A Plea for Harvard Tradition

To the Editor of the CRIMSON:

In your issue of last Saturday you quote the words M. Serge Koussevitsky of the Boston Symphony Orchestra has used in praise of the Harvard Glee Club. They are not extravagant and seem to most men in the College just another such tribute as the choral organization Dr. Davison has built up merits.

There are many men in the college who have not the time or the ability necessary to become members of the Glee Club. No opportunity is ever given to these men to sing the many excellent songs which are a part of every Harvard man's inheritance. A half-hearted effort is made to turn men out for the Freshman Hall choruses, but the sense of compulsion and the feeling of systematized noise-making which is usually present in the choruses militates against appellation on of the songs or pleasure from sinning them. During the football mass meetings one kind of song is sung with enthusiasm; but the emphasis is then more on the noise making than on the singing, and the excitement of the occasion results in a frenzied demonstration of support for the team, rather than in an attempt to sing the College songs.

The Glee Club published a couple of years ago many of the best of the Harvard songs. Few Harvard men sing these, and almost no one in the College knows the many good songs which have not been published for many years. These songs are among the best which have ever been turned out for male voices; and they are closely bound up with the traditions which play so large a part in making Harvard what it is today.

Although the musical reputation of the University has been so well taken care of by the Glee Club, it is unfortunate that the College as a whole has not perpetuated this part of the Harvard tradition. H. M. HUMBLEN '26.