Evening journal., 1918-01-28
Second COMMUNITY
Sine" At School TONIGHT

A large crowd is expected 10 attend
the secopd "Sng" OF the Wilmington
Community Chorus. which will be held
In the High school auditorium To-
night.
Tho community chorus idea ia fast
spreading throughout the country, and
the local chorus is indicating that It
viii Jet none Of the others pass them.
The Advertising committee is fastly
educating The local people and by the
time spring comes 10 Is thought no hall
will be large enough 90 hold all those
who desire 10 take part
Peter w Dykema. writing about
community music, In Mothers Maya
zine. SAYS, among other things.
"Do YOU want some new life In your
town? 10 you want 10 make your peo-
pie know each other better, aud think
more highly OF themselves? DO You
want 90 do something that will make
the leisure hours more enjoyable ana
will make the work hours more help-
ful? DO YOU want 10 raise the moral
and civic tone Of your community :
II so. consider the possibilities Of COM
munity music for your town.
YWhat we need in America is more
brotherhood, and the best way 70 get II
is TO do something with our fellow
citizens. Let's see what music will do
for us. Now. all together. everybody
sing Way Down Upon the Suwanee
River" Imagine this shouted out by a
whole-hearted enthusiastic leader to a
great crowd Of people in a vast audi
torium or in a big city park, and you
have the spirit Of the much talked Of
community music movement.
"The United states has entered into
the great war, primarily for the main
tanning and spreading OF democracy.
Community music has as its great aims,
exactly the same idea-the democratic
ing of music II is soclalized music {;
music used for its democratic and social
tendency. the establishing and strength
enng Of brotherhood among all men.
There have been concerts for the peo-
pie bofore. the so-called popular con-
certs: there have been groups Of the
people who have come together 20 per-
form music: there has even been sing
ing by great miscellaneous groups OF
people. These three aspects Of the
modern community music movement,
then, are not new Wherein. there
fore. lies the great acclaiming Of the
community music movement What
is ue,v? The answer is found in this
underlying idea: Music as a potent
means for arousing, expressing and So
lldlfying the emotions Of the people Of
democracy. has not been sufficiently
priced and used I'm our national life.
Heretofore. music has been regarded
largely as something which was thing
apart from life, a pleasant but com
paratively unimportant psstime; now
it is TO be a great social force. a vital
influence i'm forming our democracy.
All over the country the community
singing idea is being utilized. From Il
must come the general fellowship, the
spirit CT cooperation which will mean
a larger civic life, a fuller individual
life. Was is doing much TO unite us,
music will assist in the process now,
and viii continue It when war has
passed away War, meaning danger and
fear, is a powerful stimulant TO union
and cooperation; community music,
meaning love and inspiration, when
properly understood and used, should
bring out certain higher aspects Of
brotherhood and worid-fellowship,
which war, by its very nature, tends TO
deny and crush. The dominating spirit
of community music is the spirit OF an
inspired democracy