was caught laughing. Ever try to suppress laughing? You bite the insides of your cheeks. Eye contact with others brings the chuckles back. Tears come to your eyes. Good times.

[Archae]

17. I remember that too.

And those who came to church with hangovers, you could tell who they were.

[Tuesday Afternoon]

16. oh. sarcasm. never mind.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

18. As a devout agnostic, I do like singing in church.

I've been in church choirs off and on for years because I really like the music (assuming the church has a first-rate music program). But that's the only thing I like about church.

[nolabear]

19. Oh hell yeah. Try a big old gospel sing sometimes. It'll knock your socks off.

I actually mostly went to the snoozy kind but when I could I'd hit a mostly black Mississippi church with a kick ass gospel choir and it would make a believer out of me again. Even now, as an agnostic-cum-athiest, I believe in the power of a gospel choir to lift me higher.

[handmade34]

21. you went to the wrong church...

the music was always the best part!!

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[many a good man]

22. Being ordered NOT to sing

As part of my parochial school education, the entire school was marched off every Friday morning to attend Mass. Our principal Sister Genevieve had the expectation that we would sing our little hearts out, filling the church with our angelic voices. There were serious consequences if we disappointed her.

If we hadn't sung to her satisfaction, she would cancel recess and roll out the piano outside her office. We were all ordered to line up outside our rooms in the hallway as she led us in song practice. She would march up and down the hallways with her conductor stick and evil scowl. Anyone not singing loud enough would get the business end of that stick. Alas, I knew it well.

Unfortunately carrying a tune is not one of my many talents. Fearing the rod I sang louder than anyone. Sister Genevieve stood in front of my for what seemed like eternity. At the end of the song, in a very serious voice, she told me I was excused from ever having to sing in church again. I was the only one in the entire school given this special dispensation.