Pleasant Mills High School - Spotlight Yearbook (Pleasant Mills, IN)

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singing a solo, O Holy Night, and Mr. Dolby singing Schubert's Ave Maria. About twenty-five boys and girls with the music teacher went caroling on Monday night before Christmas. The Weatherman co-operated very well with us and gave us a little snow, fabout the only snow before Christmas, which added to the spirit of the group. Carols were sung for several aged and sick residents of the community, teachers, friends, and occupants of the county home, and hospital. We tried to carol for the occupants of the jail, but found it empty--so it was soon filled with twenty-five carolers. After being released from the jail we went to Josephine Sheets' grandmother's home for refreshments and relaxation before going home. A good time was had by all: The second semester has brough the music to be learned for the County Music Festival which will be held again at Geneva on April 1. The music is harder this year and will take considerable practice for mastery. Mr. Varner Chance from Fort Wayne will be the guest conductor for the combined groups again as he was last year. lndefinite plans are being considered for several projects for the musical department members this semester. A listening program is under way in all music classes using the new record player and there is some probability that the county may set up a county library of music records. 50me instrumental W0I'k is being introduced in the grade music classes. We feel that with the co-operation of all the students and faculty the music department can become very valuable in the production of well- rounded personalities in our school students. Through music we learn to follow the leader, work together, use own individual abilities, become accustomed to facing an audience with poise, confidence and pride, to entertain ourselves and others, and develop refinement of character and personality. 34

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MUSIC DEPARTMENT Slide-step-slide and a hop-hop-hop went the drill routine girls. Boom-boom-boom went the bass drum and tramp-tramp-tramp went the grade children in the flag drill. Aspiring soloists and trying trios plied their voice to the tunes of recent popular songs. The first six weeks of school were busy ones for about 110 pupils of the music department. It was the preparation for the Music Revue, A CAVALCADE OF HIT SONGS. Given the nights of October 19-Z0 and made up of popular songs from the past Z3 years, the Revue was a variety program in- corporating the talents of students from the third grade to the seniors. A band composed of Grace Baltzel-piano, Gloria Merriman-accordian, Robert Young-guitar and Alyce Musser-drums, furnished rhythmic accompaniment for the various groups. Scenery groups ranged from Mexican for ln A Little Spanish Town and Ti-pi-tin to Western for Throw Another Log On The Fire and Don't Fence Me ln. Perhaps the prettiest scene was the river scene with its lover-laden canoe for Down the River of Golden Dreams. Top soloist honors seemed to go to Kent VonGuten singing Mairzey and Ruth Johnson singing I Believe in Miracles. The Senior trio, Sue, Phyllis and Pat, capably portrayed their song, Honey. Much of the credit for the success of the Revue goes to the senior girls who were Nominees for Revue Queen of l948. All the senior girls who are members of the music department competed in the contest to see who could sell the most tickets and hereby get the most votes. Through the efforts of these girls, over 470 tickets were sold in advance. Mildred DeRoo was declared Revue Queen and received the Silver Loving Cup for selling 203 tickets. From the proceeds of the Revue, the music department purchased the drum outfit and a new record player with a few records as permanent additions to their investment in a good time for all the cast at a skating party. The Revue was well received by the patrons of the community and the cast feels that it is just a good beginning towards what can be done another year when they will be experienced artists in the work. The music department had scarely settled down from the excitement of the Musical Revue when they were asked to prepare something for the P. T. A. Festival. Some of the girls from the glee club worked up a Blackface Minstrel. The enthusiasm of the girls, the peppy negro songs and their colorful appearance in the crowd at the festival made the boys a little sorry they had not taken the chance when it was offered to them. After the festival came the Christmas season with its lovely songs. Again this year we presented a brief and simple, but representative program of Christmas music. Included in the program was Sue White 33

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JUNIOR-SENIOR TRIP Destination: New York City On April ZZ, 1948, the Juniors and Seniors of Pleasant Mills High School left via the Erie Railroad for a trip to New York City under the supervision of Principal Hansel Foley and Mrs. Foley. After dinner and breakfast on the train and a day and a night's ride, we arrived at Jersey City, New Jersey at eight in the morning and boarded a motor coach, which took us under the Hudson River through the Holland Tlmnel to Manhattan and the Victoria Hotel on Times Square for registration. We had about two hours to ourselves after which we had lunch and then we were off to a sightseeing cruise which circurnnavigated Manhattan Island. We had dinner at a nearby restaurant after landing from our interesting four hour cruise. Radio City Music Hall Theater was scheduled for the evening but due to a misunderstanding in our reservation, the plans were called off. Most of us went to a movie instead. Friday morning after a hearty breakfast at the hotel we had an appointment to watch the broadcast of Fred Waring's wonderful program at N. B. C. Studio. Immediately following that we were conducted through Rockefeller Center some seventy stories high. We had lunch in a lovely restaurant in Rockefeller Center. In the afternoon we began a tour of lower Manhattan which in- cluded China Town and the Bowery. Then we ferried to Staten Island to see the Statue of Liberty. We walked to the very top of the statue from which we had an excellent view of the harbor. Friday evening was for our own sightseeing. Most of us saw a show or watched the interesting life on Broadway and Times Square. After breakfast on Saturday we started a tour of Uptown New York including Riverside Drive, Grant's Tomb, the Cathedral of St. John the Divine and Columbia University. We had the rest of the day for shopping. That evening we left on the Erie arriving in Decatur the next afternoon, tired but inspired from our wonderful experience. We are all anticipating the trip we hope to take this spring. 35