# Do people sing anymore?



## QuickSilver (Apr 28, 2015)

The Big Band thread got me thinking about my parents..  I remember as a kid, people used to always visit one another.  The phone would ring and mom would say.. "We're having company tonight"...  It was always people from the neighborhood that my parents met at the local tavern, or at some sort of gathering in the neighborhood.   They also had lots of house parties.

I remember, that into the evening, after a few cocktails, inevitably people would begin to sing.  They sang all the songs they knew of the 40's and 50's and did their best to harmonize..  I know they thought they sounded great..  Us kids knew that by the time my mom and their friend Al thought they were Jeanette McDonald and Nelson Eddie singing "Indian Love Call".... the evening was almost over.. lol!! 

Anyway... that's how I know all the words to almost all the songs of that era..  I love them and I still sing them to myself..  But.. it doesn't seem like people do that now.   Did anyone else's parents and friends get together for one of these song fests?  Did anyone do that with friends, or was it a phenomenon of that era?


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## Ameriscot (Apr 28, 2015)

Mine didn't, but both did sing in the house often.  

In Scotland it's not unusual for someone to sing at dinner parties or in pubs.  Traditional songs. My husband knows tons of traditional songs and will sing just about anywhere.


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## QuickSilver (Apr 28, 2015)

I remember when the local tavern was the neighborhood gathering place... couples came in for an evening and even brought the kids..  (that's how I learned to shoot pool)...   So many times someone would start to sing, and the entire place erupted into song.   Don't think that happens any more.


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## Ameriscot (Apr 28, 2015)

In some pubs it's not unusual for people to bring in their instruments to play (fiddle, bodhran, tin whistle) and others will sing. Happens in Ireland as well.


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## Ralphy1 (Apr 28, 2015)

"Daisy, Daisy, give me your answer do.  I'm half crazy all for the love of you."


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## QuickSilver (Apr 28, 2015)

It won't be a stylish marriage.... I can't afford a carriage....


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## Ameriscot (Apr 28, 2015)

But you'll look sweet upon the seat of a bicycle built for two


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## Ralphy1 (Apr 28, 2015)

Yup, that's it!
l


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## QuickSilver (Apr 28, 2015)

The bells are ringing..... for me and my gal....  

The birds are singing..... for me and my gal....

Ok.. next line or two


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## Josiah (Apr 28, 2015)

It has been a great disappointment of my life that I am unable to croak out a single on key musical note. I learned early on in life that my contribution to the singing of Christmas carols was not appreciated.


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## Ameriscot (Apr 28, 2015)

Josiah, I'm also a lousy singer.  I love to sing but do so when the music is playing louder than I sing.


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## Cookie (Apr 28, 2015)

Our family were great singers, especially after Christmas dinner and many vodkas.  LOL  We sang in church, we sang at the kitchen sink doing the dishes, we sang while dusting and cleaning. I loved to sing opera, and I thought I was pretty good, but my sister would tell me to shut up.  Later on when I joined a group, we sang til our ears rang  -- you can get pretty high from singing, all that breathing.  You've got to wonder, seeing all the performers singing their lungs out, smiling their heads off .... it's not just for the audience, they are actually very euphoric!


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## QuickSilver (Apr 28, 2015)

I have such fond memories of singing Christmas carols with my family after Christmas dinner too..


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## AprilT (Apr 28, 2015)

Well, I tried starting up the tradition, but people keep reaching for their headphones or turning up the volume of the tv when I start belting out tunes, I can't imagine why when I have such a silver sweet sounding voice:dunno:

As a kid when living with my parents, singing was as natural a thing to do as breathing, I remember for a short while we had a piano and my mom would play and we would sit around and belt out songs.  Also, at the Y I used to go out here, they sing during several of the pool the workouts, it's more of a senior group, so it's those old time tunes like, Old Susana and such and some really old tunes, but, I would learn them as I did the exercises along with the rest of the group, I really enjoyed that group of people, some really great people from the community participated.  I think come again this winter, I may try joining again, that's when the pool is heated.


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## Glinda (Apr 28, 2015)

My mother was very musical.  She played the piano and sang beautifully.  She often played hymns like Amazing Grace or Old Rugged Cross.  Sometimes Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue. She'd play and sing old standards, Broadway tunes, and Christmas carols.  We would sometimes sing with her but she was actually such a good singer, people tended to stop singing just so they could hear her solo.  I was so proud of her.


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## Louis (Apr 28, 2015)

I sing, play guitar and harmonica at a local pub on open mic nights, at parties, etc. I'm not a professional by any means but sometimes people buy me a beer.


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## Butterfly (Apr 28, 2015)

QuickSilver said:


> The bells are ringing..... for me and my gal....
> 
> The birds are singing..... for me and my gal....
> 
> Ok.. next line or two



Everybody's been knowin'
To a wedding they're goin'


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## merlin (Apr 29, 2015)

I could never sing and my family didn't, but many people had a piano in their house when I was young, and one of my aunties would occasionally sing. Many pubs in England have regular folk club nights, where people would bring various instruments and perform. I think the pub singalongs depicted in old movies, died out long ago. 
My daughters have joined a local singing club, where they sing mainly modern songs and seem to enjoy themselves.


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## Underock1 (Apr 29, 2015)

Ralphy1 said:


> "Daisy, Daisy, give me your answer do.  I'm half crazy all for the love of you."



"Someone's in the kitchen with Dinah. Someones on the kitchen I know, I know, oh...."


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## Underock1 (Apr 29, 2015)

QuickSilver said:


> The Big Band thread got me thinking about my parents..  I remember as a kid, people used to always visit one another.  The phone would ring and mom would say.. "We're having company tonight"...  It was always people from the neighborhood that my parents met at the local tavern, or at some sort of gathering in the neighborhood.   They also had lots of house parties.
> 
> I remember, that into the evening, after a few cocktails, inevitably people would begin to sing.  They sang all the songs they knew of the 40's and 50's and did their best to harmonize..  I know they thought they sounded great..  Us kids knew that by the time my mom and their friend Al thought they were Jeanette McDonald and Nelson Eddie singing "Indian Love Call".... the evening was almost over.. lol!!
> 
> Anyway... that's how I know all the words to almost all the songs of that era..  I love them and I still sing them to myself..  But.. it doesn't seem like people do that now.   Did anyone else's parents and friends get together for one of these song fests?  Did anyone do that with friends, or was it a phenomenon of that era?



Mom had an upright piano in the apartment. We had great fun. 
Now any music over two years old is mocked, and everyone wants to be a soloist.i


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## hollydolly (Apr 29, 2015)

I sing all the time...I mean almost all the time because I don't in my sleep or walking around in public but otherwise I do...the fact that most people would feel they were under some kind of punishment for listening to me is immaterial I still sing and I love it. ( I was a member of the school choir tho') 

I grew up in Scotland as part of a big family and parties were a regular feature in one relative or another's home and everyone sang.._everyone_.!! Children were also made to stand and sing solo to entertain the elders..and from the age of  about 3 my granny would teach me sentimental  songs to sing at the parties which would always make the elders cry. 

''Och the wee bairn singin' sich a sad wee song wae sich a sweet wee voice, it wud jist brack yer Hert'' 

Other than that tho' the parties all went with a swing, all the adults singing, thinking.. as someone said above, that they were singing in Harmony. 

I miss those family parties to this day..


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## Pam (Apr 29, 2015)

My dad had a beautiful tenor voice and I grew up listening to him singing around the house and at the many parties we went to when living in Kuwait. I still have his record collection ... Caruso, Di Stefano, Gobi, Gigli, Bjorling... etc.  But my most treasured possession is a recording of dad himself singing which I  listen to every now and again and think of what a talent he had and what a lovely, modest man he was.

Although his first love was opera, he also enjoyed musicals and we used to go and see the different shows that were put on by the musical society. Eventually, he was persuaded to join them and took part in various productions.. I think his first one was South Pacific where he was one of the sailors and he also played the part of Curly in Oklahoma. 

Fast forward to the present... youngest son's partner's family love to have gatherings and parties and invariably his partner's mother will start off the singing when she's had a few drinks.. unfortunately she is tone deaf... but, what the hell!  All good fun.


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## QuickSilver (Apr 29, 2015)

Butterfly said:


> Everybody's been knowin'
> To a wedding they're goin'




and for weeks they've been sewin'.... every Suzy and Sal

They're congregatinging .... for me and my gal...


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## QuickSilver (Apr 29, 2015)

Underock1 said:


> "Someone's in the kitchen with Dinah. Someones on the kitchen I know, I know, oh...."




Someones in the kitchen with Dinah...  strummin' on the ole banjo..


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## Underock1 (Apr 29, 2015)

QuickSilver said:


> Someones in the kitchen with Dinah...  strummin' on the ole banjo..



..and singing "hee hi fiddely i oh",  ( this could take a while )


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## Ralphy1 (Apr 29, 2015)

And zippity do da to you today!


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## oldman (Apr 29, 2015)

My Dad, his Brother (my Uncle) and I played Country music for the family on special occasions, or just whenever we felt like it. My Dad was an accomplished musician that played the fiddle, the banjo (he picked it, not strummed it), guitar, piano and harmonica. My Uncle played the guitar only and I played the fiddle and harmonica and to some degree the banjo. We always needed a drummer. My Dad "thought" he could yodel, but was not very good. We sounded pretty good together. All three of us could sing pretty good, or at least that's what people told us. 

I often wish we would have had some recordings made from those days.


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## Meanderer (Apr 29, 2015)

Some just Sing Sing!


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## Ameriscot (Apr 29, 2015)

LOL, Meanderer!

I feel cheated as both my parents could sing - mom had a lovely soprano voice, my sister and one brother are good singers.  The other brother and I are awful. 

I sing when I'm alone and am playing music to sing to.  In the car, or cleaning house.


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## QuickSilver (Apr 29, 2015)

Seems like families and friends would get together to sing..  maybe it was a simpler time and there weren't all that many avenues of entertainment.. I don't think that happens any longer.


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## Ralphy1 (Apr 29, 2015)

Before electronic entertainment,or even the windup victrola, the piano was the heart of the living room, or the parlor as it was called way back then.  Usually a family member could play some and this naturally led to singing.  My grandparents and parents grew up singing around a piano...


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## QuickSilver (Apr 29, 2015)

My parents didn't have a piano... but everyone sang anyway.. and some were even pretty good at harmony.  It didn't sound bad..  In fact.. I'm pretty good at harmony myself..


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## Ralphy1 (Apr 29, 2015)

I had an uncle who was so good that he got offers to sing on the stage and on the radio when that came along, but his mother said that that would be sinful so he restricted himself to singing at weddings and wound up selling suits for a living rather than pursuing a singing career.  Kind of sad when you think about it...


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## jujube (Apr 29, 2015)

I can't carry a tune in a bucket, but I sing a lot.  I try not to inflict my singing on an unsuspecting and innocent public, but in the shower I am Alma Gluck.


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## QuickSilver (Apr 29, 2015)

http://heartresearch.org.uk/fundraising/singing-good-you


*



			Professor Graham Welch, Chair of Music Education at the Institute of Education, University of London, has studied developmental and medical aspects of singing for 30 years and he says the health benefits of singing are both physical and psychological.
		
Click to expand...

*


> “Singing has physical benefits because it is an aerobic activity that increases oxygenation in the blood stream and exercises major muscle groups in the upper body, even when sitting. Singing has psychological benefits because of its normally positive effect in reducing stress levels through the action of the endocrine system which is linked to our sense of emotional well-being. Psychological benefits are also evident when people sing together as well as alone because of the increased sense of community, belonging and shared endeavour."


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## Ralphy1 (Apr 29, 2015)

Singing in the Cialis tub could fill the time waiting for the moment to be right...


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## Shalimar (Apr 29, 2015)

Jujube, please who is Alma Gluck?


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## Shalimar (Apr 29, 2015)

My grandmother could play by ear. I grew up listening to all the old Baptist hymns played on the black keys of the piano. Everything she played carried an eerie Celtic lilt because it was played in the minor key. We had regular singalongs. In my teens I sang folk songs to her, and very quickly she was able to play the music back to me. I still have her piano. I miss her.


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## QuickSilver (Apr 29, 2015)

I like to sing while I am out walking and listening to my IPod...  They say if you can sing and hold a note while doing cardio, you are not overtaxing yourself..  AND..  I get the strangest looks too!!   lol!!


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## QuickSilver (Apr 29, 2015)

Shalimar said:


> My grandmother could play by ear. I grew up listening to all the old Baptist hymns played on the black keys of the piano. Everything she played carried an eerie Celtic lilt because it was played in the minor key. We had regular singalongs. In my teens I sang folk songs to her, and very quickly she was able to play the music back to me. I still have her piano. I miss her.



My late inlaws were from Alabama..  They would put on their gospel albums and we would sing..  On the Wings of a Snow White Dove...  Turn the Radio on..  Daddy Sang Bass.   Love the old Gospel tunes.


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## jujube (Apr 29, 2015)

Shalimar said:


> Jujube, please who is Alma Gluck?



A famous soprano from the 1910's and 20's who was my grandmother's favorite singer.   Most singers were dismissed by Grandma as "Alma Gluck she isn't...." 

  It became one of those family buzzphrases....."who do you think you are? Alma Gluck?" and my dad would say "She clucks like Alma Gluck", which would drive my grandmother crazy.


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## Meanderer (Apr 29, 2015)

...if it sounds like a Gluck!


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## Falcon (Apr 29, 2015)

I sang in court.  Now I'm in the Witness Protection program.


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## Ameriscot (Apr 29, 2015)

QuickSilver said:


> http://heartresearch.org.uk/fundraising/singing-good-you


*


I believe it!  I feel great when I sing.*


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## Ameriscot (Apr 29, 2015)

Falcon said:


> I sang in court.  Now I'm in the Witness Protection program.


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## Ameriscot (Apr 29, 2015)

QuickSilver said:


> I like to sing while I am out walking and listening to my IPod...  They say if you can sing and hold a note while doing cardio, you are not overtaxing yourself..  AND..  I get the strangest looks too!!   lol!!



I'd get more than looks, I'd get rotten tomatoes thrown at me!


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## Meanderer (Apr 29, 2015)




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## Cookie (Apr 29, 2015)

Alma Gluck is very sweet and would appeal to audiences of that era, but I much prefer Joan Baez.


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## Meanderer (Apr 29, 2015)

In 1916, they may have preferred Joan, along with Alma.  Here she sings A song about a young Australian soldier maimed during the Battle of Gallipoli (1915) during the First World War; written by Eric Bogle in 1972. The paintings of Degas, Sargent, and the visual arts of Spadecaller, augment the song's theme. 




  ...beautiful and bittersweet.


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## Louis (Apr 29, 2015)

Falcon said:


> I sang in court.  Now I'm in the Witness Protection program.


:rofl1:


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## Shalimar (Apr 29, 2015)

Falcon, HaHaHaHaHa! Clever man!


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## Shalimar (Apr 29, 2015)

Ms Gluck was gorgeous,.


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## Shalimar (Apr 29, 2015)

I love Joan Baez too, Cookie. Enjoyed Gordon Lightfoot as well.


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## Cookie (Apr 29, 2015)

Meanderer said:


> In 1916, they may have preferred Joan, along with Alma.  Here she sings A song about a young Australian soldier maimed during the Battle of Gallipoli (1915) during the First World War; written by Eric Bogle in 1972. The paintings of Degas, Sargent, and the visual arts of Spadecaller, augment the song's theme.
> ...beautiful and bittersweet.



Beautiful video Meanderer.  Thankyou ..


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