Looking Back: The Hymns Children Like

From April 1933

The Hymns Children Like

By Gilbert E. Smith

The girls and boys of a local ‘Home’ have been attending our church for three years – about fifty boys at the morning service and about fourteen girls in the evening.

When they first started to come regularly it was suggested that the singing on Sunday would be considerably helped if the organist could run through the hymns with the children beforehand, and so a regular practice time was arranged, giving half an hour to the girls and half an hour to the boys.

At first nothing more than merely singing through the hymns chosen was attempted, but naturally the work soon became somewhat extended, and new hymns and tunes were learnt with a view to their being introduced to the regular congregation. It was now that the really interesting things became noticeable.

We rigidly refused to introduce any hymns or tunes that were not really good and worthy of the time to be spent on them, and it soon became apparent that these children, although drawn from an uncultured class, responded readily to what was good and beautiful.

It is not necessary to give a list of all new hymns learnt, but every now and then the children are allowed to select their hymns, and this is done by rough ballot. Numbers are asked for and when six or seven hymns have been suggested, a vote is taken, and the two receiving the largest number of votes are included in the service next Sunday.

Do these children, whose ages are between eight and twelve, choose the usual children’s hymns? Hardly ever. The most popular hymn is Addison’s “The spacious firmament on high,” set to the tune by Walter Davies. Closely following this come “God is working his purpose out,” to Basil Harwood’s tune, “Lord of all being, throned afar,”, “O worship the King,” “Far round the world Thy children sing their song,” “Hills of the North, rejoice,” and many others.

As regards the music, there is ample evidence that really good tunes are appreciated once they have been mastered. A request recently made by a large number of the children for the hymn “Put thou thy trust in God,” set to a tune by Bach, is proof of this fact, as the words themselves can hardly be really understood. Also the fine old Christmas hymn, “Wake, awake, a voice is calling,” to the old German Chorale, was very warmly received, and the children worked at it very willingly.

Hymns of the order “We are but little children weak,” “The morning bright, with rosy light,” are not at all popular, and when a response to some of the hymns really more suitable for grown-ups is so obvious, there would seem no reason for trying to make the children sing things which they rather resent.

There are many examples of a similar nature, but the point that everyone who deals with children’s singing should realise is that, given good music and words, children will rise to what is worth while and will easily be trained to appreciate the best, even though for the moment a clear understanding of the full meaning may not be possible.

We have proved in our experiment with these children here that they will respond to sympathy and understanding, and that if the good is placed before them there is no need for special appreciation talks or anything of that nature; the beautiful and sincere can always be trusted to make its own appeal to the best that is in the children.

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