Music edrdcation in societycountries. Group singing develops a special kind of fellowship that
makes it a unique experience. Young people are especially susceptible
to it and it is through them that we can reach the older groups. In
joining their voices in song the qualities of leadership and democracy
that we need for peace are developed.
THE IMPORTANCE
OF AUDIENCE PARTICIPATION
IN DANCING
by
Douglas KENNEDY, Director, English Folk Dance and Song SocietyThe evolution of the art of music has required both the performer and
the listener. A performer can express himself and enjoy the experience
without any audience other than himself, but sooner or later. he feels
the need to communicate his-experience to another. It is this desire to
communicate to a listener that has shaped music into its various forms.
If the listener be not sufficiently considered, the music, while it may
satisfy the performer, may also, from lack of form, seem meaningless
to the listener. The layman’s enjoyment of music depends on how
much he can enter actively into the music so that he feels and under-
stands it. Each person responds particularly to the music of his own
race. It seems to touch his unconscious memory with a peculiar ictensity,
and it is a commonplace that a whole people is affected by its own folk
music. Folk music has also a universal appeal because it reaches a deep
layer of feeling-a feeling that is universal rather than individual.
My own personal experience has been in the field of English folk
music and folk dance. In folk song, readiness to participate depends
very much on the actual singer, on the kind of song, and the infec-
tious influence of each upon the listener. The love song or the lyric
which deals with thoughts can be enjoyed passively. The emotions wilI
be shared by the audience, who will sympathize but may not desire to
join in. They are content to be receptive and passive. Certain singers,