SONGS SCHOOLBOYS SING.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 19529, 11 July 1925, Page 9

SONGS SCHOOLBOYS SING.

(By Denis Dunn, in the Daily Mail). The many “sing-soups’’ at the recent O.T.C. camps prove tihat the average schoolboy’s reputed taste for saxophone and syncopation is a musical myth. He is chorally conservative. Amid a galaxy of old folk songs, sentimental ballads, and school choruses, a well-known quadruped was only twice exhorted to elevate its tail—and Felix may still be walking for all the interest he aroused. “No John” and “Friend of Mine” were nightly successes, while the “Tarpaulin Jacket” was softly hummed from many tents after “lights-out.” Schoolboys will attempt any tunc that offers harmony. I have seen mnt-or-coaehes returning from victorious pitches laden with vocalists, full of enthusiasm, thundering forth the “Dies Iras” with “Clementine” as an encore. A modernist who attempted "I Love Me.” was compelled to finish it himself amid a stony silence punctuated with sarcastic comments. ***** The schoolroom must he productive of sentimentalism because “Kathleen Mavourneen,” “Allan Water,” and “Robin Adair” are regular items at school concerts and entertainments. Even- school has its own particular chorus' which it never tires of rendering. One well-known northern public .school possesses a song whoso entire wording is composed of masters’ nicknames. Renee the suspicious attitude of the academic staff when the most insignificant of sharps or the meanest of flats begins to sound. '