Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1916-03-31
WHY NOT A SINGING SOCIETY
IN YOUR TOWN :?

\XAOoC0 ltOtA iSeOA A0i As0v AZ" AOh
April, 1857
Writing on this subject in Pic
torial Review for April, Walter
L. B ,gart. President of the Ma
tional Association of Teachers
of Singing says j:
"The most important thing in
striving to create a musical at
mosphere is to have a back
ground of musical homes. With
a number of such homes to draw
upon, we can go forward rapidly.
Perhaps, however, this desira-
BILE condition does not exist i'll a
given community. Then what
are we to do ?
There are many things that
may be utilized for stimulating
the growth of a fondness for
music. Let us take up and con-
slider a few of these.
First-The schools, public and
private, offer an opportunity that
may we'll be ranked second to
the home, for what the child
learns and does at school, he
brings home and his parents are
bound to notice. What has been
done in some of the public schools
| in the way of teaching sight
singing is quite remarkable. I'm
| der a capable instructor, it APP
pareutly requires but few min
utes every day to get pupils SO
that they can soon read music,
| and with a few years of training,
quite difficult pieces are master
ed. In a number of cities, large
choruses of public school chill
dren sing on certain occasions.
Second-In many towns. the
only evidence of concerted must
cal action is furnished by the
church choirs. These are excel
lent starting-places for musical
activity on a large scale; an
energetic choir-director, using
his own singers as nucleus, has
often founded a choral society of
which the community has had
reason to be proud. l wish there
could be a singing society in
every town in this country-I
urge my readers to support to
the best of their ability those al
ready in existence and to assist
ia organizing new ones. Sing
ing in a chorus is a valuable ex-
perience and assists greatly in
developing the love of music.
The existence of a chorus in a
town is almost sure to mean a
growth in musical atmosphere.
1t is a true democracy no one
member is more valuable than
another, and only when all work
together is the desired result
achieved. 1t might be said that
a dozen voices are enough to be-
gin with, because each one Of
the dozen might be able to bring
in one or two more and a body of
thirty would soon result. They
do not have to be trained sing
ers. The majority of people
have sufficient voice and ear to
sing in a chorus, if they are
willing to attend rehearsal. Such
has been the experience of the
Peoples Singing Glasses in New
York and other cities. 1t is my
own experience in working for
seven years with choral-society
in a town of about one thousand
Inhabitants, a large number of
whom are Quakers, a sect whose
attitude toward music is not con-
sidered very friendly. For our
first annual concert we had
thirty-two singers on the stage
and did only simple choruses un-
accompanied. A well-known
baritone was the soloist. AS
time passed, and we became more
aud more proficient. we took up
aud gave at our annual concerts
several cantatas of considerable
difficulty, always with the as
sistance of good soloists. The
effect on the little community
was shown by an increase in the
demand for musical affairs and
in the improvement of the church
choirs.
Third-A splendid stimulus to |
the musical sensibilities of a
community is the Musical Fes-
tiyal, when several choral socie-
ties, assisted by an orchestra and
soloists, cooperate to give in one
place two or more days of music. |
Such events well carried on, in
volving the singing of a large |
chorus, which is always impress
sive, have = tremendous effect ia |
.