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This article was downloaded by: [University of Sunderland]On: 21 December 2014, At: 15:12Publisher: RoutledgeInforma Ltd Registered in England and Wales RegisteredNumber: 1072954 Registered office: Mortimer House, 37-41Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH, UK
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Music in PublicSchools of To-DayClement M. SpurlingPublished online: 28 Jan 2009.
To cite this article: Clement M. Spurling (1927) Music in PublicSchools of To-Day, Proceedings of the Musical Association, 54:1, 1-17,DOI: 10.1093/jrma/54.1.1
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NOVEMBER 8, 1927.
PROFESSOR J. C. BRIDGE, M.A., Mus.D.,PRESIDENT,
IN THE CHAIR.
MUSIC IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS OF TO-DAY.
BY CLEMENT M. SPURLING.
PROGRESS, enlightened movement, new methods, a newoutlook, in a word—growth, has been going on steadily inour public schools for many years past, and has beenespecially insistent in some schools, I think, during the lastfifteen or twenty years. Music has not been left behind inthis forward movement. Some people seem to think andtalk as if it had. Far from it. As a fact, the place thatmusic holds in most public schools, the amount of time givento it by boys, the importance attached to it by almost every-one connected with our schools, is most striking. I thinksome people would be really astonished if they were to lookthrough the programmes of concerts given at some of ourschools, and they would be still more astonished if they wereto go and hear the performances. I am sure they wouldbe impressed with the high standard, earnestness and abilitythey would encounter.
I propose describing to you what goes on at OundleSchool, but first of all let us consider what music should beplaced before boys.
Now there are people who say that boys should be givenand should hear only the best music—only good music.Further, that it is a crime to allow them to hear bad music,and that it must be our constant endeavour to keep it fromthem. Then there are other people who say you cannotexpect boys to like or to appreciate the really great music;that it is beyond them; that it is over their heads, they willtake no interest in it, and will become bored by it.
Thus, on the one hand we have people who say we mustgive boys only the best and greatest music, whilst on theother hand, people argue that you cannot reasonably expectboys to understand, or to take an interest in, good andgreat music. I don't believe that either set of people are
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2 Music in Public Schools of To-day
really right. In fact, I believe that in making statementssuch as these, people show conclusively that they do notunderstand boys—the genus boy—or the boy's mind.
Now, for one thing, I don't think it is possible to label allmusic in two distinct compartments—the one good, the otherbad; any more than you can label people who prefer goodmusic, and those who prefer what is called bad music.
Music can be, and sometimes is, vulgar, poor, silly, weak,sloppy, worthless, sentimental, and so on; but I don't thinkwe can say of any music that it is bad—and I take " bad " tomean wicked, immoral, demoralizing—or that any music isjust the opposite, and therefore good. Music has notdegrees of quality which are capable of being defined assharply as this.
I have heard it stated that it was the plain duty of musicmasters in schools to prevent boys from hearing any musicbut the very best; in fact, that so far as music masters canhelp it, boys should be kept in complete ignorance of Jazzmusic, and all the other silly and vapid music there is in theland. (I am certain that it is utterly impossible to preventboys or anyone else from hearing this worthless music, andI do not think it desirable that we, as teachers, trainers andguides of boys, should try to keep this music from them.But more of this later).
I once heard a public school music master declare withpride and satisfaction that if he ever saw a piece of what hecalled undesirable music, a comic or vulgar song, or a Jazzproduction, in the possession of a boy, or lying about themusic rooms of his school, he tore it up and ruthlessly burntit. Further, I have heard it stated that it was the plainduty of each one of us perpetually to wage war against allthis silly vulgar dance music, and against the boys whoplayed it or liked it, or practised it, for—it was said—thatunless we did this, unless we helped to stamp out this kindof rubbish by burning the copies and not allowing our boysto get in touch with it, or hear it, the taste for music of thefuture generation which we are, to a great extent, responsiblein forming, would be lowered to a deplorable depth, goodmusic would be put in the background, and we should beswamped, if not altogether drowned, in the flood of thiswretched stuff. People who write and speak thus surelyhave very little faith in the discriminating powers and thegood taste of boys.
Now it is my business, my fervent wish, my plain dutyto teach the boys who come under my care to like, toappreciate, to understand, to love the best and greatest
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Music in Public Schools of To-day 3
music, and get all the good they can out of it. How canI best achieve my ambition? It seems to me that the onlyreally certain way of doing this—and I have after longexperience proved it to be true over and over again—theonly efficient way to realise my ambition is to let my boys—if they wish—hear all kinds of music; in order that theymay hear and learn the difference between what is goodand what is worthless, and to let them choose between theright music and the wrong music. When I do this I findthat they eventually choose the right music every time.They learn to get satisfaction and enhanced pleasure fromthe good, whilst they get—to use a modern expression—" fed up " with the rubbish. It seems to me that if wewant boys eventually to choose for themselves, of their-own free will and without being coerced or driven (for itmust, of course, come to this), if we want them to go them-selves to the good music, the right music, we must givethem the opportunity of comparing the worthless with thegood. I mean that I think it is useless, even if it weregood policy, to try and hide rubbishy music from them, orto pretend that it doesn't exist. It is no good in any-thing where boys are concerned to practise the ostrich-likeattitude. No boy can help hearing this silly music. Noboy, and for that matter, no one not a boy, can get awayfrom it. Boys come across it in their holidays in almostcountless ways—at restaurants, at cinemas, at theatres, inmusical comedy, on the wireless, on the gramophone, andeven at some concerts. Of course, if, when boys come toschool, they have already made up their minds about thematter, and have definitely decided that they prefer thegood music to the indifferent music, and some boys—nay,many boys—do show this good taste, then we know wherewe are, and we know the lines on which to go ahead. Butif, when boys come to school, they show a preference forfeeble music, then, I say, let them learn it, let them learnto play it well, to take pains and time over it. But at thesame time, I drive a bargain with them in this way—Iinsist that when they have got all they can out of the vulgar,sloppy stuff, they shall learn something of my choice;something good, of course, but not necessarily somethingclassical; and they shall spend just as much time over it,take as great pains and trouble over it; and then I ask themto compare the satisfaction they honestly have got out ofthe silly piece with the satisfaction they have got out of thegood piece; and, if they do nothing else, they will, I find,have realised one thing, namely, that the time they have
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4 Music in Public Schools of To-day
spent over the stupid piece has been less profitable, and thetime spent over something good was better worth doing.
As a concrete illustration of what I mean, take my experi-ence with a Jazz band. In the autumn of 1922 it came tomy knowledge that certain boys had brought back to schoolJazz instruments and were practising together surrep-titiously. I made them come right into the open, I hadthem given proper instruction, I helped in it myself, andthey had to give public performances in the School Hall.As a fact, they reached a quite high state of efficiency. Allthis time these same boys were either singing or playingin the " B minor Mass," so that throughout the term theywere constantly comparing the two. Then, as now, aboy was playing the saxophone for bassoon in the " Mass "and playing it very well. Next term I heard no more ofthe Jazz band, nor have I since. But this year, afterChristmas, some boys started Orchestral practices on theirown, and seized upon Elgar's " Pomp and Circumstance "March and Grieg's Norwegian Dances.
Ladies and gentlemen, don't misunderstand what I havesaid. I do not deliberately let my boys hear the poormusic. I do not give it to them willingly, but I will notlet them practise it or hear it behind closed doors. I makethem come out into the open with it, and they must, if theywill learn it, take trouble over it.
So much for the people who say boys must have nothingto do with the poor and stupid music. And now for thosewho say it is not possible to expect the mass of boys tounderstand, to appreciate, to really enjoy, the great music.
Let us at once go straight to Bach. It is, I am quitecertain, wrong to say or to think that Bach's music mustnecessarily be unpopular with boys (or, for that matter,with anybody) because it is abstruse and profound. Firstof all, Bach's music is not all profound. Secondly, it isbecoming, if it has not already become, some of the mostpopular music of to-day. Wasn't a Bach Concerto encoredsome few months ago at a concert where the front seatscost but sixpence?
For years we have heard tunes by Bach whistled andsung all over Oundle; in the streets, in the houses, in thefields, by milkman and butcher boy. And our boys areconstantly heard singing these tunes in the changing rooms,on the march, and on the playing fields. Doesn't this helpto prove how tuneful it is?
Boys are the most pliable creatures. Give boys a chance,trust them, put before them the big masterpieces, get them
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to take a part in them, they will very soon realise that theyare wrapt up in a big thing; interest and enthusiasm willsoon be kindled. Have confidence in them; show them thatyou have faith in them; let them see that you thoroughlybelieve they are capable, and they will respond to youas no one else on earth will respond. Boys love the excite-ment of joining in something big; they like nothing betterthan tackling a difficult piece of work when they areworking at it altogether, and when they are properly led.I say, trust the mind and taste of a boy, who will invariablyplump for beauty and sincerity if he is properly guided andled. Let them take part in great works, don't ask themmerely to listen—that in itself is not sufficient, they mustjoin in somehow—they will soon like it, and real apprecia-tion will follow. I heard quite recently a young girl saythis: " I want to go in for the Associated Board Examina-tion, then I shall learn good music." How pathetic! Whatdoes this prove? Just what I have been saying. Thegirl was by no means particularly musical—not at all.Perhaps this child had been given poor music—I don'tknow. Anyhow, she clearly had the inborn sense andinstinct to wish to have a share in what she instinctivelyknew to be good. Isn't this child worthy of great faithand trust? I say again that when I hear music teachersuse the word ' impossible,' I know that they have notsufficient faith and trust in the pupils they are expected toteach.
I should now like to make a few general remarks aboutgood and poor music.
I often think there is much cant and humbug both writtenand spoken on the subject of music. One is frequentlyreading the most extravagant things said with regard tothis music, or that music in newspaper notices of concerts,in reviews of new music and in programme notes, and oneconstantly hears people talking in the most wild way aboutmatters musical. Is it small wonder that our boys (andothers) get bewildered and taken in at times? Think fora moment—what is it that people enjoy chiefly about music?What is there in music that gives people real physicalpleasure? There is, of course, the sheer beauty of sound;there is the attractive charm of melody; a pretty tune; ahaunting theme; arresting rhythm; engaging movementwhich attracts attention; and emotion which touches asympathetic sense in the listener. Now we shall meet allthese qualities in every grade of music, from the simplestto the most intricate, and in all kinds of music from the
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best to the most worthless. Very well, if we find boysgetting pleasure out of music which, although banal, fulfilstheir requirements because it has the qualities which I havejust been enumerating—don't blame the boy, don't blamethe listener—but take him on to the good music where youcan point out that he will find all he requires just as well,just as fully, just as satisfactorily, only with this difference—that the pleasure will be much more real, much morelasting, and the satisfaction deeper and more profound.
Further, I am convinced that certain good and usefulqualities are to be found in some inferior music, just ascertain poor, undesirable qualities are to be found in whatwe would normally label as good music.
For instance, there was a time when no child learnt thepiano without being taught Schumann's " Merry Peasant "—as an introduction, mark you, to Classical music, as apiece on which to lay the foundation of good tasteand good musicianship. I cannot help thinking that hadthis piece been written by a John Smith, and notby Schumann, and had it not been included in an albumof pieces called " For the Young "—almost all of them,by the way, wholly unsuitable for the young—teachersof the piano would not have been so keen to includeit in the list of pieces which they gave—and still give—totheir young pupils. It is poor music, it is silly, it is one ofSchumann's lapses, and certainly not worth the time spentin learning to play it.
I do believe most firmly, however, that in order to giveour boys a true foundation of good taste, and in order toshow them what good music is made of, we must at allcosts teach them some suitable Bach and Beethoven. Wecannot go wrong with these two great ones; but leave Schu-mann alone until his more difficult music can be tackled.If music lessons are to be of real value, every lesson shouldbe an appreciation lesson, intimately comparing the goodand the wrong music, minutely analysing the good and thepoor. At the same time, however, we must not make themistake of for ever and always trying to make peopleunderstand good music. We must be more content withallowing them simply to enjoy it. Understanding and studyare not an essence of enjoyment—one is not a corollary ofthe other. Else why is the " Old Vic " Theatre packedwith poor people night after night, enjoying good music,and Shakespeare's plays?
One more point I cannot stress too strongly. Ear train-ing and sight-reading are the most important parts of
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Music in Public Schools of To-day ' 7
anyone's equipment, if he or she is going to get the fullestenjoyment and use out of music. Indeed, if more attentionand ordinary common sense were bestowed on these twosubjects, and perhaps less on the so-called appreciation ofmusic, our boys, and others too, would be all the bettermusicians.
Oundle School numbers 570 boys, and in the choir wehave over one hundred trebles and one hundred basses,with some eighty altos and tenors, or about three hundredvoices altogether. I admit every new boy treble unlesshe is tone-deaf, which is rare. The altos are recruitedfrom the trebles, and the tenors from the altos, beforetheir voices break. (Sometimes a tenor goes straight tobass, although his voice has not cracked, but has merelygone low). When the voices break, however, they jointhe boys not in the choir—that is, the non-choir—and thebasses are eventually recruited from the non-choir. Everyboy in the school has a copy of whatever music is sung inthe Chapel—chants, hymns, settings of the canticles, andanthems. Every boy sings in every part of the service,and this is one of the ways in which he learns to readmusic. At the weekly full school practice for the services,the non-choir are often practised alone in their part, whichmay be the tune, sung an octave lower, of course, or somespecial part. At times the trebles will sing a descantagainst the rest of the school singing the tune in unison.Whole-hearted singing is therefore expected from everyboy, and, if necessary, insisted upon. Probably a smallpercentage of boys can never hope to get very near a tune,but inability to sing is not admitted for one moment. Thewrong notes of the few do not matter in the least amongthe right ones of so large a number of voices.
The choral society consists of about 250 boys, who arealso in the Chapel choir. During the Lent and Summerterms various choruses or short works with orchestralaccompaniment, madrigals and part-songs are learnt. Inthe Michaelmas term the whole time is devoted to the choralwork which the school is studying. It is at these practicesthat, consciously and sub-consciously, the boys lay a surefoundation in reading music; it is here that many boys,who do not know whether they care about music or not—because they have never been given the chance or oppor-tunity of taking a part in it—learn to love enthusiasticallyand intelligently the greatest treasures of art. It is herethat there are practically no boys who are not eager to takehold of the good things when they are offered to them
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attractively. It is here that they learn to sing withstrenuous endeavour, and to work with enthusiasm andvirility; they learn, too, what it means to attempt a bigdifficult thing for the sheer joy of doing it.
The size of the orchestra varies a little; thirty-six toforty boys is the average number (about twenty-four ofthese being strings), with members of the staff (abouteight) added to these. At the weekly practice in the Lentand Summer terms such things as Symphonies, by Mozart,Beethoven and Schubert, Elgar's " Wand of Youth " Suit(No. 1.) and Granville Bantock's Old English Suite arelearnt, whilst the Michaelmas term is given up to the schooloratorio. The strings receive a certain amount of coach-ing in these works at their private lessons, and the windinstrument players get a great deal of attention bothindividually and in groups.
Boys must be educated in a determined attempt to getthem to appreciate what is good in music. It is not enoughto point to music and ask them to become listeners. Theymust take a part, however small, in something big or some-thing worth taking part in; the full meaning of the musicand its message will then be reached. They must, by everypossible means, be given the chance to get mental andspiritual enlightenment from music. They must all bethrown in close contact with the best music, not merely bylistening, but by active participation. If they cannot allplay they can all sing, and must all have a share in the work.We recognise that music is a great force for good, and aredetermined to make all we can out of it for the school—notfor the select few, but for every boy. The effect, from amusical point of view, of a large number of trainedand untrained voices singing together is distinctly good.(In reality, every boy's voice is untrained. If it were nottruly natural and spontaneous half its charm and joy wouldbe gone. Shouting and forcing are anathema). Onemight expect the effect of this massed singing to be bad,but it is not. Go next to the wrong boy and your eye-brows go up, but at a little distance, where you hear Ihewhole body of voices, it is most thrilling and impressive.The idea of massed singing in big choral works at Oundlehas grown out of the full congregational singing, which forover thirty years has been a feature of the Chapel services,and also out of the general musical spirit of the school.Place great music in boys' hands, give them the opportunityof taking a real intelligent part, don't tolerate mere care-less following, and they will gain, first a little interest, then
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a little knowledge, and later real appreciation and keenenjoyment. During the past seven years the school haslearnt, in the Michaelmas terms, " Messiah" (twice),Bach's B minor Mass (four times), and the ChristmasOratorio. The school is divided into chorus, non-choir,and orchestra. Approximately 290 boys are in the chorus,250 boys in the non-choir, and the remainder in theorchestra. Each of the above works was learnt in less thantwelve weeks. In the Mass there has not been sufficienttime to get through " Confiteor unum Baptisma " and the" Osanna," but at the performances either the other elevenor thirteen choruses are sung. The part taken throughoutby the non-choir is a large and very important one; indeed,it is made as large as possible, for it is they who determinewhether the school singing is to be a success or not. Theysing certain passages taken from the treble, alto, tenor, andbass parts, and in the Christmas Oratorio they sang withall the basses and tenors in the Da Capo of the bass solo," Mighty Lord." (Are there not many such solos thatmake a greater appeal sung by a unison chorus? In theMass all our basses sing the " Quoniam "). For ten minutesafter short prayers on three mornings every week the chorusand non-choir get to work. The trebles get a weekly hour,altos the same, tenors and basses practise together for anhour, the chorus for an hour, orchestra for an hour, andwe have half a dozen full school practices with theorchestra of an hour each. This may seem over-muchtime to spend, but actually the hours spent in 1926 inpractising the Mass were only 77.
The boys of the lowest forms get two periods of three-quarters of an hour weekly in singing class subjects, i.e. ear-training, sight-reading, and singing exercises. They alsolearn several unison songs, chosen from the many excellentand stimulating songs which are published. I look uponthis nursery of singing as some of the most important workto be done. The grounding these boys receive in ear-training and sight-reading goes with them and grows withthem throughout their school career and afterwards. Here,too, the great opportunity is found for influencing themwhilst young in all that is best in music, end turning theirattitude towards music in the right direction. As a result,I often find the young boy who has " never done music,"taking it up with an endeavour which is most infectious.
The music classes embrace the study of music as an artand language, in addition to ascertaining the connectionbetween music and history. Primarily the classes were
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entirely composed of volunteers, but, owing to their growth,several forms of boys of various ages now take the subject.The voluntary work was done in spare time at first, but withthe extension of the work to include whole forms of boys,set time in school hours was generously given by the Head-master. Formerly, classes were limited to boys who hadsome pronounced musical inclination, but with form work(and as a school subject) boys are encountered who haveshown, hitherto, no special aptitude for music. Contraryto expectations, these boys have not held up the progressof the class, and in most cases they have developed soundmusicianship and become very keen listeners. Even a fewhave become quite good instrumental performers from theirfirst contact with music as a class subject. One periodper week is set apart for appreciation work with each form.Each member of the form has a simple text book (such asWhite's " Music and its Story" or a volume of Colles'" Growth of Music ") for verifying facts about composersand their works, and, with a plentiful supply of gramophonerecords and scores, together with the aid of a Duo-art piano,the necessary equipment is complete. With small boyssuch topics as " Music in Queen Elizabeth's Reign,"" How the piano was evolved from the earlier key-boardinstruments," " The Orchestra," " The Military Band," arefound to be full of interest and discovery. Contact pointswith the other arts and literature and history are lookedup in the library by the boys between the weekly lessons, andprove to be most fruitful in discussion. For the older boysmore complicated topics are drawn on. Ideas which callfor some previous experience are made use of, and someindividual research is called for from each member of theclass. Among subjects dealt with in the past are thefollowing:—(1) The growth of Sonata Form. (2) TheString Quartet. (3) The Symphony from Haydn toBrahms. (4) The Romantic Composers. (5) Theinfluence of instrumental development on composition.(6) Modern European composers. (7) English composersof to-day. (8) The " Nibelungen " Myths—as comparedwith Wagner's adaptation in the ' Ring' Tetralogy. It hasbeen said that " education is a widening of our sympathiesand a stimulating of our imaginations." The study ofmusic from the point of view indicated in this saying canwell be an important means of accomplishing this ideal;indeed, it is hard to imagine a subject calling for moresympathy and imagination from any one, whether listeneror performer.
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The number of boys having instrumental lessons variesfrom 190 to 200. Some of these have lessons in harmonyand counterpoint as well. There are usually a few boyswho reach a high grade as performers; Grieg's pianoconcerto, Mendelssohn's violin concerto, Max Bruch's " KolNidrei " have been played at the school concerts. Severaldo not get so far, though they play well, and then thereremain the greater number who cannot rise above a veryaverage level of technical ability. What can be done withthese boys? Sympathy, imagination, and judgment arerequired in dealing with these. First and foremost, everyboy must learn to read at sight properly—that mostimportant but still dreadfully neglected subject. Sight-reading should be the very first item to receive care in ourpupils' equipment; it is often the last, and is, more oftenthan not, completely forgotten. For this there is noexcuse. Again, we can make the little as good as possible ;we can use the instrumental teaching to extend knowledgeand appreciation; we can see to it that, when these boysleave us, though they may perhaps be poor performers,they are sound musically as far as they can go. Time isalso found for a certain amount of ensemble playing, anda piece of chamber music is invariably included in theschool concert programme.
The music staff and others play on Sunday evenings forforty minutes. A short talk about the piece to be playedis often given first of all. At these recitals of music boyshave the chance of hearing the great piano, organ, andviolin works, both old and modern, and the fine organ inthe School Hall makes the playing of many orchestralworks possible.
An orchestral concert is given to the boys once a year bythe City of Birmingham Orchestra. Some works playedrecently at these concerts have been Brahms's 2nd Sym-phony; Wagner's Prelude and Liebestod ("Tristan &Isolde "), and the Siegfried Idyll, Elgar's " Cockaigne"Overture, and the " Enigma" Variations; Grainger's"Shepherd's Hey"; Grieg's "Peer Gynt" Suite No. 1;Rimsky-Korsakof's " Sheherazade "; Vaughan-Williams's" The Wasps " overture; Beethoven's overture " Leonora "No. 3, the 5th and 7th Symphonies, and Ravel's " MotherGoose" Suite. Harold Samuel and Carrie Tubb havegiven a recital, and Leon Goossens Philharmonic Trio, ThePhilharmonic String Quartet, McCulIagh String Quartet,and the English Singers are amongst others who have alsogiven us concerts in recent years. The works to be heard
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at these concerts are made as familiar as possible to theboys beforehand by means of illustrated talks upon them,the gramophone, piano, organ, and a few strings proving agreat aid. The importance to boys of various ages, andwhilst at school, of hearing great music well interpreted bythe best artists is so obvious that I need say no more.
I am now coming to the end of my paper, in which I havetried to describe briefly, but I am afraid inadequately, themusical activities which go on at Oundle. And what goeson at Oundle goes on, I believe, more or less, at most ofthe public schools. There is one thing, however, that wedon't have, which a great many schools do have, and thatis competitions in vocal and instrumental music. I amaware that these competitions do good in some ways; butI have always felt that so long as one can stimulateenthusiasm in musical matters without bringing in the com-petitive spirit, music should not be added to the numerousactivities which boys already compete in and against oneanother. There is a danger, I think, in public schoolmusical competitions, of music being regarded from thecompeting standpoint of work or games, and I do feel thatwe should endeavour, if posssible, to keep music above thiscompetitive spirit. There are, I feel, more than sufficientthings already for boys to compete in without adding musicto their number.
But there is one thing I have described that we do atOundle, which, so far as I know, is not done quite in thesame way at other schools, and that is, the study of bigworks by the whole school. Here we get the whole-hearted striving of each boy to do his utmost and his bestwithout thought of gain, or without thought of knockingsomeone out, or without thought of being considered betterthan some one else.
DISCUSSION.
(Dr. Froggatt presided at the Discussion, as ProfessorBridge had to leave).
THE CHAIRMAN :We have listened to an interesting paper,which is obviously from one who is master of his subjectand fully competent to discuss it and to teach us a greatdeal on the subject with which it deals.
The first thing I should like to do would be to compli-ment the lecturer on the fact that you could hear every
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word he said. That has not always been the case atmeetings of this Association. The lecturer is not onlymaster of his subject, but is master of his own voice, a verygreat point for us who have to listen. I do not feel that 1can say very much upon the subject. I have never taughtin a Public School. I have taught boys from time to time,and I dare say in early days have very often gone on thewrong lines. I hope there are some here who are morecompetent to speak than I feel myself to be.
MR. ROYLE SHORE : What was the number of the basssingers ?
MR. CLEMENT M. SPURLING : Something over a hundred.MR. ROYLE SHORE : I was rather puzzled over the
question of the choral balance. That interested me verymuch because I am dealing with it in an entirely differentway outside schools. I am demonstrating it in churches andcathedrals, in combining the singing of the multitude withthe singing of the skilled choir. I do it by dividing mysingers into two choirs, one singing in harmony, and theother in unison. Therefore I was very much interested tohear about the question of the choral balance.
I was wondering how they managed to engineer out ofthe rest of the school such an incredible number of basssingers. Of course, there are bass singers found abroad,for instance in Russia in the nunneries where the womenkindly sing bass, but then Russia has such phenomenalvoices. I have in my work come across ladies who can singtenor, but I was wholly puzzled to know exactly how achoral balance could be engineered from the materials atschool. I should like to hear a little more in detail how thatwas provided.
On one point, I would ask whether the lecturer hasdiscovered any ill-effects from encouraging sixth form boysto sing bass too early. I have come across instances of boyswho have been hurried into their choir in order to sing bass,and have had their voices ruined.
MR. SPURLING : Well, first of all, you see there are 570boys in the school; out of that 570 there are only, I suppose,about 150 boys who are at the age of fourteen, perhaps alittle older. Their voices break. I have a large number ofboys over the age of sixteen, and a large number of boysat seventeen and eighteen, whose voices have been brokenfor three years, and they sing a most wonderful bass. Ihad the same question asked me by Dr. Charles Macpherson.He said to me, " I can only imagine that a lot of boys at
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school, singing bass, are simply rocks." I said, " No, it isnot so. Ask Mr. Colles and Sir Hugh Allen and lots ofpeople who have heard us. Come and listen yourself andyou will see." I can get an enormous number of basses.
You have raised two other points. I do not care a rapabout certain things so long as I can make every boy takea part in the singing. If the thing does not balance, I do notmind a bit. As a matter of fact it does balance in the mostextraordinary way. I have 100 basses and 100 trebles, someforty tenors and some forty altos. I have a few masterswho sing bass, and three or four who join the tenors, butI am independent of them. I do not mind if the thing doesnot balance. I do not say, " Now, we must cut down thosebasses because they are too strong." I try to make the thingas good as possible, but I am not giving an artistic per-formance and inviting the whole world to come and hearthe B minor Mass. I want every boy to learn the B minorMass.
One boy wanted to learn the saxophone. He said hisfather had given him a saxophone which had cost£40. I said, " Then you must learn it, but not jazz tunes;you must learn the bassoon part of the B minor Mass." Hecame to me and said, about a fortnight before the per-formance, " What shall I do in the performance? " I askedwhat he meant, and said that of course he was playing thesaxophone. He said, " Not at the performance! " " Yes,"I replied, " Of course, you are. Bach would have used youtoo if he had had the chance."
As to boys' voices being hurt, I have often been roundlyabused. First of all, have you ever heard boys shout at afootball match? That is when they do themselves harm.They go and yell for their House. They will go red in theface shouting for their House or School. The enthusiasmof a boys' football match is like nothing on earth, and it isthen they do so much damage to their voices. If you haveseen boys watch a swimming race, yell is not the word forit. It is in shouting at sports that they do harm to theirvoices. I cannot believe that a boy does himself any harm inlearning to sing a proper bass part. Even if they did do acertain amount of harm, I should say, " Very well, it isbalanced by the good it does him in a hundred other ways."It is not merely learning some piece. It is the grind theyget, the incentive to do things, something big; and I thinkthat if a boy got a certain amount of damage done to hisvoice—I do not believe it myself—it would not matter.
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I have also been blamed for having tenors. My tenorshave not got broken voices. They could sing alto, just asyou said, Sir, that you can employ ladies to sing tenor.What is the harm in a boy singing tenor? I do not see anymore harm in a boy singing tenor than in a boy singing alto.
MR. ROYLE SHORE : It is a question of range, of course.MR. SPURLING : Directly their voice is cracked, they leave
off singing tenor. Some boys' voices never do crack. I havehad boys who have sung treble, alto, tenor, bass. I have hadboys, believe me, who have not had a crack in their voice atall. When they speak to you, you think, " Well, now, youcertainly cannot sing bass," but you will find they can godown to G.
MR. J. PERCY BAKER : I should like to support Mr.Spurling in what he says about boys' voices. In my workas a choir master during the last forty years, I have had avery large number of boys through my hands, and I feelvery much as Mr. Spurling says. You have to apply yourcommonsense. Your boy with a broken voice will yell atfootball matches and things of that sort, and, worse thanthat, you cannot prevent him shouting the latest popularsong if he wants to. That is where the damage is done tohis singing voice. If you can keep him during this periodon good work, and more or less under your supervision, Ido not see there can be much harm in it. After all, he hasto be using his voice all day long, whether it is cracked ornot. It is much better, when he comes to the special subjectof singing, to do so under the direction of his choir master.It is hardly worth while banking on a future Mario orSantley, because Marios and Santleys are pretty rare, andit is of great importance that the boy's love of music shouldbe kept alive.
A LADY : How often do you have a concert got up by theboys?
MR. SPURLING : For the Michaelmas term we are doingsome big work. We shall perform the B minor Mass, onDecember 18th. Next Lent they will give no real formalconcert, but probably some informal concert at the end ofthe term. In the summer term they give a formal concert.If you were to see some of the programmes of PublicSchools, you would be rather astonished at what is done. Ihave brought some programmes which you might like tocirculate. The boys will give a concert in the summer term,and then the orchestra will play a symphony and the choruswill sing. In the Christmas term they are busy with the B
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minor Mass. Last Sunday I had a full rehearsal of thewhole school and the orchestra. They hear the orchestrathen. Next Sunday it will be the same thing. Then theorchestra will play at the concerts. Then, of course, theycan hear them in the distance practising. My boys have amusic club which they enjoy, and they attend concerts veryfrequently on Sundays, and the boys hear their schoolorchestra a good bit.
MR. CECIL OLDMAN : Might I ask Mr. Spurling whetherany special arrangements are made for people who arespecially gifted musically? Do they have extra tuition inany way, because after all our Public Schools do not merelyprovide a sort of democratic musical education, but must inthe last resort provide us with our future virtuosos andsolo performers.
MB. SPURLING : I have not had, so far as I know, anyboy at Oundle whose parents have said, " We want him togo into the musical profession." I have had boys who havesaid that, but that is a different thing. I have always saidto them, " Very well, just make as much of the educationhere as you can, because you can specialise in music lateron." I think it is extremely important not to specialise inmusic too soon. If those boys show great aptitude, it willcome out without being forced. I should let them have alittle chance of practising more than they normally would,but otherwise I should make no difference. I do not believein putting a boy on a pedestal in any sort of way. That iswhy, when all these boys are taking part in something, theyare all doing it; they are not listeners, they are all per-formers. If a boy had any sort of genius about him, Ishould not advertise it but should keep it quiet. I have hadone or two boys in that way, and they have gone on with
music. I believe the great thing at school is to prevent anyboy thinking that he is better than someone else.
MR. OLDMAN : The only reason I asked was that I under-stand under the older system of education, the only peoplewho got any education at all were those who seemed likelyto appear with success at school concerts and things of thatsort. I am glad that they are now just regarded as ordinarymembers of the musical community like anybody else.
MR. SPURLING : I am glad that is a thing of the past inOundle School, and I hope it is in other schools. Manyyears ago the Headmaster of a big Public School was askedwhether a certain boy could go on to the Modern side. He
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replied, " Oh, yes, but he will be regarded as going to thehome of the destitute and outcast." That was a dreadfulthing. I do not think that any boy is made to feel that heis specially gifted. That idea has died out, certainly longago at Oundle. It was one of the things that the lateHeadmaster would not tolerate for a moment. Every boymust have the same equal chance and must be thought asmuch of as any other boy.
DR. FROGGATT : There only remains to me thepleasant duty of thanking the lecturer, very sincerelyand heartily for coming here and giving us such an interest-ing and valuable address.
The vote of thanks was carried by acclamation.
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