Oxford High School - Ravelins Yearbook (Oxford, MA)

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22 THE RAVELIN'S, 1936 THE DEVELOPMENT OF JAZZ By Matthew Sands. Since prehistoric times, musical expression has afforded an outlet for man's emotions. From the cave man to the average American of to- day, moods have been expressed by music and rhythm. At first, this music was Simply the beating of a drum, to which was added a series of four or five notes that were sung continu- allv for hours, either individually. or by groups when the prehistoric man was caught in the throes of some emotion,-,' perhaps collective groaning in times of imeiase hunger. From these simple beginnings has come our modern music with its complicated' melodies, counter- points, and elaborate orchestration of instru- ments and voices. With the beginning of music probably civili- zation began. Music is natural, and laws of mob psychology and sociology state that people living collectively fall to music as a means of synchronizing common thoughts and impulses, and so it is no more than natural that as Amer- ican civilization grew out of its independence it should turn toward music. Having no music of its own it started by borrowing the Euro- pean arts. But, Americans being essentially a revolutionary people soon grew tired of the old masters and a pause in music interest oc- curred. It was during this pause that our ul- tra-modern music, which had been developing in the American negro, was allowed to come forth and present America with its music- Jazz. During the later years of the nineteenth century the negroes, naturally a musical race, after their release from enslavement began to fnrm their own quarters in cities, and subse- quently began to form little bands or orches- tras of their own composed of a few cheap homemade or remodeled relics of instruments on which they played, with their only bond the common knowledge of the same tune. Each member of such bands would, in an endeavor to secure recognition, alter his instrument ofa learn the use of tongue devices such as treble tongue, in such a manner as to publicise its unique characteristics. The extensive use of wind instruments, because of their volume and versatility in small numbers, drove out the small stringed instruments, the banjo being the only survivor in the long struggle. When the music first played bv these negro bands came into the public eye, in the first years of the twentieth century, it was called Ragtime, and it retained that title for about fifteen years before being popularly known as Jazz. In Memphis where these bands first ap- peared they soon popularized the style of mu- sic known as Negro Blues. In this music as in nur present day Swing Music, between the verses or vocalized sections of the song, the various instruments would, in turn, give their interpretation, the player endeavoring to se- cure a unique effect which would mean popu- laritv. These Negro Blues were seldom writ- ten in music form and even then only by ne- gro composers. The only notable example of such a composition was the Memphis Blues, which was also interesting in that it had a mi- nor strain sprinkled throughout. The other maior type of strictly American music originated with a few negro and white bands in New Orleans which began at almost the same time as those in Memphis, but whose essential trait was the simultaneous competi- tion of the instruments in a group. Although never copied extensively, these general types brought forth many characteris- tics of present day Jazz. The development of this music was spread by touring ragtime bands started first as a commercial enterprise. It wasn't long, however. before such leaders as Art Hickman and Paul Whiteman, because they recognized the possibilities of such music, started to calm down the unreliable Memphis take your turn style, and the New Orleans altogether manner, by getting elaborate in- strumental music written by Grofe, a famous composer and arranger. In these orchestra- tions the spontaniety of each member was sac- rificed for miraculous effects in beauty of mel- ody and volume. ' Supplementing this work of Whiteman and .Q'ofe, George Gershwin produced in 1924, the most beautiful and only truly successful piece of modern music, in which he incorporated all of the jazz essentials into a beautiful melody, even eliminating the monotonous fox-trot bass time. This well known piece of work is his Rhapsody in Blue, whose success has never been duplicated, though many attempts have

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THE RAVELIN'S, 1936 21 book. His master picked up a bed slipper and beat the pup, which caused the pup to cry. Clark, if prosecuted as deserved, might have been fined the sum of two hundred dollars and imprisoned for one year. An hour or so later the wire-haired terrier whined to go out. Clark opened the door and, after the passage of the dog, closed it, leaving the dog at large, unat- tended, unmuzzled, and in the street. By this act Mr. Clark violated four ordinances of the city. A moment later, he broke a well-known nuisance act by assisting his son in flying a kite. At the usual time Clark started for work and while walking along he lit a cigarette. In his course of journeying he passed by a public square. He must either stop smoking or avoid the public souare. Again he offended, he en- tered the public square smoking, which was punishable by a five-dollar fine. Lighting a cigarette later in the forenoon, he used the last one in the package and threw the package into a wastebasket without destroying the rev- enue stamp. If Clark had been properlv penal- ized for this act, he would have lost fifty dol- lars and gone to prison for six months. If this act were strictly enforced, I think the Prisoner's Song would be hit number one until there weren't any men left to imprison. Taking out an hour for lunch, Clark walked toward a restaurant. Along the way he was asked by a tobacconist, from whom he had just purchased some smokes. to drop a letter in the nearest mailbox. This letter contained a lot- tery ticket, and even though he was ignorant of the contents of the letter. if he had been discovered there would have been a penalty of one thousand dollars Hne and two years in con- finement. On Clark's return to his business he or- dered his clerk to distribute hand bills, by which he broke another ordinance of his city. This disregard for the law should have cost him twenty dollars. At closing time, Clark returned home to find his son, Robert, struggling to carry a veloci- pede from the porch to the sidewalk. Running up the steps and gathering the boy under one arm and the velocipede under the other, he placed the child astride the vehicle. He had caused his son to break a civic ordinance for- biding the pedaling of velocipedes on public ways. That evening he entertained a friend. When the friend departed, Clark found that he was weary. He discovered that the house was grow- ing chillyg all day there had been a hint of the season's first snow. Even after Clark had gone to sleep he couldn't abide by the law. By mid- night the snow had fallen and ceased, leaving a white blanket upon the sidewalk. When Clark awoke at eight o'clock the next morning, he had broken a law while sleeping. He had failed to remove the snow from his sidewalk within six hours after it had ceased to fall. You law abiding citizens may graphically un- derstand the total delinquency of Clark, a type all too common in our unhappy land. Within a single twenty-four hours he had committed crimes and misdemeanors for which he should have paid a penalty of 52,895.67 in fines, and five years in a penal institution. Therefore, it seems fair to conclude that in the course of a single year, which should, if there were such a thing as law enforcement in this nation, have penalized him to the extent of S2,052,919.55 in fines and 1825 years in im- prisonment. Let me add that in some states it is illegal for a man to kiss his wife on Sunday, and that in other states a farmer could legally graze his cattle in public squares. I believe by now you have seen the dis- crepancy in our law enforcement. Let us hope in the near future that these laws may be na- tionally revised so that there may be more at- tention placed upon the few really important laws. Perhaps, too, if the statutes were revised, people would have more respect for law and those laws really in need of enforcement would find public favor.

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THE RAVE-LIN'S, 1936 23 been made by great American composers. From then on through the efforts of White- man-now known as the jazz king-many con- temporaries such as Berlin, Kearns, and Ham- merstein have glorified Jazz, which has one- hundredfold justified itself by opening such wide fields in instrumental interpretation and modification. And so, through Ragtime, Jazz, and Swing Music, the Americans have devel oped something strictly their own-their mu- sic-something of which they can be justly proud-Jazz ' CLASS WELCOME By Eugene Schofield. This is station O.H.S. operating on the short wave 1936. Before starting the program, we wish to thank our sponsors, who are our parents, teach- ers, school committee, superintendent, and friends. Through their efforts it is possible to present the following program: Advice to Undergraduates ........ John Connors Class History .................................... Vincent Gill Class Prophecy ........ ............ H elen Daley Class Will ............. ................. O live Wood Class Poem .............................. Cathryn Christian Class Song ............................ Paulena Chickering Class Gifts ........ Rita Lyman and Robert Allen The entire cast welcomes all friends of the school. We feel that this program will show that your faith in Station O.H.S. is justified. We hope that it will show you that this station is producing a program of which you can be proud. Your announcer, in behalf of the cast of the studio, thanks the audience for all it has given to the programs sponsored by us for the past four years. The last of this series of programs will take place Wednesday evening at eight o'clock from the same studios, by the same cast. I now turn the microphone over to the first of our enter- tainers.