Royal St Georges College - Georgian Yearbook (Toronto, Ontario Canada)

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THE HEADMASTEITS REMARKS Mr. Chairman, Distinguished Guests, my Fellow Georgians: Welcome one and all to the twenty-third An- nual Graduation ceremony of St. George's College. My remarks will be brief, for I believe the focus of this occasion should be upon the accomplishments of our boys, whether they be in classes, in small groups, or as in- dividuals. We honour today the largest Grade 13 graduating class in the school's history -- 41 boys in all. We honour the eighteen members of that class who have earned the distinction of an Ontario scholarship. We honour all those throughout the school who now graduate from their present class into the next. For them, every- thing is progressing as it should. We honour all those individual winners of awards of merit in every area of school life. Especially do we honour those who, though they might not rise, as individuals, to public acclaim, have known their duty, have persevered, and have won through. By so doing, they have eamed our deep ad- miration. This Spring we were favoured with a visit by the men and boys choir of Hutton Grammar School in England. That school was founded in 1582 in the reign of Elizabeth I. The discipline, bearing, and fine musicianship of this group were little short of awe-inspiring. I could not but wonder to what extent their success was attributable to the charge laid to them by their Latin school motto, one devised by founding fathers who obviously wished to get it right the first time: Aut Disce - Either Work, or go Away! I like to think that the spirit of this seemingly, but only seemingly, harsh exhortation motivates much of what we think and do at St. George's. Perhaps it is the absence of that spirit which troubles so much of present-day edu- cation, in an age in which we too often hear, in one form or another, the cry: Gimme, Gimme! or I Want, I Want! It is my belief that it is only through a firm and selfless dedication to the tasks at hand, that this generation, or any other, for that matter, can properly fulfill its destiny. Gratification of ego is one thing, but selfless commitment quite another. St. George's College would not be the great school that it is were it not for the loyal and unflagging efforts of those groups and individuals who make it so. To them I offer my heartfelt thanks for making a reality of greatest hopes of the founders. To the Board of Govemors, for their acuity of mind, for their wise counsel, and for their preser- vation of the vision. To the teaching staff, for their un- DFW flattering devotion to the work of the classroom and the activities of the playing field. To those who coach and supervise the myriad extracurricular programmes of the sf 'r' T who nffice staff who tum a cheerful coun- If-4 Though a noble end. the means couldn't bejustified by it. When I asked why the event had to be a prefect slave auction, the answers ranged from It will be fun ordering them around to lt's a way of getting back at them . Most of the students realized. as they listened to the reasons, that such an event was an ill-conceived idea. For the unconvinced, l asked them to consider how they would feel if they were one of the prefects being auctioned and they received the lowest bid or no bid at all. The potential htuniliation was something I think they under- lstood. I hope they did. I had a disturbing conversation last year with a 'Georgian who stated quite proudly that he was a super- lficial person who didn't think about things and took with representatives of the school in order to clear away the few remaining obstacles to our staying at the St. Alband's site. In the winter issue of the Shield l comm- selled patience, for I know that such negotiations are never concluded as swiftly as we would wish. l know too. and appreciate, the honest frustration of members of the Board at the apparent slowness of progress. But l believe that our patience is about to pay off. As always, l address my closing words to those boys who now leave the school. Go from this place with our blessing and with our best wishes for a bright future for each one of you. Do not forget your old school! ,l.ll. Allen

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LOWER SCHOOL REPORT CHOR L MUSIC St. George's College Lower School spends more time on music than any other independent school. Each day, every boy has 45 minutes of either instrumental or choral training, and each boy has a private music lesson once a week. The reason for this amount of musical education is tradition, founding principles, and conviction. St. George's College was founded as a choir schoolg it not only promotes the boy choral tradition in its own right, but also acts as the choir school for St. James Cathedral, though a system of scholarships and by pro- viding practice space during the week. In spite of all this, we seem to be slow to explain why the training of boys' voices is so important in the cultural history of the world. Our Lower School bands are exceptional in their quality and professionalism and more than a match for any other band of the same age. But there is a subtle difference in 4 instrumental and choral programmes. When we put to- gether an orchestra or band of children between the ages of 9 and 13, we can be impressed with the high quality of their performanceg yet in no way do we expect that per- formance to be as good as an adult orchestra. Oc- casionally, there may be an individual child whose vir- tuoso playing is equal to that of an adult, but these children are so amazing that we call them geniuses or childhood prodigies . It is unusual for a child to have developed the embouchure, small muscle skills, or breath control to match that of an adult. However, in the field of all-male choirs, which have been around for more than a thousand years, we regularly expect young boys to perform at the same level as the adults in those choirs. Having performed in such choirs for many years, I know how f1u'ious the men can be if the boys' sight-reading, intonation, diction, etc. is not up to their standard. In one choir that I sang in, the Head Boy challenged any of the men to a competition in sight- reading, no one took him up on it. In short, this is the only endeavour that I can think of where children are expected to perform with adult skills. Because this instrument lan unchanged boy's voicel disappears so quickly, we cannot wait for adulthood for its use to reach perfection. Choirs, too, demand a level of maturity and leadership of boys that few other activities can match. For many Cathedral choirs in England, in the absence of the choir master the practice lmen and boysl is conducted by the Head Boy. In the early St. George's Choir Tours, before we had Travel Agents, the Head Boy and Chorister Pre- fects lnone over the age of 14D used to handle the complete booking into hotels, while the adults waited outside with the rest of the boys. One could argue that the continuance of boys in choirs is not necessary because the adult female voice can sing the same notes. But anyone who has seriously listened to both mixed-voice and all-male choirs, will readily be aware that the two sounds are very different lto say nothing of the difference between female altos and counter-tenorsl. This difference has led many composers to write church music specifically either for the female voice lBeethoven and Brahms! or for boys' voices lBachl. Some choirs have used boys and women in the same choir. Mixing two different sounds again changes the result, but there is also a tendency for boys in such a situation to revert to a dependency on the women such that they never realize their potential to perfomi at an adult level. The number of boys in choirs is declining at the moment in North America. In many public schools, we find the participation in choirs to be viewed by boys as a feminine activity. Consequently, it is most important that St. George's provide an opportunity for this thousand- year old tradition to continue. - Andrew Barlow