Tillsonburg District High School - Tatler Yearbook (Tillsonburg, Ontario Canada)

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DID YOU KNOW THIS? The well-known composition, Eigh- teenth Century Drawing Room was from Sonata in C Major by Mozart. Polon- aise in A Flat Major by Chopin was the piece from which Till The End Of Time was taken. The music In The Moon Mist, made popular by Johnny Desmond a few years ago, was adapted from Berceuse From Jocelyn , written by Benjamin Godard many years ago. The Anniversary Song , made famous by Al Jolson, was based on Joseph Ivano- vici's Danube Waves. Frederick Chopin was, in some respects, the real author of I'm Always Chasing Rainbows , which owes much of its popularity to the movie, The Dolly Sisters g Fantasie - Im- promptu is the name of the original. Full Moon And Empty Arms , an ever- popular song, is the theme of Opus 18, from Second Piano Concerto by the well- known composer Rachmaninoff. Carolyn Merrill set words to Concerto No. 1 by Tschaikowsky and called it Love's Melody. Know your classics! It is one sure road to popularity. Getting down to one of the latest choices of teenagers, Billy Reid has written an- other all-time favourite song. His previous success was The Gypsy , which was first on the Hit Parade longer than any other song. Now he has added A Tree in the Meadow to his fame. Hats off to Mr. Reid: let's have another hit. q Elizabeth Simmons, XIB. CHOMA'S CHUMMY CHUMPS The organization of a second orchestra f'?J by Steve Choma, to introduce a lighter form of entertainment into the school, has created a great deal of interest this term. The students as a whole, however, know very little about Choma's Chummy Chumns , as this orchestra UD is called, for it is as yet unheard and unappreciated. The boys who make up this group have a variety of instruments which offer a nebulous, if not minacious, sound. For often the musician loses control over his instrument, and along with the audience must suffer from the resulting emission. We are still awaiting the first public appearance of this group and hope that 44 MUSIC CLUB EXECUTIVE M. L. Gross, J. Culp, M. MocEwan, R. Gibson, S. McQueen, Miss Field. it will not continue to remain mute. At least, until we have heard it we can ex- press that hope. Maybe afterward .... '? Donald Currie, XII. ON AN INTERVIEW WITH MESSRS. TAYLOR AND MOORE Very few students of T.D.H.S. know that Mr. Taylor is a harmonica virtuoso and that Mr. Moore is equally skilled in the playing of the sweet potato. After my interview with them, I had learned that there are many difficulties to be overcome when these artists attempt a duet. It seems that the sweet potato is an instrument in the key of H sharp and the harmonica is in the key of N flat. Before even the simplest duet is attempted the music must be transposed. Now you may readily understand that this is a task that only a maestro can perform, and takes many hours of arduous labour. Sometimes it is impossible to transpose a passage completely, transposition then is done by both musicians in the fervent hope that they may meet harmoniously somewhere near the middle point. We hope that at a later date our two teachers will arrange a concert for our pleasure. THE TATLER

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Mr. Hay has announced some innovations in cadet uniforms. Cadet buglers will wear bugles and drum- mers will weor drums. Did someone say something about lyres? :FIT ll B 53 by Richard Rokeby, XII T H E T A T l E R NOW AND THEN - THE T. D. H. S. ORCHESTRA Everyone knows the school orchestra of today, that group of noble musicians who won such redounding praise after the 1948 Commencement. I feel that few of us could recount the history of the fore runners of today's acclaimed group of musicians, consequently I shall endeavour to enlighten all those interested. The first school orchestra of which we mn find a trace consisted of three pieces. At the piano was Russell Gerow. He is still at it, ranking as one of Canada's finest musicians and musical directors. You have, doubtless, heard his musical arrangements on the C. B. C. show, Allan and Me , or his playing on other C. B. C. programmes. Handling the traps in this first orchestra was Lansing Rogers, who later played in the Air Force Bugle Band. Hector Munro was the violinist and he has since played with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra. The next orchestra added a violinist, Leo Stilwell, and a saxaphonist, Ian Crosby, who later played with Dick Park's Band from Jacksonville, Florida. He also played with the following orchestras: Herman Kentner's, Karl Gunther's, and Mever Davis's. The late Merlin fBaldyJ Colborne was a valuable addition with his cornet. Baldy subsequently played in many parts of the world: in Detroit, at the Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles, at Albu- querque, and on the S.S. Cleveland, plying between Los Angeles, Hawaii, China and the Philippines. For a period of time it seems that the orchestra did not exist or was unchronicled in the Tatlers or school records. However, in later years the orchestra came back into prominence annually for the Com- mencement Exercises due to the untiring efforts of Miss Howitt. In 1947 the orchestra, under the direction of Miss Field and with the support of their leader, cornetist Pat Turner, the Tillsonburg High School had its first year-round orchestra, playing for Friday Morning Assemblies throughout the term. This is the background of our present seventeen-piece orchestra, led by Steve Choma. It will endeavour to bring to the school honour and to future orchestras a record to equal and surpass. Jack Culp, XII. 43

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x THE HISTORY OF MUSIC by Richard Jones, XIA Senior Oraforicnl Confcst Prize-W'i11.ni1lg Sp0CCh Mr. Kirkwood, honourable judges, ladies and gentlemen: is there anyone here who can honestly say he dislikes music? I doubt it, for everyone has a certain appreciation of that art. Therefore, I should like to present briefly The History of Music. Music is regarded as one of the Fine Arts. To the regret of the student, re- search only reveals the obscurity in which its early history is shrouded. In the works of ancient writers are to be found incidental comments on music, but from them no definite knowledge may be ob- tained with regard to the character of music itself. Upon the monuments of ancient Egypt are discovered harps, lutes and other musical instruments, together with groups of musicians, evidently sing- ing, however crude the performance may have been. Whether harmony was known to the ancients is still an unsettled question with historians. Many incline to the belief that the stringed instruments, as well'as the double pipes blown by one mouthpiece, evidence a certain degree of harmonic perception. Pythagoras, the noted Greek theorist who lived around 600 B.C., origi- nated the notion of the Music of the Spheres , which was supposed to be the sound given out by the heavenly bodies as they passed one another in space, a sound so delicate as to be inaudible to the human ear. In Greece. too, we find Ter- pander of Lesbos C670 B.C.J, who invented the stringed citharag Olympus, who intro- duced the art of fiute-playing, an accom- nlishment much practiced in Greece: and Tyrtaeus, who was the ancestor of the modern troubadour or minstrel. While the Egyptians appeared to have enjoyed the music of their solo instruments alone, the Greeks preferred vocal music, using their instruments as accompaniments to the voice, or to a chorus of voices. In the ability of the flute players of Greece, how- ever, originated their ruin, for the tests in which they competed resulted in the sacrifice of their musicianship to technical feats alone. Given over to the military spirit, Rome had no love for the gentler art of music until Nero gave it an impetus by affecting a high regard for its charm. Greek slaves, as singers and players, were employed by THE TATLER the Romans, an evidence of the small re- gard in which the latter held the art. It was not until the fourth century, when Ambrose formulated the then existent scales into the Authentic Modes that the definite history of music begins. From that time until the present day, a central idea in its progress is discernible to those who follow its development. With Rome's decay, all the beauties of mythology and of the classics became dimmed. For a long period the hope of the progress of humanity was indeed dark. As the Christian Era dawned, there came a new factor in human progress and civil- ization, at first feeble in its influences, and slow in working out its mission. To none of the refined arts was the inculcation of the new religion destined to give more sympathetic or higher impulse than to the art of music. In early Judaism the Psalms of David offered the chief themes for sacred music. From the very earliest days music has played an important part in the religious cult of all nations. In the Catacombs of Rome, the early Christians chanted, in secret, their hymns of sorrow, in memory of St. Cecelia, the patron saint of music. Then, music was not only important as an essential part of worship, but it was the consolation of captives and the persecuted. R . Z Mr. D. F. Gibson, K.C., R. Jones. 45