May 2018
Klasse! Wir singen!
27/05/18 12:39
We had a cultural experience; Klasse! Wir singen! (Class(y)! We Sing) it is new German tradition. 11 years ago a music teacher in Brunswick (20 miles east of Peine) saw the need for kids to be singing. Often music is cut in the schools, parents are not singing with their kids, and kids do not go to church and sing. He gets the grade schools to practice songs and then they come together and sing in a mass choir. The director thought in 2007 when he started it that maybe 2000 to 4000 would sign up but that very first year 28,000 signed up. It grew from our area to the whole state of Lower Saxony and now it is in 12 of the 16 states of Germany. 120,000 kids are singing in it this year. They sing a mix of songs: German folksongs, Lower German, English and from Africa. The old folksongs sing a lot about God and his creation.
So how did we end up in one of the six performances at the Volkswagen Arena in Brunswick with a couple of thousand singing grade schoolers and their parents? Well, our Syrian “grandson” was singing so we took his parents and “uncle” to see it. It was quite the show.
A few years ago I met a music teacher who was leading a girls singing group. He mentioned how many Russian-Germans who attend church every week were interested in singing and were very good. I think we forget how the church has influenced society thru music. Moses’ sister sang with the children of Israel, David sang a lot and there was music and singing in the Temple. Several times Paul gives us a saying and many think they were early church songs. Many of the great singers in the Western world got there start in church music as children. In the summer when we have windows open during the worship service, the neighbors can hear our singing. The church is known for the good singing. We should never underestimate the power of singing
