The Key of Green

1774

In a Commencement oration that College historian Leon Richardson 1900 later described as "puerile and bombastic," John Wheelock praises music as "a Spark, which can inflame the friendly Mind with Sympathy and Compassion; inspire a Lover's Breast with a rising Ardour of Affection; and kindle in the Soul the long Train of tender Emotions."

1851

Students interrupt classroom recitations by blowing their horns outside professors' windows and running away before they can be discovered.

1891

A gushing music critic for The D proclaims that the Bavarian Yodel, a joint effort by the Banjo Club and Glee Club, is "worthy of three encores."

1897

The Dartmouth opines that Richard Hovey's "Men of Dartmouth" will never be sung as a distinctive College song.

1901

Professor Charles Morse teaches the College's first music class, a theory course which requires that students play four-part hymns on the keyboard as a prerequisite to enrollment.

1920

The Barbary Coast Jazz Ensemble is organized under the name "Underwood Embree and his Barbary Coast Five."

1930

A five-piece student or-chestra is standard dinner entertainment in the College Hall Commons.

1949

One undergraduate suggests that Bartlett Hall isn't wholly inadequate for music. He reports that a "faithful steam-pipe" unerringly sounds middle A whenever the heat is turned on.

1965

Comprehensive exams test music majors on their knowledge of 100 famous pieces. Most identify fewer than one-third of the selections.

1974

The first coed glee club tours the Northeast. The Aegis reports that "the girls added a lot to the tour, in the form of new verses for the Rugby songs, people to party with at the parties ..."

1991

The marching band includes two bagpipers, an accordionist, and a corps of kegs and kazoos.

1992

The College recognizes 15 musical ensembles, including four a cappella singing groups and a gamelan orchestra.

RAISING MONEY forthe baseball team was theraison d'être for theseDartmouth musicians.