4-H Songs And Music
Music has traditionally been a key ingredient in 4-H from its earliest days. Some have even described 4-H as a singing organization. Singing was often a part of the club meeting. Music was an ingredient of the 4-H camping program, and county and state fairs. Even National 4-H Congress had an official song leader that would lead the 2,000 attendees in song. (D. Merrill Davis of Jackson, Ohio was the official song leader at National 4-H Congress and National 4-H Camp for many years.)
During the decade of the 1920s, the National Committee on Boys and Girls Club Work actively promoted National Music Week which was held each year in early May and the National Music Week Committee in New York City offered 4-H club leaders free copies of a series of booklets about singing and music. The Country Gentleman magazine, in 1929, sponsored a national music contest open to all young people, inspired by the organized singing activities of 4-H boys and girls. Many states - and even some local clubs - had organized 4-H bands and orchestras in the 1920s and 1930s, some of these groups from midwestern states coming to the National 4-H Congress and International Live Stock Exposition in Chicago.
In response to a questionnaire sent out from the National Committee on Boys and Girls Club Work in 1930, 14 states out of 25 answering, reported having bona fide 4-H Club orchestras. Eleven states reported 4-H Club bands. A total of 42 4-H orchestras and 21 4-H bands were reported. Kansas lead in the number of musical 4-H organizations with 10 orchestras and 5 bands. Minnesota had 6 orchestras and 3 bands, and Illinois had 5 orchestras and 2 bands.
4-H Share the Fun programs placed singing and music in the competitive realm, often musical presentations from various clubs competing against one another at the county level and then moving to district or state competition.
An entire history can be written about 4-H songs, particularly from the 1920s era, when they seemed to be created almost on the daily basis. Although there were some songs written by talented and accomplished writers, far more were penned by 4-H boys and girls or 4-H leaders. And, like many other parts of 4-H, it was a grassroots movement. A young 4-Her would write the words to a song - often to the tune of a popular song everyone already knew - and it would be sung at their local club meeting. Some of these songs made it to the state level and were picked up by other states. Most every issue of the 4-H leaders magazine from this era carried the words to two or three new songs.
When the National Committee on Boys and Girls Club Work (later National 4-H Service Committee) created the 4-H Supply Service in 1925, during the first year they planned and designed a 4-H Handy Book - an annual booklet which basically had three sections, 1)4-H Club Work and Practice, 2)4-H Supplies and 3)Songs. The songs segment carried the words to 40 or more songs used with 4-H clubs, camps and other activities.
In the 1930s, the National Committee on Boys and Girls Club Work split up these categories of the 4-H Handy Book and published the National 4-H Club Song Book which was offered through the National 4-H Supply Service. Carrying even more songs, the new Song Book not only had the words to most of the songs, but the printed music, as well. A National 4-H Songbook Committee, headed by R. A. Turner, Field Agent of the Federal Extension Service, directed the production of later editions, selecting the songs to be included, securing copyright clearances, and assuring the Song Book would include a well-balanced selection of patriotic songs, religious songs and spirituals, traditional popular songs and 4-H songs. For example, the 1954 revised edition of the National 4-H Club Song Book included the music and words to 80 selections - such songs as America the Beautiful, The Star-Spangled Banner, Battle Hymn of the Republic, Jacob's Ladder, Swing Low Sweet Chariot, Follow the Gleam, This is My Father's World, Now the Day Is Over!, Home on the Range, Down in the Valley, Tell Me Why and Study War No More. Some of the traditional 4-H songs of the day were a prominent part of the book; songs like Dreaming, A Plowing Song, A Place in the Sun, The Pride of the Land, 4-H Field Song, 4-H Ceremonial Song and the National 4-H Pledge Song. Over 400,000 of the National 4-H Club Song Books were sold during the first decade.
Probably the name most associated with 4-H songs is that of Fannie R. Buchanan, the first Iowa State Music Extension Specialist (1925-1927). She wrote both A Ploughing Song (4-H song for boys) and Dreaming (4-H song for girls) in 1927, introducing them both at the 1927 National 4-H Camp in Washington, DC. These were following by A Song for Health (for 4-H clubs) in 1929, the 4-H Friendship Song in 1932, and the 4-H Field Song in 1933. The National Committee on Boys and Girls Club Work (now National 4-H Council) published all of Fannie Buchanan's 4-H songs and holds the copyrights to these songs plus some of the other popular 4-H songs. Several of the songs were offered in sheet music format through the National 4-H Supply Service. A small notice in a 1924 issue of National Boys and Girls Club News announced the availability of a music bulletin that had been prepared by Fannie Buchanan who was then with the Victor Talking Machine Company. During the mid-1920s Fannie Buchanan authored a column on music in the National Boys and Girls Club News. In 1941, Fannie Buchanan authored an Extension Music Publication entitled "Music of the Soil."
The availability of a new song, The Four-H Clover and the Rose, was announced in August 1930 in the National Boys and Girls Club News. It was written by Harriett F. Johnson, South Carolina State Girls' Club Leader, with sheet music available through the 4-H Supply Service.
In 1933, the United States Department of Agriculture and the State Colleges of Agriculture Co-operating, sponsored the writing and publishing of the song The Pride o' the Land - to become known as the National 4-H March - written by Anna M. Priestley and Edwin Franko Goldman, and dedicated to the National 4-H Clubs: Head, Heart, Hands and Health. Starting in 1930, R. A. Turner of the Federal Extension Service, each year arranged for a music hour on the monthly National 4-H Radio Program. The music hour featured the U.S. Marine Band and they traditionally played The Pride o' the Land. Turner's office printed programs, mailed in advance to the States, enabling clubs the country over to conduct music appreciation hours. This was continued annually until 1942 when the Marine Band had to discontinue the tradition due to the pressing commitments involved with the war.
Also in 1933, the National Committee on Boys and Girls Club Work commissioned Clare A. Rood to write the words and music to the song A Song of the Open Country. Clare Rood also wrote the words and music to the Greeting Song in 1936. In 1937, the National Committee on Boys and Girls Club Work also commissioned Conrad Thompson to write the song 4-H Hymn.
Another favorite 4-H song of significance is A Place in the Sun, written in 1948 by the famous orchestra leader Fred Waring and Jack Dolph, and dedicated to 4-H Clubs. In addition to the printed version, the song was offered in a record format on the Decca Records label. Fred Waring personally came to Chicago where he introduced "A Place in the Sun" to 1948 National 4-H Congress delegates at a special luncheon at the famous Edgewater Beach Hotel.
Another song was also premiered at the 1948 National 4-H Congress, at the closing banquet. 4-H March of the Banners, written by Max Exner, Iowa Extension Service, and published by C. C. Birchard & Co. was promised to be in music stores by early 1949.