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		Whatever happened to community singing? Boston Standard - September 13 2002 We used to have in Britain a fine tradition of community singing, from the secular, in music halls and pubs, to the sacred, in Church. One of the effects of modern media, and especially of television, is that we now expect our music to be made by someone else and delivered to our sitting rooms, and we rarely think to join in. A dim folk-memory of that great tradition survived in the BBC's "Songs of Praise" programme on a Sunday evening. Despite the trite commentary and interviews, there was good, full-throated singing of traditional hymns by massed congregations. I used to be quite a fan. But now the modernisers have got at it. In their desperate pursuit of young viewers, they are introducing third-rate pop music, which will do nothing for their traditional audience. Last week they had an item entitled "One of Us" (not, as it happens, a reference to Margaret Thatcher's famous phrase) which was simply blasphemous drivel, and an embarrassment to watch. I dare not quote the main theme of the song in a family newspaper. It's time the BBC raised its game - or that some other broadcaster created a genuine programme of hymns for Sunday.