“TAMMIE” ON MUSIC IN GENERAL, AND SCOTCH MUSIC IN PARTICULAR.

Southern Cross, Volume 2, Issue 29, 13 October 1894, Page 9

“TAMMIE” ON MUSIC IN GENERAL, AND SCOTCH MUSIC IN PARTICULAR.

Whistlebinkie, Oct. 8, 1894. Man, Maister Editor, but ye’ll be bae’in a gran time o’t this week, wi a* the bands blawin’ aroond ye, as if they wad gar ye dance the a’e meenit, an fecht the next. I expect the Invercargill budies ’ll a be linkin’ along the streets, as Spruce as ye like, like the way I gaed when I used tae gang tae see Jenny mony a lang year syne. Music and love aye lichten the feet and warm the heart. I wad a liked fine tae hear them ’a, but what wi’ gettin’ the taties in, an’ rinning after mitherless lambs, it’s fairly oot o’ the question. M&n, I min fine when I wis a wee bare-fitted laddie in the auld toon at hame, hoo pleased I used tae be tae rin after the band when they were oot marching, an’ I wad far raither gotten on tae play the cymbals or the kettledrum than hae been made the Czar o’ Russia. I dinna ken, Maister Editor, if ye’re a Scotchman or no, but it’s tae be hoped for ye’re ain benefit ye air; but if ye’re a Scotchman, ye’ll ken the fine feel-

ing that comes owre ye when the band blaws up “ Auld Robin Gray,” how ye wad like jist tae git the auld rascal by the cuff o’ the neck for a meenit, an then hoo. the feeling changes when they strike up “ Lessie’s Dream,” an’ ye feel vexed for onybody that’s been born oot o’ auld Scotia ; and when they strike up the “ Spirits o’ Scotia/’ or “ Scots wha hae,” man, but ane jist looks roond aboot tae see if he canna get a grip o’ an Englishman. A Scotchman, Maister Bditor, taks as natural to music, an guid music, as what he daes tae whusky, an guid whusky; or tae kissin’ the lassies; an the bonny lassies, they spring from a land o’ song. It is breathed into them at their mither’s knee, and becomes the grandest part o’ their nature. He disna like nane o’ tirly-whirlyingeari that canna touch heart or ear, true tae his nature, he likes something that grups him; or that he can get a grup o’. Music is ane o’ the grandest blessings we hae gotten, be it the harmony o’ the sang, or the harmony o’ a noble action, it’s a’ ane. It stirs up what’s best in us ; an we’re the better o’ it. I min o’ my auld mither telling me that when a wean laucht in its sleep it was listening tae the angels singing, an when I hear a lauch yet, I sometimes think that the angels canna be far awa. Let us hae mair music, let us hae mair lauching, and less squabbling and fechtin wi’ ane anither. Wha that listens tae a mither as she sits pooring oot her heart’s feelings, as she croons her wean tae sleep, but feels that he is in the presence of a power he canna understand. He grasps but dimly the heights and depths of human love and human nature ; he enters the holy of holies, and hears the ‘harmony that is heard seldom in a lifetime, in the moments when hearts come uppermost. Scotchmen, as a rule, dinna mak a palaver or a fuss aboot their feelings. Folk sometimes ca’ them cauld an’ heartless; but they’re wrang. The faut of theirs ony lies i’ the training, no’ i’ the nature. Hoo there’s naebudy could say but what I like Jenny; but, mon, I couldna for the life o’ me oxter her alang the street; and even if I wanted tae, Jenny wud think 1 wis drunk; and as for gieing her a bit cheep afore folk, Jenny wud be perfectly black affrontit. But wi’ a’ their awkwardness and bashfulness, Scotchmen are warm at heart, and their cauldness but hides their intensity. But giea Scotchman music, and you unfold his true self, and no alane Scotchmen but a’ richt-sperited folk like music. The spell o’ love and music stirs the hearts o’ a’ alike. If it is the melody o’ love, oor spirit responds to it; if it is the melody o’ hope and uprightness, we dance ; if it is the melody o’ a lament for ane deid an’ gane, we greet ; if it is the melody o’ the heart thirsting for liberty, and breathing defiance to tryanny, we wud fecht ; if it is the melody o’ adoration to the Something beyond, we wud pray. Man, but music an’ harmony is a graun’ thing. Let us surround oorselves wi’ it a’ we can. An’ for that maitter, if we open oor ears we canna get away from it. When ane looks up at the stars they fine nichts, he min’s hoo they sang thegither for joy at the birth o’ the warl, lang syne; and ane hears in their hearts the sang o’ peace and good will that the angels sang raony a day syne ; and then in this fine Spring weather, when the birds sing sae cheery, and the floo’ers are a coming oot, and the warl, as it were, is being born again, ane canna but enter intae sympathy wi’ the speerit o’ auld David when he sang, “ God reigneth, let the earth be glad.” Let us hae music, let us love music, be it the sangs o’ hope an’ youth, or the sangs o’ love and tenderness, let it be the music o' the widow’s mite or the harmony o’ truth and riche, let it be the croonin’ o’ a mither tae her bairn, or the shout o’ the patriot as he fa’s in defence o’ his country, o’ his wife an’ his weans. Ane thing is sure —the people, the nation that is greatest in heart-stir-ring music shall lead the warl. Tammib Chalmers.