Selwyn House School - Yearbook (Montreal, Quebec Canada)

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FOR THE SCHOOL YE.-XR 1939- 1940 The Barahe uf the iBlanets. :X little while ago, in the western sky, there appeared a rare astronomical pheno- menon which has not happened, and will not happen again, for many hundreds of years. This was the so-called Parade of the Planets. The planets were: Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, Saturn and Mars. These planets were strung out in a long line, thus making the Parade. The best time to see this spectacle was just after the sun had set, about 6.30 PBI., before the lowest planet, Mercury, had gone down behind the horizon. This planet is very small, and is usually too close to the sun to be seen. On this occasion, however, it could be seen for about half an hour just after sunset, but it was so low that it was not easy to pick out the faint object among the trees. In spring and summer it can be seen just before sunrise. Ir is a very hot planet, and it revolves about the sun in approximately eighty-eight of our days. So far as is known, it has no moons. Jupiter was the next planet in the Parade This planet is bigger than all of the others combined. Because of its size it was formerly thought to be very hot, but in recent years it has been proved that the planet has an outer covering of ice twenty-two thousand miles thick. It has on top of this I1 covering of gases, which gives the appearance that the planet was hot. In addition to this it has nine moons, the four biggest of which are visible to the naked eye. The planet has a day of eleven hours, instead of the twenty- four hours which we have. It is quite often seen in our northern and Western skies. Venus was the next planet in the line. This planet, with the exception of the Moon, is the brightest object in the heavens. The reason for its great brilliance is because it has around it a thick white atmosphere. The sun's rays strike this atmosphere, and are thrown back into space. Ir is also the closest of the planets to the earth. In size it is very much the same as the Earth , but, like Mercury, it has no moons. The next planet above Venus was Saturn. This planet is second in size only to Jupiter, and like it has a layer of ice sixteen thousand miles thick. It appears in the sky as a faint object, because of its great distance. It also has the famous Rings of Saturn. These are composed of millions of tiny moons, all held together by gravity. As well as these it has eleven larger moons, some of which are visible in a small telescope. The highest planet in the Parade was Mars. This planet was the closest to the earth last July than it has been or will be for Fifteen years. Ir has an atmosphere simi- lar to that of the Earth, but more rarened. If human life is possible outside of the Earth, lNIars is the most likely planet to contain it. It has two moons, Phabos and Oeimos, which are ten miles and live miles in diameter respectively. In addition to these live planets there was a sixth planet in the Parade. This was Uranus. It is invisible to the naked eye, but can be seen with a pair of held glasses or a small telescope. This plane is quite large, but its great distance from the Earth makes it invisible. It has four moons, but these can only be seen in a large telescope. It was fortunate or those who are interested in astronomy that it was a clear night, and that it was easy to see and observe this magnificent spectacle. H. MQL., Form 4. l3l l

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SELWYN HOUSE SCHOOL MAGAZINE The brass section is used about as much as the woodwinds are. The trumpet is used a great deal in announcing the arrival of notables in operas. It is a very curious in- strument because it has only three stops, while it has a range of at least two octaves. The tuba is the lowest of any instrument. It plays a lot in the orchestra, as well as taking solos to imitate the noises of animals. The percussion section is probably as important as that of the strings. In Bolero which was composed by the late French musician, Ravel, the snare drum is used all the way through the seven minutes of its playing. Besides this, other instruments take solo parts. The snare drum, the bass drum, as well as the kettle drums, or tympani, are used in fifty per cent of all compositions. The cymbals, triangles, celestas, and other instruments of this kind are used here and there in different pieces, although they hardly ever play solos. The harp is probably one of the oldest and most romantic of musical instruments. It was known well to the Jews in Biblical times, indeed, David is remembered as a harper and singer. In the Waltz of the Flowers from Tschaikowsky's 'Nutcracker' Suite, it plays a number of measures, some of the most beautiful ones at that. This instrument has forty-seven strings, so one can see how hard it must be to play. The strings are partly coloured at the top, so the musician can play the instrument without looking for the middle C string or the B Hat one, and so on. The organ is a very important instrument. Johann Sebastian Bach was probably the greatest organist the world has ever had. He composed a great number of preludes and fugues for this instrument. It is used in many of the three hundred of Bach's church cantatas. Of course, everyone recognizes it as being the instrument of the church, but, which is peculiar, a small string orchestra was sometimes used in churches in the time of Bach and Handel, the two greatest composers of church music. The piano is an extremely important instrument also. It is used in Szostakowicz's first symphony, which is uncommon. In sonatas, Concertos, and quintets, it plays an important part. There are few well-known pieces composed for the piano alone, examples of these are Saint-Saens' Carnival of the Animals, and Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata. The saxophone is used chieHy in 'jazz' and dance bands. It cannot be in the sym- phony orchestra because it can't play as softly as the strings, nor as loudly as the brass section. The only time when it does play with the symphony orchestra is when it takes solo parts composed for the saxophone. A good example of this is in Ibert's concertino for saxophone and orchestra. One peculiar thing that has happened recently is that Leopold Stokowski has changed the sitting of the Philadelphia Symphony Orchestra. I-Ie has placed the brass and Wood- wind sections in the front, the strings behind and the percussion instruments, as before, at the back. In military bands and in 'jazz' orchestras, there are no stringed instruments. The brass section plays the most important part, while that of the percussion instruments comes next in position. In my opinion, symphonic music is becoming more and more important to everyone than is 'jazz', and I think it will continue to do so. C. .-I. B., Form 5. l30l

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SELWYN HOUSE SCHOOI. MAGAZINE Rburvuranhp. There are several aspects of photography. Une is taking what are termed snap shots U. These are purely records of good times, and incidents of which one wishes to have a visual remembrance, with no particular thought of the artistic or technical idea of photography. However, photography is a subject which can give the devotee many hours of in- tense en-ioymentg also the reverse, many disappointments l One who is fond of shooting and fishing takes along with him many different kinds of lenses, filters, and light meters, and is torn between the two desires of attempting to make good photographs, or of having good fishing or shooting! The net result is that he sometimes has neither, even though he may have a lot of fun l Several things must be remembered, f and above all, you must have a good light. The light should be shining from behind you on the object to be photographed. In sand or snow the aperture should be small, to get a sharp outline of your picture. The smaller the aperture, the greater the depth of your focus. If you are taking shots of moving objects, your shutter speed should be fast. , Other aspects of photography are technical ones, and include the takingof artistic photographs. To take these pictures one has to remember which would look better: to have the shadow behind the object to be photographed, to have a dark background or a background of trees, mountains, etc. All these are quite diliicult to decide. You can sometimes take a picture against the sun, thus giving it the effect of a silhouette. To do this you must have a small aperture and a fast shutter. On the technical side there are lenses and shutter speeds so fast that it is quite possible to take a photograph of a bullet not only in full flight, but which will also show the actual impact with an object such as an electric light bulb. They will also record the split part of a second during which the bullet is inside the bulb, and when it is emerging. ln this way experts are able to study the flight of a bullet, as well as the effect on the object. Many photographs of this kind are shown in the advertisements of ammunition manu- facturers. The use of fine telephotic lenses from aeroplanes has been made to map untravelled and inaccessible country. The use of these lenses is essential in modern warfare in order to map accurately the enemy's country, and their concentrations of troops and supplies. However, I think that the best pictures are made in the dark room. Suppose a picture is taken, and one part of it does not look well, Clet us say, for instance, that the clouds have not come out welll, then we take some pictures of clouds and superimpose one of them upon the original picture, which will then appear perfect. T. F., Form 6. lWe publish :1 few photographs taken by boys in the school. The following have been kind enough to send us photographs: tl. Ballon, Chipman, Colin Elder, T. Hampson, P. Jennings, Donald and Alan Patterson, and C. Bovey. - T.F.J l32l