Telegrams. Write at the top of the page any ten letters and have each member of the group write a telegram using the letters in the order given as initials of the ten words. These telegrams should be read and a decision reached by the group as to which is the best. Cities. Make a list of cities and then transpose the letters, giving the transposed list to the children, the game being to see which one can first put all the letters in their proper places. Drawing Animals. Give each child a slip of paper with the name of an animal written on it. Each in turn goes to a blackboard and attempts to draw the animal named on his paper. Paper Bag Drawing. Put a large paper bag over a child's head and give him a piece of charcoal or a heavy crayon pencil telling him to draw his face on the bag. There are certain articles of equipment easily obGame Equipment tainable which will add greatly to the enjoyment of the child. Among these are a bean bag board which may be homemade, a set of parlor quoits which the boys may easily make from ropes with a piece of an old broom handle stuck in a block of wood for a stake. Children may also be taught to make kites and pinwheels. Electric Dancers. Cut little figures, such as dolls, out of tissue paper, making them little more than half an inch long and lay them on the paper. Put on each side of them two books and lay a piece of glass about one and a half inches above them. Rub the glass briskly with a piece of flannel cloth and the figures will jump up and down. Boats. A half of a walnut shell makes a splendid little boat and a whole fleet of sail boats for the basin or the bath tub may be made by cutting little paper sails sticking part of a toothpick through each and fastening this mast to the bottom of the walnut shell by dropping a few drops of sealing wax or candle grease in the bottom of the shell. Tops. Small tops may be made from wooden button molds or spools by sticking a piece of wood through the hole, making a dull point at one end and having the stick protrude at the other end just enough to twist it and make it spin. Ink Serpents. Put one teaspoonful of salt in a glass of water. Dip the point of a pen first in ink, then in the water. Little serpents will form from the ink. Children's Choral and Orchestral Work GENEVIEVE TURNER HOLMAN Community Service Important in musical development are choral and orchestral work. A high type of leadership is essential. It may sometimes be furnished by developing a class for group vocal instruction and a class for instruction on instruments. Vocal Instruction for Groups. On account of the expense of private vocal instruction, opportunities for cultivating the voice are limited to a few. For this reason a splendid field for musical service is group voice culture. Finished voices cannot be properly coached through the group system but it has been demonstrated that resonance, good breathing and breath control, relaxation and freedom in their early stages can be effectively taught through this system. A system of syllabic exercises for children's group voice teaching, may be had from Mr. Henry W. Geiger, 39 Beekman Place, New York City. Private voice teachers will greatly benefit by this giving of opportunities to a much larger number to develop their voices as some pupils of such groups will desire to continue their work through private instruction. The vocal teachers in a community should be canvassed in an effort to secure their cooperation in taking groups of from ten to twenty at their studios, at community centers or industrial plants. Similarly a class may be developed for instruction both in all stringed instruments and upon brass and reed instruments. Piano Practice. In every neighborhood there are children who desire to take lessons but do not have pianos at home for practice purposes. They may be permitted to practice on pianos in community centers at hours when the instruments are unused for center purposes. In some cases a nominal sum is charged for this practice but when a child is really unable to pay no charge is made. Many Departments of Recreation are making the development of community music part of their Entire Community regular work. The Department of Recreation of Detroit, Michigan, for example, conducts community sings at recreation centers, at the Art Museum on Sunday afternoons and in factories at noon. It furnishes direction and clerical help for a Music for the girls' band. The band is an outgrowth of the Girls' Patriotic League Band organized during the war. The important factor in community music is the social one, the bringing of people together on the basis of their common interest in music and giving everyone an opportunity for self-expression. The highest possible standards should be maintained, however, and the appreciation of the best kind of music developed. The extent and forms of musical acivity as a part of the program of a department of recreation depends upon the amount of leadership which can be provided and the ability of the superintendent of recreation and his governing board to secure the cooperation of individuals and groups in the community. Among the forms of community-wide musical activities which may be developed are the following: Community Recitals and Concerts By securing the services of local musicians a series of recitals and concerts may be arranged at community centers. Frequently local artists are glad to volunteer their services. If a nominal sum is charged by the artists a moderate admission fee may sometimes be asked. Such recitals encourage local musical talent. Noonday programs in churches are another method of community recital. The performers may be the organists of the churches. This idea has been gaining of late in larger cities. Band concerts offer still another form of community concerts which should be encouraged. In many cities Park Boards make such concerts a part of their summer work. In a number of cities Recreation Commissions or Departments conduct the concerts. Group Vocal Opportunities for group vocal culture such as are suggested for children should be made possible for adults. Similarly, pianos at social centers which are not in use during parts of the day and the evening meal hour may be made available for the use of adults. Community Community singing is an activity in which young and old, the family as a whole, may take part together. It brings people together and stimulates an emotional response as does no other form of self-expression. It may constitute an entire program or be made a part of public occasions such as flag raisings, anniversaries and patriotic celebrations. It may be used as an adjunct to such forms of community recreation as picnics, baseball games, field days, fairs, carnivals. It may be made a medium to promote citizenship through the joint participation in singing of native and foreign-born citizens. Training Leaders. * A Recreation Department may perform a large service by training volunteers to lead singing at business men's luncheons, women's club and lodge meetings, at the moving picture theaters and community events of all kinds. Making Singing Community Wide. The training of volunteer leaders makes possible a broad program with their services. Singing may be started in department stores and factories. One or two demonstration sings should be held in the largest auditorium in the city by the best leader available. Sings should also be conducted among foreign groups, choosing one or two folk songs of the group and having them sing them first in their own language and then in English. If a stereopticon is used slides may be printed both in the foreign language and in English. Song Sheets, Charts and Slides. It is essential to a successful sing that the audience know the words. Kenneth S. Clark of the Bureau of Community Music of Community Service says, "The most effective method of holding community sings is with the use of stereopticon slides. A mere bed sheet may suffice as a screen. Slides of standard and popular songs may be purchased from such firms as the Standard Slide Corporation, 209 West 48th Street, New York City, or the Mic-Art Slides, 160 N. Wells Street, Chicago, Illinois. Groups may make their own slides on a typewriter with the use of an inexpensive outfit consisting of specially prepared slide mats, pieces of cover glass and binding tape, to be obtained from the Standard Slide Corporation. "When a stereopticon is not available the same effect may be secured with the use of song charts. For this purpose sign cloth is used. It is to be had in 60-yard rolls. The cloth is measured off in 30-inch lengths. The lettering is done with a drawing and lettering pen No. 7. Black show card color ink is to be used. Three inches from the upper corner of the chart are fastened Dennison's cloth suspension rings, No. 21. For suspending the charts a stick one-half or an inch thick, one and a half inches wide and 36 inches long is used. It may be folded for convenience in carrying. A strap hinge, six inches long, connects the two pieces with a heavy hook and eye on the opposite side to brace it. Hooks should be placed on the framework in position so that the charts may be *In Community Music, a practical handbook published by Community Service, will be found suggestions for conducting a song leaders' school, as well as information on all phases of a community music program. Price $.50 hung from them with the use of the suspension rings. These dimensions are for a rather small chart and the screen may be enlarged as desired." When a screen and slides cannot be provided, song sheets or song books may be used. The printing of song sheets may be financed by the group organizing community music, or in some instances local newspapers, merchants or industries are willing to pay for the printing of song sheets as a form of advertisement. It is important to bear in mind that permission to print copyrighted songs must be obtained from the publishers. Communities that do not wish to publish song sheets locally may secure them at cost price from the Bureau of Community Music, Community Service. Singing in Connection with As has been suggested community singing may well be made an important feature of special holiday celebrations. This is particularly true of the celebration of Christmas when the singing of carols on Christmas Eve and in connection with the Community Christmas tree may be made so beautiful and impressive a part of the ceremony. The Department of Recreation in Detroit, Michigan, has made this one of their special activities. In 1920 there were. 20,000 singers registered and 1009 carol groups were formed. They traversed 800 miles of streets during Christmas week reaching thousands of homes and shut-ins in hospitals and hotels. (See bulletin Music in a Community Christmas Celebration for suggestions for caroling and other forms of musical expression in connection with Christmas celebrations. May be secured from Bureau of Community Music, Community Service. Price 10c.) Christmas carol sheets may be had at cost from the same address. A Permanent "We ought to keep on with community singProgram of ing, but we ought also to have it lead over, for Community Music the more musical, into permanent people's choruses which will be able to do oratorio. We should get glee clubs started in every school and social center. We should promote orchestras, bands, string quartettes, mandolin clubs, in schools and settlements and neighborhood centers. There should be music settlements where solo work is taught," says Joseph Lee. Out of community singing should develop a permanent organization for appearances at public celebrations and special holiday occasions. Community Music describes the unit system of organization with smaller groups in factories, stores, clubs, churches and |