Right on, Lindy. I always tried to make the same old, same old "Sing Along The Way" songs a little bit more exciting: call & response, hallelujahs, "Oh Glory" (and even "Oh Baby") in "I Saw The Light"; singing 4/4 songs in 3/4 time, or in different tempos. Nope. Gotta sing 'em the way the chorus choir sings 'em -->
We had a Way Corps bc who wanted to sing a Children's Fellowship song, but he didn't know the tune. I can't remember the title, but it had"...clap your hands *clap*clap*clap*clap*...'cause we're a fam-i-ly, the Word is the will of G-O-D..." in it. Well, Mr. Dumass announces that we will sing this song, that he isn't sure how it goes, and despite the fact that EVERYONE ELSE in the fellowship knows the song, declares that if anyone else knows a different version than the one he will "teach" us, too bad, anything else will just confuse him!
So here we go, with the guy leading the song the ONLY ONE in the room who doesn't know it, and everyone else just busting to sing it the way we've been taught.
Same guy would rip us new excretory orifices if we deviated from TWI approved song leading.
Why, oh why, did we even bother with leading songs by waving our hands around? Most of us didn't even look at the song leader, and most song leaders couldn't find the downbeat if their lives depended on it.
Yeah, Oak, why did we lead that way? I guess it looked professional. Decent and in order of course. Although, that was only the case when the person leading had a little rythem and knew what the count was. At some point you were to be trained (at least Adv.CL Grads were) on how to lead a song and write all the counts down in your book. Even that didn't help some people though. LOL That was always funny and a little uncomfortable to watch that person lead. Especially the ones that couldn't move thier hand and arms without moving the rest of thier body up and down. lol Those were the fellowships that almost made it worth going. haha
I love my CHurch I really do happier than I've ever been--But if you sing in the LDS church you have someone acting as chorister (person who waves their hands) no matter the setting just the way it is--
But of course no one gets in trouble for being off tempo out of key or just plain not knowing all the words. WE just blithly sing on
We actually did try to make the songs fun in the fellowship I was in. When we would visit other fellowships they would act like we were being sacreligious laughing, leaning and standing during the songs.
M@tthew H@rmon did go on a rampage for a while having us tell the people in our fellowships who couldn't sing well to either sing very quietly or to lip sync to the songs. That was horrible! I never did and I never sang out loud around him because I figured I was probably one of the ones he was talking about.
Bob can vouch for the fact that I can't carry a tune in a bucket. :o-->
It got boring singing the same old songs over and over again anyway. I don't miss 'em one jot and tittle!
Harmon thinks he can sing. Actually, he thinks he can do anything better than anyone below him in the TWIt pecking order. I think they issue you your ego when you gadiate the corpse. :)-->
I was playing with our little man this morning and smelled something nasty.
For me its been about eighteen years- but boy, does that bring back a few memories, and smells- whoo.
For such moments I threatened (lovingly of course) to take the rascal down to the river and dunk said stinky end in the river, all while singing "lets all go down to the river"
"Seems even the SATW songs became boring and unexciting. What a lame bunch."
Lindy, I remember singing that song (with the "hallelujahs" and "YEE-HAs") back in the dark, dim days of the early '70s. But of course, that was back when we didn't care what anybody thought of our singing. Just goes to show: The Way International, stifling initiative wherever it goes.
"M@tthew H@rmon did go on a rampage for a while having us tell the people in our fellowships who couldn't sing well to either sing very quietly or to lip sync to the songs."
Belle, that is horrible! They really went overboard with the control thing.
One of my WOW brothers was "tone-challenged" :)-->, but I loved hearing him sing. Besides his obvious enthusiasm, he had a way of creating an accidental dissonant harmony very much in keeping with 20th century composers. Not your typical "Thank you, Dorothy, Thank you Rhoooooda" renditions.
Man, they oughta be glad anyone shows up for their boring meetings, without criticizing their singing. They just don't get it!
Very sad. No room for individuality. I was one of the few with enough music background that I could conduct a song as if I knew what I was doing. There was absolutely no reason to insist on that way as the only way to run a song ("our way is the only way, none other can you recall").
I think the fun and the music was part of the draw, certainly for me. If they had insisted on religiosity early on, I never woulda joined up in the first place. They coulda saved me a lot of abs....
Oak, the song is "We're Standing on the W-O-R-D," written by C***y B*rn*rd*n*, head of Children's Fellowship at the time. She composed it. There were no "other" versions.
I think it was the 1991 Adv Class in Rome City... It was just before class and people were sitting in the chapel waiting for the teaching to begin (gotta be in your seats 10 mins before the start of the teaching, you know...) There was instrumental music playing, I don't remember if it was a recording or live, but it was lively music on a lovely summer day.
Well, lo and behold, a few people started singing along with it. Then a couple more joined in. Then, before you knew it, most of the chapel was singing along to the instrumental (prelude?) music.
BOY DID WE EVER GET SCREAMED AT FOR THAT ONE!
LCM came out and went off on the class for singing without someone being there to lead the song. He went on to say that it was the same debbil spurt that caused riots that caused us all to sing along together... Like, no one has ever been in a car full of people and they all were just singing to the radio? Like, that's possession? (All I can think of as I'm typing this is that scene from Wayne's World where they're singing Bohemiem Rapsody by Queen and playing air guitar in Garth's Pacer... LOL!)
God forbid anyone ever have a moment of individualism, a free thought or anything.
We should have broke into the Stone's song, "Under My Thumb"...
That, and it rained on the day we were to have an outdoor dance.
Supposedly, God told Craig to schedule the dance for that night months ago. When it rained, it was our fault. Yelled and ranted about it for quite awhile.
Since I've had a reasonable amount of musical training, I can lead songs pretty well. My TC would often ask me to pick a song and lead it. I would often pick one that we hadn't sung (or sung often) before to help the fellowship learn some new stuff. One of the Corps grads even complimented me for it. Well, in my "exit interview" a couple months later, one of the things I got reamed for was "egotistically" leading songs that no one else knew. The Corps grad, present at the meeting, was silent. -->
And let's not forget all the word changes to make the songs "accurate." While I understand that idea, it made it more like "working the song" to find "the original text." For example, "one, true God" in "Rise up, O Men of God" must have been "King of Kings" to rhyme with "lesser things."
That, and it rained on the day we were to have an outdoor dance.
Supposedly, God told Craig to schedule the dance for that night months ago. When it rained, it was our fault. Yelled and ranted about it for quite awhile.
Interesting how rain was your fault,
when EVERYBODY knows that God makes "the rain to fall on the just and unjust".
He might have tried actually READING A BIBLE.
Not that the situation has changed at hq- remember?
The current pres has said there's no need to read the Bible if you're
following the current teachings from hq instead. She's said that's why
Since I've had a reasonable amount of musical training, I can lead songs pretty well. My TC would often ask me to pick a song and lead it. I would often pick one that we hadn't sung (or sung often) before to help the fellowship learn some new stuff. One of the Corps grads even complimented me for it. Well, in my "exit interview" a couple months later, one of the things I got reamed for was "egotistically" leading songs that no one else knew. The Corps grad, present at the meeting, was silent. -->
George
No surprises there.
At that point, they had to seize on ANY pretexts to explain how you were evil.
If you never led a different song, they would have blamed you for THAT.
If you stayed in the background, they would have blamed you for THAT.
I always remember that singing should be worship and worship should come from the heart, and it should be fun and not boring. I like the call and response stuff. But I like to do other things. Anyone ever sang Amazing Grace to the the tune of House of the Rising Sun. It sounds awsome. You can sing it to the tune of Gilligan's Island too, but it's a little distrating.
Supposedly, God told Craig to schedule the dance for that night months ago. When it rained, it was our fault. Yelled and ranted about it for quite awhile.
Too funny.
The only time I remember seeing Martindale in person, he was trying to teach in the pouring rain at ROA '74. I guess that was our fault too.
The changes used to crack me up (although I remember more changes under Geer, after my Way experience).
"Rejoice, Rejoice oh Christian, lift up your voice and sing
Eternal Hallelujahs to Jesus Christ the Lord!"
WordWolf and I used to hit that last word and just speak it, no singing, to show how STUPID it was to deny Christ as the King. I mean, even with the dispensational mindset, it made no sense. If he's not MY king, fine. He's still King! I call that guy over at Buckingham Prince Charles, and his mom Queen Elizabeth, even though they are not my prince and queen!
He lives! He lives! Salvation to impart!
You ask me how I know he lives,
I now can speak in tongues.
Yeah, tongues rhymes perfectly with heart. Nice job, killjoy.
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Oakspear
Right on, Lindy. I always tried to make the same old, same old "Sing Along The Way" songs a little bit more exciting: call & response, hallelujahs, "Oh Glory" (and even "Oh Baby") in "I Saw The Light"; singing 4/4 songs in 3/4 time, or in different tempos. Nope. Gotta sing 'em the way the chorus choir sings 'em
-->
We had a Way Corps bc who wanted to sing a Children's Fellowship song, but he didn't know the tune. I can't remember the title, but it had"...clap your hands *clap*clap*clap*clap*...'cause we're a fam-i-ly, the Word is the will of G-O-D..." in it. Well, Mr. Dumass announces that we will sing this song, that he isn't sure how it goes, and despite the fact that EVERYONE ELSE in the fellowship knows the song, declares that if anyone else knows a different version than the one he will "teach" us, too bad, anything else will just confuse him!
So here we go, with the guy leading the song the ONLY ONE in the room who doesn't know it, and everyone else just busting to sing it the way we've been taught.
Same guy would rip us new excretory orifices if we deviated from TWI approved song leading.
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Oakspear
While I'm on a roll...
Why, oh why, did we even bother with leading songs by waving our hands around? Most of us didn't even look at the song leader, and most song leaders couldn't find the downbeat if their lives depended on it.
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WordWolf
That's how the higher-ups did it, so, that's how they were gonna
do it, and if they didn't, eventually, an encyclical from on high
would dictate that it was now mandatory to do it that way.
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lindyhopper
Yeah, Oak, why did we lead that way? I guess it looked professional. Decent and in order of course. Although, that was only the case when the person leading had a little rythem and knew what the count was. At some point you were to be trained (at least Adv.CL Grads were) on how to lead a song and write all the counts down in your book. Even that didn't help some people though. LOL That was always funny and a little uncomfortable to watch that person lead. Especially the ones that couldn't move thier hand and arms without moving the rest of thier body up and down. lol Those were the fellowships that almost made it worth going. haha
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templelady
I love my CHurch I really do happier than I've ever been--But if you sing in the LDS church you have someone acting as chorister (person who waves their hands) no matter the setting just the way it is--
But of course no one gets in trouble for being off tempo out of key or just plain not knowing all the words. WE just blithly sing on
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Trefor Heywood
And there are some really beauitful LDS hymns - my favourite is "The army of God" and somehow every knows the tempo anyway!
:)-->
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Belle
We actually did try to make the songs fun in the fellowship I was in. When we would visit other fellowships they would act like we were being sacreligious laughing, leaning and standing during the songs.
M@tthew H@rmon did go on a rampage for a while having us tell the people in our fellowships who couldn't sing well to either sing very quietly or to lip sync to the songs. That was horrible! I never did and I never sang out loud around him because I figured I was probably one of the ones he was talking about.
Bob can vouch for the fact that I can't carry a tune in a bucket.
:o-->
It got boring singing the same old songs over and over again anyway. I don't miss 'em one jot and tittle!
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Bob
Harmon thinks he can sing. Actually, he thinks he can do anything better than anyone below him in the TWIt pecking order. I think they issue you your ego when you gadiate the corpse.
:)-->
ONE MORE TIME!!!!
Standing on the promises...
Rise up O' men of God...
And quietly now....
Peace, peace, wonderful peace...
I come to the garden alone...
Got any rivers you think are uncrossable...
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Ham
For me its been about eighteen years- but boy, does that bring back a few memories, and smells- whoo.
For such moments I threatened (lovingly of course) to take the rascal down to the river and dunk said stinky end in the river, all while singing "lets all go down to the river"
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Kevlar2000
"Seems even the SATW songs became boring and unexciting. What a lame bunch."
Lindy, I remember singing that song (with the "hallelujahs" and "YEE-HAs") back in the dark, dim days of the early '70s. But of course, that was back when we didn't care what anybody thought of our singing. Just goes to show: The Way International, stifling initiative wherever it goes.
"M@tthew H@rmon did go on a rampage for a while having us tell the people in our fellowships who couldn't sing well to either sing very quietly or to lip sync to the songs."
Belle, that is horrible! They really went overboard with the control thing.
One of my WOW brothers was "tone-challenged"
:)-->, but I loved hearing him sing. Besides his obvious enthusiasm, he had a way of creating an accidental dissonant harmony very much in keeping with 20th century composers. Not your typical "Thank you, Dorothy, Thank you Rhoooooda" renditions.
Man, they oughta be glad anyone shows up for their boring meetings, without criticizing their singing. They just don't get it!
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Ham
One poor guy here was screamed at for hours for- guess..
Singing too loud. Showed he must've been egotistical or something, they said.
And NO ONE was allowed to sing any harmony. Everybody had to sing the same dreadful melody..
What were they thinking? I didn't put up with that long, it was only a matter of weeks before I left for good.
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shazdancer
Very sad. No room for individuality. I was one of the few with enough music background that I could conduct a song as if I knew what I was doing. There was absolutely no reason to insist on that way as the only way to run a song ("our way is the only way, none other can you recall").
I think the fun and the music was part of the draw, certainly for me. If they had insisted on religiosity early on, I never woulda joined up in the first place. They coulda saved me a lot of abs....
Oak, the song is "We're Standing on the W-O-R-D," written by C***y B*rn*rd*n*, head of Children's Fellowship at the time. She composed it. There were no "other" versions.
Sheesh, whadda maroon!
Regards,
Shaz
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ChasUFarley
I think it was the 1991 Adv Class in Rome City... It was just before class and people were sitting in the chapel waiting for the teaching to begin (gotta be in your seats 10 mins before the start of the teaching, you know...) There was instrumental music playing, I don't remember if it was a recording or live, but it was lively music on a lovely summer day.
Well, lo and behold, a few people started singing along with it. Then a couple more joined in. Then, before you knew it, most of the chapel was singing along to the instrumental (prelude?) music.
BOY DID WE EVER GET SCREAMED AT FOR THAT ONE!
LCM came out and went off on the class for singing without someone being there to lead the song. He went on to say that it was the same debbil spurt that caused riots that caused us all to sing along together... Like, no one has ever been in a car full of people and they all were just singing to the radio? Like, that's possession? (All I can think of as I'm typing this is that scene from Wayne's World where they're singing Bohemiem Rapsody by Queen and playing air guitar in Garth's Pacer... LOL!)
God forbid anyone ever have a moment of individualism, a free thought or anything.
We should have broke into the Stone's song, "Under My Thumb"...
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Bob
I remember that. Although I didn't participate in the singing (never much cared for it, only sang when required to).
Wayne Clapp came out and told us we were out of order because there was no leader leading the song. Then Craig came out with his rant.
Egotistical $ h i t s !
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excathedra
i love some hymns
i really don't care for sing-along-the-ways
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smurfette
I remember hearing that the 91 AC was really messed up--I didn't know it was because you decided to sing without a leader lol
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Bob
That, and it rained on the day we were to have an outdoor dance.
Supposedly, God told Craig to schedule the dance for that night months ago. When it rained, it was our fault. Yelled and ranted about it for quite awhile.
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GeorgeStGeorge
Since I've had a reasonable amount of musical training, I can lead songs pretty well. My TC would often ask me to pick a song and lead it. I would often pick one that we hadn't sung (or sung often) before to help the fellowship learn some new stuff. One of the Corps grads even complimented me for it. Well, in my "exit interview" a couple months later, one of the things I got reamed for was "egotistically" leading songs that no one else knew.
The Corps grad, present at the meeting, was silent. 
-->
George
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GeorgeStGeorge
And let's not forget all the word changes to make the songs "accurate." While I understand that idea, it made it more like "working the song" to find "the original text." For example, "one, true God" in "Rise up, O Men of God" must have been "King of Kings" to rhyme with "lesser things."
George
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WordWolf
Interesting how rain was your fault,
when EVERYBODY knows that God makes "the rain to fall on the just and unjust".
He might have tried actually READING A BIBLE.
Not that the situation has changed at hq- remember?
The current pres has said there's no need to read the Bible if you're
following the current teachings from hq instead. She's said that's why
she doesn't read the Bible.
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WordWolf
No surprises there.
At that point, they had to seize on ANY pretexts to explain how you were evil.
If you never led a different song, they would have blamed you for THAT.
If you stayed in the background, they would have blamed you for THAT.
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Keith
I always remember that singing should be worship and worship should come from the heart, and it should be fun and not boring. I like the call and response stuff. But I like to do other things. Anyone ever sang Amazing Grace to the the tune of House of the Rising Sun. It sounds awsome. You can sing it to the tune of Gilligan's Island too, but it's a little distrating.
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Pirate1974
Too funny.
The only time I remember seeing Martindale in person, he was trying to teach in the pouring rain at ROA '74. I guess that was our fault too.
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Raf
The changes used to crack me up (although I remember more changes under Geer, after my Way experience).
"Rejoice, Rejoice oh Christian, lift up your voice and sing
Eternal Hallelujahs to Jesus Christ the Lord!"
WordWolf and I used to hit that last word and just speak it, no singing, to show how STUPID it was to deny Christ as the King. I mean, even with the dispensational mindset, it made no sense. If he's not MY king, fine. He's still King! I call that guy over at Buckingham Prince Charles, and his mom Queen Elizabeth, even though they are not my prince and queen!
He lives! He lives! Salvation to impart!
You ask me how I know he lives,
I now can speak in tongues.
Yeah, tongues rhymes perfectly with heart. Nice job, killjoy.
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