Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1918-08-15
OLD Los ANGELES
KNOWS BARNHART
Wilmingtonian Hears Choir IN
Church Where Sing Leader
Ruled as Chorister

From far-of old Los Angeles, ont on the
Pacific coast comes from . Nlm'ngfonlan
now -oJourning there most interesting
tcttcr. telling Of he writer visit 10 4
church there IN which llarrV Baruhart
Wilmington community sIng lcadnr once
held forth rs chutlster ell9r precentor
or whatever the title IS they usc out on
tho coast Here - he communication
which speaks very oloqucntls for itself
The EvctY Evening accounts of the
continued and II ereaeng r"mlartfN ct
the community sings II homo. lead Il
member OF tho " ilmng.on chorus At
pIcserl n Los angeles to tell What hap
pencd to mother last week \ widely
ad, crfrzcd Community ~irg was 70 ke
held 10 the FIRST Nethodtst { hnrch re.
under the direction of arthur far"cn
president Of the New York omlnanitN
Chorus. and head Of the community
Sng movement in tins country llr
tarvcl had been training TIA" chorus for
seven weeks 1t the Normal school Centre,
two iehcarsas 4 week, and the oppor-
turltS 10 compare his methods and results
with those II home III Wilmington,
was not to bc neglected. 50 We went
This church has a large choir lott lack
Of the pulpit. where s"ml-circular tiers 81
seats rise either side Of the organ With the
preccGtor between the organlsi and mif-
ister. On SUNDAYS. the laIgcs vested
choir form In the rear Of the church, ~
four lines which march with dignity down
the four wiudir Z aIslcs up steps to the
choir left and to their seats singing III
perfect rhythm because led by the
quartet and the prccentor Who have taken
thcir places bcsorc the processioral starts.
For TIE sltg. more seats Ntre aided
L IT. Il Ia.
grard piano assisted the organ They
did rot have Fred al tho piaLo, but
they had Low and he did not play
Marcy Lee,
In the choir left about l50 women ard
four men faced DR. Farwell, who led them
through the usual chnrlses. giving also
Mr. ZIP, ard Keep Your Head Down,
Nlemaud a specimens oi camp favoritcs
Some old song were sung by everybody
ard two wonderful soloi,ts. soprano and
contralto, from New York. charmed Us
all 1t was very pretty, very correct.
very tame very unlike our enthusiastic
dolnga III front oi the Court House
with a truck, piano. and bred -
accompany Us But At the last thing,
| began 10 coru~cate
uHERl HAIRY COMBS ~
Mr. iarvcll asked to be allowed to
| make a few informal remarks, aud pro-
| ceedcd 10 say that he had become inter-
| csted in tins movement through the ardent
/ enthusiasm OF n voHng man he had met
! IN Los Angeles fifteen years before, Who
! had thought out the methods and the
| lnspirationa results to he gained by en-
| couraging masses oi people u sing to-
/ gcther informally, who had since put his
/ theories INTO such successful practice
/ that he had accomplished wonderful
results In New ork ne had conducted
| IA great concert OF Song and Light IN
! Central Park. where not only the music
/ but the elect real effects had taken the
| city by storm
! This man was the originator ot the
/ Singing Army, whose high morale Vas
| the wonder Of the world Due To the
| cnnobing influence OF song, this great
man favorlte hymn Is Nearer my God
! to Thee, and 1t was his custom To close
his rchearsals with a verse sung by all
while standing He, arNell was proud
To be the rlend and colaborlter OF tins head
Of the Community Singing OF America,
whose name is Harry Barnhart and We
should al stand and sing that verse IN his
honor now! Which re all did
IL the yestIbule one Inaa lld to another
we have Harry Barnhart for our sings
at home, and he has tins man skinned to
death" oh, yes vas the proud reply.
Il know Harry, hc led the choir III this
church for several years. which probably
accounts for the unusually effective and
inspiring processlo lal OF the choir in the
First Methodist Church III Los Nng6leS
Harry started them right. III the thorough
going Barnhart way!