The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1921-06-18
TOPEKA STATE JOURNAL.
Information Bureau
FREDERIC j. HAsKIN,. Director.
Washington, d. G.
LET US SING.


tributed thruout, the country by mu-
steal experts. and has gone so far that
a bill has even been introduced in con-
gress to compel congressman to sing.
The time may come when a candidate
for the senate will put forward as one
of his qualifications that he is a basso
profundo of the first order: when, at
the conclusion of a debate on the farm
credit bill, the agricultural bloc in the
| senate. will rise and sing in chorus.
1.-The Old Oaken Bucket" or some
other affecting rural ditty.
But congress is only a sample of the
country at large in its indifference
to music, according to the experts,
and the reason we are not musical
people is that we listen too much and
do not sing and play enough. The
so-called music lover who can make
no music himself is a myth. If a man
really loves music he will learn some
thing about 1t, and if he learns some
thing about it he will very likely come
to appreciate it. But the thousands
who attend concerts in a state of COM
plete musical ignorance, while they
may get something out OF it. are not
realizing the joys and benefits OF mu-
| sic as much as the colored lady who
sings a hymn to the rhythm of her
genuflections before the washboard.
One of the foremost of these prop
agandjsts for personal participation in
music is Mr.. Robert Lawrence, who
recently conducted a municipal Mu-
sic Week in Washington and who
| plans to go all over the country
preaching the gospel of homemade
| melody.
Inducing the People to Sing.
Americans do not sing, he says, and
yet Americans like to sing. Mr.. Law
renee experimental with this PROPOSE
ftion and hit upon a solution. The
thing to do was to get them together
and offer them good music free and
| give them a chance to sing too. He
tried it and it worked. People who
! could not come out merely to indulge
in an orgy of Community singing came
| to hear the artists on the program.
Others who were a trifle bored by
some of the heavier numbers woke up
| and enjoyed themselves when the au-
| dience was taught to sing "Olds Mac
Donald Had a Farm" with variations
And thru listening to good music and
trying to make a little themselves, the
| tastes of the people broadened.
The psychology of it is interesting
A golfer will read anything about his
] favorite game. The trapeze artists
watch with keen appreciation when a
! Fellow expert performs. An audience
that has just been singing "Suwanee
River" is in a better frame of mind to
enjoy professional rendition of the
| sextette from Lucia" The more we
know about a thing the more capacity
we have for appreciation.
The success of the combination con-
cert and singing programs showed that
people can be easily interested in sing
ing. With live-wire song leader, a
popular selection of songs, and enough
| people singing around them, few peo-
PIE fail to tune up and join in the
| chorus.
Once we abandon our ultra con-
sentative attitude, our audience habit.
we can begin to get real joy out of
music, Mr.. Lawrence promises. and
the capacity for approaching good
music will grow.
men loading ships have been heard
| singing Faust One man ND in the
stern would take the part of Mephis-
topheles, another near by Ginning in
ahoIher. role. and others singing
choruses at the proper time. In Wales,
factory workmen gather outside of
| their shops at noon and sing choruses
from Handlers 'Messiah'-just because
! they enjoy it.
| %To advance the cause OF good
music here we must attack the propo-
sltion from reasonable standpoint.
: Bubbles may not be classic, but you
| can start an audience singing it when
you could not expect it to attempt an
operate selection. Gradually, as recre-
| auonal singing is developed into a
community institution, more ambitious
music may be called for by the
singers, when they are ready for it.
The popular and stunt songs, how
| ever, are just as much music as an
opera is, altho not so high a form of
| music. Still, we do not say that only
persons who understand trigonometry
can use mathematics. Everyone uses
mathematics in making change and
anyone say that music is only for the
person who can understand a SYM
phony?"
Mr.. Lawrence concludes from his
experiences that people of this coun-
try really want to sing and are must
cal in spite of the contrary impression
so prevalent.
Stimulates Musical Taste.
"Ultra-conservative musicians" he
explains, som etimes think it a waste
of time to try to interest the general
public in music. The results obtained
in cities that have seriously tried to do
it are the best answer. Birmingham
started having programs with recre-
ationai singing in the intermissions
four years ago, and the public interest
has grown each year. Up until this
) ear, Birmingham has been a losing
proposition for artists who make con-
cert tours, but last season a profit was
made>there and concert manager at
tributed the increase in patronage to
} the influence of recreational singing
Music Week is a recent invention to
arouse America to its musical posi-
bilities. New York had the first MI
sic Week last year. and since then g
number of cities, such as Dallas, Den.
yer, Long Beach, Little Rock, and
Poughkeepsie. have had similar cele-
brations. New York has had another
Music Week this year and expects tc
continue the practice every year. Sar
Francisco is about to stage its first
celebration.
Music Week shows the people of g
city how they can put music into theil
community and gives them a chance
to try 1t out Before Washington's az.
, fair, Mr.. Lawrence trained nearly G
hundred men and women as sons
!, leaders, and planned programs.
During Music Week itself there
, kwere musical events in all sections o.
the city at night and q few In tht