Towson University - Tower Echoes Yearbook (Towson, MD)

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THE TOWER LIGHT PORTIA: Let music sound while he doth make his choice, Then, if he lose, he makes a swan-like end, Fading in music . . . . . . He may win, And what is music then? then music is Even as the flourish when true subject bow To a new-crowned monarch, such it is As are those dulcet sounds in break of day That creep into the dreaming bridegroom's ear And summon him to marriage. John Milton wrote: Such sweet compulsion doth in music lie. Queen Elizabeth said she could shun melancholy by means of music of virginals. I've often wondered just exactly what George Eliot meant when she said, Music sweeps by me as a messenger carrying a message that is not for me. On the other hand, we find the austere Puritans emphatically against music. At one time, they sent a petition to parliament: A request of all true Christians . . . that all cathedral churches may be put down, where the service of God is grievously abused by piping with organs, singing, ringing, and trowling of psalms from one side of the choir to another, with the squeaking of chanting choristers. . X' However, we can't much blame the Puritans' attitude when we find that the average New England congregation knew only about five psalm tunes fwhich each person sang, nasally, in his own individual wayj . The following poem was found-written on a pew: Could poor King David but for once To-Church repair, And hear his psalms thus Warbled out, Good Lord! How he would swear. Overstreet says that music is what we would like life to be. Some time ago, I heard a man on the street say he never trusts anyone who has a fishy handclasp, or who dislikes music. Music is a beautiful art: to some people it is religion. You don't have to be a Wagner or a Galli Curci to enjoy it. It is as free as it is varied in its effects. It is a gift given us for our enjoyment. It is a splendid, worthwhile way to spend our leisure time. What do you think? EDWARD MACCUBBIN, Senior III. 13

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THE TOWER LIGHT A Few Notes on Music AS any one of you ever stopped to consider what good music really is? Many people, especially we moderns, do not care about the music written by the great masters. We think only of the present with the hot-cha blues songs, the whirling tempo of the dance tunes, and the syncopating rhythm of the jazz music. The popularity of these songs lasts but a few days, then a new song catches the fancy of the modern public. On the other hand, however, the music written by the great masters has a lasting quality. For several centuries, this music has been sung and played, and yet it always seems to have that certain something which holds the interest of the public. The masters seemed to have put their Everything and their whole life's toil into their works. They really discovered new tunes and strove for originality. Today's writers, or rather composers, are vastly different in regard to their mode of composing. There is no originality whatsoever. A modern composer takes an old song, quickens the tempo, adds a few simple words and juggles the notes around a little, and presto, he has a new song-hit! This song-hit enjoys popularity for a little while and then a new one takes its place. I leave the question with you. Wlmich is the better type of music, the type which has lasted through centuries or the type which enjoys immense popularity for a short time and then passes into complete obscurity? CHARLES A. HASLUP, Freshman VII. 120 What Do You Think? HAT is your opinion of music? Do you like it, are you in- different? The great majority of us like it as far as we can understand it. Let's skim through the pages of history to find what various outstanding characters thought of this fine art. Confucius, the Chinese sage, claimed that he could tell how well a country's government was run just by listening to its music. Martin Luther is quoted as having said, I verily think, and am not ashamed to say, that, next to divinity, no art is comparable to music. There is deep meaning in the following lines of Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice where Bassanio is about to choose one of the three caskets: 12

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THE TOWER LIGHT Rural Club Report in the Assembly on September 27, 1934 Mr. Meyer, a reporter for THE TOWER LIGHT, interviewed Mr. Wheeler, a member of the Rural Club. QUESTION!-Wbdf is the Rural Club and what are its purposes? ANSWER:-The Rural Club is an organization to further the children's welfare, to preserve and develop nature, and give justice and fair play to humanity. QUESTION!-H010 does the Rural Club realize these purposes? ANSWER:-There are many diiferent ways these purposes are realized, some of the following are outstanding: 1. By travel-study trips. . 2. At the regular meetings people who are active in carrying on community, state and national work, describe their work to the club. ' 3. Through various projects, especially the Glen Project. QUESTION:-lVhat is the Glen Project? ANSWER:-We are interested in making a part of the campus a preserve for wild flowers, plants and birds. This will be used as a laboratory for study and recreation by the Normal School students. And, as a little secret, I'11 tell you this, they're planning to put benches under some of these trees! QUESTION!--Wbdf social functions are planned by the club? ANSWER:-We are now planning a trip to Hagerstown. Then we have delightful tea dances which are open to the whole school. QUESTION:-lVho is eligible for membership to our Rural Club? , ANSWER:-We want anyone who is interested to sign up for our club. We try to have every county in Maryland and Baltimore City represented. 0:0 Dividend Returns Rekindled imaginationv is furnished by books of Hction, literature, biography and ine arts. Refreshed mentality in books of science, business, foreign languages and history. Peace and serenity in books of philosophy and religion. One-Hfth of this reading was done by children under fourteen years of age. ARE YOU SHARING IN THESE DIVIDENDS? Los Angeles Public Library. 14