"Going 'Round The Assembly" ("Bounce 'Round) Ring Game (Singing Game) from the 1914 book "Negro Folk Singing Games And Folk Games of the Habitants"

Edited by Azizi Powell

This pancocojams post provides some general information about the book Negro Folk Singing Games And Folk Games of the Habitants by Grace Cleveland Porter.

This post also showcases the ring game "Going 'Round The Assembly" also known as "Bounce 'Round".
This ring game is given in relative standard American English first and then in the Black southern dialect English that is found in that 1914 book.

Other pancocojams post that showcases one or more specific examples of African American ring games (singing games) from Grace Cleveland Porter's book Negro Folk Singing Games And Folk Games of the Habitants will be added to this series periodically. Those posts will be identified by using the tag "1914 book of Black singing games pancocojams" in Google search or in pancocojams' internal search engine.

The content of this post is presented for historical, folkloric, cultural, and recreational purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks all those who shared examples of singing games and stories that are found in this book. Thanks to Grace Cleveland Porter for collecting these singing games and editing them in this book and thanks to Harvey Worthington Loomis for his musical notations. Thanks, also, to all those who are responsible for copies of this book being available online and offline.

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INFORMATION ABOUT THIS RING GAME
The book Negro Folk Singing Games And Folk Games Of The Habitants was written by (White American) Grace Cleveland Porter with musical notations by Harvey Worthington Loomis. This book was published in London, England around 1914. Most of these singing games (as well as the folk stories) in this book were shared with Porter by an "old coloured woman" from Georgia who is only identified by the referent "Mammy". After the end of slavery, that woman "made her way to the North" and later worked as a servant for Grace Cleveland Porter. The examples that "Mammy" shared with Porter are labeled as "Southern folk tunes" in their musical notations.

[...]

In the "Mammy's Stories" portion of that book, Porter wrote that she transcribed the singing games Mammy told her "not many years ago". In her commentary, Mammy mentions that she lived in the state of Georgia and that she knew these "ring games" (which Porter calls "singing games") for as long as she can remember. Given those comments, it's safe to say that these ring games are from 19th century Georgia, and may be even older than that.

Complete online copies of this book are available in several formats. I prefer the digital copy that begins at https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.l0070051420&view=1up&seq=9. (scanned by the University of California.)
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For a longer overview of this blook, click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2020/03/information-about-overview-of-grace.html for the pancocojams post entitled "Information About & An Overview Of Grace Cleveland Porter's 1914 Book "Negro Folk Singing Games And Folk Games of the Habitants".

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MY COMMENTS ABOUT THIS BOOK
As an African American living in the twenty-first century, I found Negro Folk Singing Games And Folk Games Of The Habitants to be a difficult read because of “Mammy’s “Negro” dialect, because of her laudatory comments about her life as a nurse to “quality children” during slavery, because of the Grace Cleveland Porter's nostalgic references to the “Old South” and that author's benign stereotypes of mammies during slavery and afterwards. Furthermore, I disliked reading Porter's elitist comments about Florida "Crackers". Also, the French-Canadian section (the Habitants) didn't appear to me to fit in well with the e rest of the book.

Nevertheless, I recognize Negro Folk Singing Games And Folk Games of the Habitants as one of the earliest books on African American children's singing games and folk tales, and I welcome the opportunity to learn these examples and share them with other via these my Google blogs pancocojams and cocojams2 (where one example to date - Bounce Around (also known as Going 'Round The Assembly) has been included in this post since 2015: https://cocojams2.blogspot.com/2014/11/african-american-singing-games-movement.html African American Singing Games & Movement Rhymes (A-L).

Apart from its examples of African American singing games and folk stories, I believe that reading, studying, and writing about Grace Cleveland Porter's 1914 book Negro Folk Singing Games And Folk Games of the Habitants should be of interest to folklorist interested in 19th century/early 20th century French Canadian culture. And that book should be of interests to historians and sociologists interested in how enslaved Black people and freed Black people considered themselves and other Black people during slavery, with particular attention to the dynamics of field slaves and house slaves, and the real and perceived status that house slaves had based on the families who owned them. Portions of Negro Folk Singing Games And Folk Games of the Habitants that refer to all of these topics except the one about French Canadians will be quoted in upcoming pancocojams posts. The "1914 book on Negro singing games pancocojams" tag will also be used for that post or posts.

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"BOUNCE 'ROUND THE ASSEMBLY" RING GAME (SINGING GAME)
Pancocojams Editor's Note: According to the Preface of the book Negro Folk Singing Games And Folk Games Of The Habitants (published in London around 1914), Grace Cleveland Porter met an "old coloured" woman "not many years ago" who shared these some of these singing games with her. The woman worked as a servant for Porter in "the North". Mammy referred to the compositions she shared as "ring games", but Grace Cleveland Porter referred to them as "singing games". Also, "Mammy" used the title "Going Round The Assembly" for this particular composition, but Grace Cleveland Porter called it "Bounce 'Round". Out of respect for that informant, I choose to refer to this composition as a "ring game" and I use the same title that "Going 'Round The Assembly".

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Standard American English transcription, including performance directions from that book:
Introductory Comments: vi,vii & musical score: page 12-13
"Where I learned all these Ring -games, Honey? The good Lord knows. I always knew them. You call them singing games, but that isn't their old timey name. Honey!

One of them was "Going 'Round The Assembly", and this is just how we played it.

All the children joined hands, and made a big ring (a circle), and went flying round (skipping fast) singing:

Bounce around to-di-iddy-um,
to-di-iddy-um,
to-di-iddy-um,
Bounce aroun' to-di-iddy-um.
Long summer day !

Then the children walk around singing -

Go round the assembly today,
Go round the assembly today,
Go round the assembly today,
Go round the assembly today,
Long summer day !

Then they would start flying round again and singing'-

Bounce aroun' to-di-iddy-um
to-di-iddy-um,
to-di-iddy-um,
Bounce aroun' to-di-iddy-um.
Long summer day!

In the next verse they still keep on holding hands and [they] all walk up [to] the middle [of the ring] and stand [there] together, singing —

Close up the Assembly to-day,
Close up the Assembly to-day,
Close up the Assembly to-day,
Close up the Assembly to-day,
Long summer day !

Then they walk backwards to the place where the circle was before (where they had been standing before moving forward), and singing all the time:

Open the Assembly today,
Open the Assembly today,
Open the Assembly today,
Open the Assembly today,
Long summer day!

And they end up the game with —

Bounce aroun' to-di-iddy-um
to-di-iddy-um,
to-di-iddy-um,
Bounce aroun' to-di-iddy-um.
Long summer day!

And they go just a-flying 'round!

It sure did my eyes good to see them so happy. For they weren't only enjoying themselves, but they were also getting exercise, beside the fun."
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Here are the performance directions that Grace Cleveland Porter wrote for the "Bounce Roun" singing game (with spacings added to enhance these directions readability:

"Bounce Roun' [a Southern Folk-tune]

Players form a circle (no one in the center).

During the first verse “Bounce around to-tiddlyum”, they hold hands and skip round as fast as they can.

During the second verse, “Go round de Sembly”, they walk demurely, then they start flying around again, repeating the first words, bounce around.

“At close the assembly, all walk towards the center, and form a compact group, hands being held up high.

During fourth verse the ring widens and once more to original size, and the first verse “bounce around” is repeated, the children flying around to the end".
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Pancocojams Editor's Notes:
The musical score indicates that the traditional melody & text were transcribed by Grace Cleveland Porter and harmonized by Harvey Worthington Loomis. The tempo is given as "very fast".

The word "bounce" in this song probably means "to walk with a bounce to one's step".("skip'?) The words "flying around" in the sentence [given in Standard English], and they all just go flying around", means "moving very fast".

In this ring game, the term "the assembly" may have referred to children assembled (forming) a circle, instead of a formal or informal gathering of people.

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Southern Black Dialectic Form For "Goin Round The Assembly" ("Bounce Around") (as found in that 1914 book)
"I usen ter teach ,em de lil’ Ring-games, an’ when de chillen see me comin’ ,long, dey jes‘ nachally dance up an’ down and come a-runnin’ ter me, fer dey knowed dey wuz gwine ter hab one good time! Dat dey did!

Whar I larnt all des Ring-games, Honey? De good ' Lawd knows! I allus knowed .em; you all calls .em singin’-games, but dat ain’ de ole-timey name, Honey ! One ob .em wuz, "Go roun’ de ’Sembly," an’ dis is jes’ how we done play it. All de chillen jines han’s, an’ make a big ring, an’ go flyin’ roun’A singin’:

Bounce aroun, to~di-iddy-um,
to-di-iddy-um,
to-di-iddy-um,
Bounce aroun’ to-di-iddy-um,
Long summer day

Den, de chillen walks aroun’ singin’ :

Go roun’ de 'Sembly to-day,
Go roun’ de .Sembly to-day,
Go roun’ de .Sembly to-day,
Long summer day

Den dey start flyin’ roun’ agin an’ singin’ :

Bounce aroun’ to-di-iddy-um.
to-di-iddy-um,
to-di-iddy-um,
Bounce aroun’ to-di-iddy-um,
Long summer day

In de nex’ verse dey still keeps hol ob han’s and all walks up ter de middle an’ stan’s tergedder, singin’ :

Close up de .Sembly to-day,
Close up de .Sembly to-day,
Close up de 'Sembly to-day,
Long summer day

Den dey walks backwards ter de place whar de circle wuz befo’ an’ singin’ all de time :

Open de .Sembly to-day,
Open de 'Scmbly to-day,
Open de .Sernbly to-day,
Long summer day !

An’ dey end up the game wid :
Bounce aroun’ to-di-iddly-um,
tO-di-iddly-um,
to-di-iddly-um,
Bounce aroun’ to-di-iddly-um.
Long summer day !

An’ dey go jes’ a-flyin’ roun’ ! It sho’ did mah eyes good fer ter see ’em so happy,
fer dey wuzn’ only enjoyin’ dey selves, but dey wuz a-gittin’ exercise, ’sides de fun."
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To enhance their readability, I added spacing to the spoken directions and the lyrics of this composition.
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