In my earlier teaching career, when my Tutor Group had an Assembly, I would make sure that we registered swiftly, so that I could get to the piano in the hall in time for me to play something as folk arrived.

Unfortunately though, as the intake dramatically increased, so did pupils' noise level and eventually Heads of House preferred to marshal the troops without a musical backing.

However, I fondly remember marching into Assembly in my own Primary/Junior School years. Many different pieces of music might have been played, but the ones I particularly recall were movements from Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker, in particular, what I now know to be the Miniature Overture, Russian Dance and Chinese Dance. When I hear these played today, they immediately take me back to those early years.

In those days it was played from a presumably well-worn LP, on a Record Player.

Did your school have favourites too?

Oh yes! In the infants it was Soldier's March by Schumann. In the juniors we had the Bach (attrib.) Minuet in G (can't have marched to that!) and several other Bach pieces: I remember Jesu, joy of man's desiring and another Bach chorale I've never known the name of. I used to go home and try and play them on my recorder.

Might it have been Sheep May Safely Graze? I'm trying to think of very well-known chorales/chorale-type pieces.

No, I know that one rather well.

This one starts something like: BABCDCBAGF#GABCDB EDEFEDCBAG'F#EDCBA BABCDBCD GF#GABGAB EF#GCB A G. (All notes running quavers or semiquavers unless there is a space between.)

That's 'In Thy Love Let Us Perish' or 'Ertodt uns durch dein' Gute'.

I was actually going to suggest that one, but thought that the title might have made them think twice!

Thanks.

At primary school Miss Riley often bashed out Sousa marches, particularly 'Liberty Bell', but rarely 'Colonel Bogey'

At my grammar school I don't remember "coming in" music. I think we were expected to sit in silence. But there was "going out" music and this was supplied on a rota basis by those of us having piano lessons. When the music tteacher herself played we had lots of different classical pieces unless she had arrived without her music. Then we always got Mozart's Alla Turca. I think it was the only piece she could play from memory.
But she was a terrific teacher!

We also had to take it in turns to play the hymn. It once fell to me to play "Jerusalem". I have not forgotten the embarassment when the thumping great first chord came out as a tiny ping. I had my foot on the wrong pedal!!

It was the music going into assembly that speeded up the end of my piano-playing Once we reached a certain level we were expected to play in the hall as everyone filed in. Some of the girls were amazing musicians - I know I wasn't as good as they were and the thought of playing in front of 600 girls scared me witless.

At grammar school it was usually someone who had piano lessons playing as we assembled. I'd had a year or so of lessons at about 9 years old then had to give up for family financial circumstances. But I remember being captivated by someone playing a haunting melody, and I asked and asked until I found out it was ... you've guessed ... dear old much maligned Für Elise! Heaven knows how well or badly it was played, but at the time I don't think I'd imagined anything so beautiful and it made me determined that I too was going to play that someday. So thank you that unknown schoolgirl pianist!

Our headteacher had a bit of a penchant for 'Albatross' so sometimes he used to indulge himself and play it while we came in; he stood at the front getting very excited and saying things like, 'Imagine this huge bird gliding through the air....amazing!' I thought it was pretty funny at the time, but now I can understand that music does strange things to people!

we always used to have music playing on a record player for going into and coming out of assembly. The only one I can remember though is "morning" from peer gynt.

Just noticed the PhD in your signature. Wow, congratulations! I only have a B.Sc., in Applied Mathematics. What was the area of your study?

Secondary school, nothing.

Primary school, usually something along the lines of Richard Clayderman...

This record came up quite a lot...

Phew! I'm so glad we had Tchaikovsky!

On Fridays, the school orchestra provided the "music" in my grammar school - Mr Ferris was a fantastic music teacher, keen to be inclusive, but much less earnest than that would suggest. He had to teach us to sing the atrocious school anthem too, which made cat-strangling sound like a benign hobby....but that's another story.

So, when the orchestra did the "music" it was Brahms - a slow movement from a symphony, which was about all the somewhat bizarre motley crew of about fifteen clarinets, twelve flutes, twenty violins, ten violas, two cellos, five oboes and a set of timps could manage...

My Grammar School had a set of timps too, but they went up in flames when a bagpipe-playing friend of mine decided to set light to backstage in the school hall! The whole hall was gutted - like the rest of us!

He would have been sent to borstal, but a monk attached to the local Catholic School, St.Joseph's (Holy Joe's!) offered to take him off to a monastery instead. Never heard of him again.

By the way, it was a good school; why he ever did it, we'll never know.

I've always felt that anyone who likes the sound of bagpipes can't quite be wired correctly!

(Apologies in advance to all those Scots who will now be up in arms! )

Whenever I played for school assembly, I used to do fairly traditional for coming in but then something a little whackier for going out - like Teddy Bears' Picnic....

We didn't have music entering or leaving assembly in primary school. We did have a piano that would be played for us to sing hymns to, when the piano playing teacher was around.

At asecondary school, no music at all in assembly - no entrance, no exit, and no singing.

We did sing a few hymns when we had a whole-school mass. That was probably once a term though. If you went to the voluntary mass which was once a week during a lunchtime, that didn't have singing.

Feel like I've missed out on something now with you all getting music to listen to

It's just one of those nostalgia things, like catching a glimpse of something or a smell that for an instant takes you back to a certain time and place. I hear an excerpt from a certain piece and I'm immediately back in assembly; only for a moment though!

My school used to have music for going in and out of assembly to. I liked the way it worked actually - anybody could sign up to play once or twice a term, regardless of whether they had proper music lessons or not. I thought - and still think - it was a good introduction to performance, because most people were not listening that intently so it was a reasonably low-stress environment. Oh yes, and any excuse to have a go at playing with an accompanist!

I still remember some of the "performances" fondly. I remember listening to two girls play the Golliwog's Cakewalk piano duet as we came into assembly and thinking how brilliant they were. Can't listen to that piece without thinking about school assembly!

We never had music at either primary or secondary school. The music teacher played the piano for hymns but that was about it.

At primary school though I did get hauled up on a regular basis to play my trumpet for everyone at assembly as I was the only person in the whole school to play anything other than recorder

... and the trumpet shall sound!

In Primary school we came in to assembly to music from a record player and it was often playing the Grieg 'Morning'.
I remember The Karelia Suite, William Tell (no, not that bit!) and Fingals Cave. Others too, but it was a long time ago and I can't recall exactly.
I don't remember any music in Secondary school assemblies but there may have been some occasionally.

I don't think we had music when entering assembly at any of my four primary schools... However, when I was doing a work experience placement at a primary school last year, they made a point of playing a different type of music to the children every day as they made their way into assembly, and then spent five minutes or so talking about what instruments they had heard etc. I thought it was wonderful!