New Britain herald., 1918-11-02
AIM OF COMMUNITY
 SINGING IN U. 5. A.
Americanization Promoted and
 Spirit Of Nation Elevated

when Amer1Ca undertoOk tne ln-
 stitution of a formidable military force in 1917, she made the pro- l foundly significant decision to pro- vide her great legions of defense, with
 a soul.r-a spirit and conviction,
 which would both inspire and keep 1 them human. This was precisely
 what the military autocracy of Ger
 many did not do. It had regarded ! and treated it's army as a great me- 1 chanism, and then supplemented the
 mechanical perfection by systematic i deception It's loss of morale was 1 the 1nevita ble result. Its nGarness to l the breaking point has long been evi- l dent, but military law is memorable. In the Army Camps.
 Prominent among the instruments i by which this soul or feeling attitude.
 was created and developed in the l American army, has been the em- | ployment of music and singing. The
 song leaders have done a perfectly 1 wonderful work contributory to 1 building up the army morale. It
 must be constantly borne in mind l that morale, like patriotism or Amer l icanism, is a thing of the spirit, a consideration of the mind set" the emotional attitude or the feeling 1 tone. These leaders have in many cases. 1 changed sullen, resentful, ill-willed mon when joining the camps, into l singing patriots. Spirited music has a conta gious element. It may reach the seat of action and conduct even | when it were futile to expect a regen-
 eration of the man by legislative act or by military order. Bagehot the French writer on social science, has ! an interesting passage in which he shows how large Q factor unconscious
 imitation may be even in the making of national character. It has recent ly been pointed out how electrify-
 ing was the effect of playing their
 long suppressed national anthem on
 the enlisting of the first Czecho-Slav
 regiment in the U. s.
 In Our Civil Life. As we are attempting 10 engraft
 American ideals upon stocks of var ious racial and linguistic origins
 singing--group singing. community singing--offers a means that has been
 but little employed in American civ
 il life for specializing purposes. This ! is greatly in contrast to the promin- | ence Of music in the lands that have i
 produced troubadours minstrels, 1 bards or phapaodlsts; and have sent 1
 us our Carusos Aldas, Lynns, Lauders ! Martinellis Tetrazzinis and Cali Cur 1
 cis. Accompanying the singing in l unison of those songs that spring ! from the heart, there is natural l relaxation, a community o1 feeling and of thought. It is this emotional i l like nlindedness that the country Is in ] of
 like mindedness follows it much more l easily and is atrengt thened by it. A Form Of Association. It may be borne m mind that the i
 very essence of democracy Is asso- ! | citation and team work America's l problem is peculiarly her own in this i respect as no other country has so !
 large a variety of elements to har- monize into a, single unity. And for ]. this very purpose there IS no more ! direct approach than thnt of singing the same songs together, responding to the san,e sentiments and feeling i the same loyalty in the same collec- 1 tive group. Human nature has been 1 pretty much the same since history | began and the community is always i able to shape the individual if it | employs the right appeal, but nothing | is moro important than the spirit and 1
 the atm osphere that prevail. Opportunity for Everyone.
 It Is right here that the many | people who believe heartily i'll | America nization, and who wish to | lend 8 helping hand, if they only ! knew where or how to make g, specific l,
 start may render valuable assistance
 to the cause. There is need and op-
 portunity for everyone. The social
 elite and the honest peasant should both feel in place coming together at
 d public school hall to sing the same patriotic songs until music swells the breeze Simple democracy knows no social ranks but those of honesty, i cleanliness, intelligence and good will. ] The malevolent enemies of democracy l and Americanism are passtVtty. in- { difference and eXclusiveness. There 1 may be a mutual awak kening to the i
 fact that there are splendid human i values in other folk than our own 1
 social group, but that the oppor
 tunity is needed to develop them in .
 each case, for which all may and should help. Butler, in True and False Democracy, reminds us that the name democra is old, but that i tho thing itself is new. X Sort Of Universal Appeal.
 The social value of singing has i long been manifest In the folk songs of nearly every people. These songs are chara cterized by the shades of temperament and by national and historic influences As Steiner tells us these are the songs that brighten many a long and gloomy hour in the l steerage when the hopeful immigrants 1 are coming to America. These songs usually have something about them | which endnW them with vital life