GREAT ANTIQUITY OF PLATFORM MANNERS.
Why musicians sway from side to side, or roll their bodies or their arms when playing, has never been explained, though various theories have been given. Nearly all do it, the singer turning his head from side to side, the violinist twisting his body, the organist rolling about as though his stops were far out of his reach. And this kind of thing has occurred certainly for well over two thousand years, for it is a subject of satire by Aristophanes, the witty dramatist who lived some time between 450 and 380 B.C. Probably at one time the efforts necessary for playing and singing certain things were the cause of it, for we know that even right down in the middle of the Christian era, organ players had to use great force to put down the keys and draw out the stops. Today, however, it would seem to be a long-established tradition with no existing reason.
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Bibliographic details
Star (Christchurch), Volume XLIV, Issue 64, 17 March 1931, Page 5
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161GREAT ANTIQUITY OF PLATFORM MANNERS. Star (Christchurch), Volume XLIV, Issue 64, 17 March 1931, Page 5
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