FOR AMATEURS ONLY

With the gradual change of the Harvard Glee Club from a purely social collegiate singing organization to one of the best known men's choruses in the country, an impression has gained ground that the club is more semiprofessional than amateur in its composition.. Anything more contrary to the facts would be difficult to imagine. It is absolutely and entirely amateur in its make-up, and neither Dr. Davison nor the individual members are recompensed in any manner.

A dozen years ago, when Dr. Davison took over the job of conducting the club, most of the songs rendered were of the "Polly Wolly Doodle" type. Little by little, by introducing the selections of the choir into the programs of the larger organization, undergraduate opinion--the most conservative in the world--was prevailed upon to accept as its Glee Club a chorus which had in its repertoire something besides "Good Night, Ladies" and the "Bulldog on the Bank." In the face of incredulity and disbelief, the conductor and his little group of serious thinkers ploughed bravely ahead until they had proved their point that college men were really just as eager to hear good music as mediocre.

As a natural, if undesirable, outcome of this growth, the thought of professionalism was associated with the organization. Anything that the Glee Club can do to make its undergraduate character more patent to the outside world, such as the new system of placing season tickets on sale, for the benefit of the college before they are offered to the hoi polloi of Boston, will aid materially in allaying such an impression.