SONGS
Group Singing
There may be Woodcrafters who are little interested in athletics and not moved by the charms of handicraft, but it is very doubtful whether there are any indifferent to music. All cannot produce it, but all can enjoy it in some measure.
There can be no finer expression of team play than in group singing, and no Woodcraft Tribe will have done its best work until its members have learned to sing well, and while it is desirable that the leader be a musician, any one who can carry a tune can select good singable songs and teach them to the group.
In addition to the general songs, which may be found in all of the good collections of songs, are the songs that are particularly native to America. These are considered by many of our best composers to be of high value. Because of the fact that these native American folk-songs have not been greatly used we are including several of them in this chapter.
It is the spirit of the American folk-song that commends it. It is spontaneous, interpreting the world about us as well as the world within, offering a song and a dance for every mood and every large event in life.
America
My country, 'tis of thee,
Sweet land of liberty.
Of thee I sing:
Land where my fathers died,
Land of the Pilgrim's pride,
Fran every mountain side
Let freedom ring.
My native country, thee,
Land of the noble free,
Thy name I love:
I love thy rocks and rills,
Thy woods and templed hills;
My heart with rapture thrills
Like that above.
