Music

IN AUGUST 1891 Mc CLURE WROTE TO HIS UNCLE, MR JOHN HYSLOP, IN NEW YORK WITH LIFE-CHANGING NEWS: HIS EXCITEMENT ABOUT TAKING ON THE CHALLENGE AND RESPONSIBILITY OF THE ROLE OF HEADMASTER AT MILL HILL SCHOOL. AS A LIFE-LONG LOVER OF MUSIC, A MULTI-INSTRUMENTALIST, AND AN EXPERIENCED CONDUCTOR, M c CLURE BEGAN HIS TENURE AT MILL HILL WITH AN ALMOST UNIQUE KNOWLEDGE OF THE GENRE AND STANDARD OF MUSIC THAT CAN BE ACHIEVED IN A SCHOOL SETTING.

In 1879, at the age of 18 whilst working as Assistant Master at Hinckley Grammar School, he wrote to Charles, an old Holly Mount College friend, saying: ‘Music, my dear boy, is fated either to make or to ruin me. I cannot regard it as a pastime; it appears to me in a much more important light than that.’ At the time the study of music outside the church was regarded as a non-essential pastime and according to his daughter, Kathleen Ousey in her biography ‘McClure of Mill Hill’, few schoolmasters regarded it as a valuable area of study.

‘Previous to his time, public school music had been somewhat neglected if not actually looked down upon; certainly, it was not placed on the same favourable footing as other subjects of general education.’

Dr McClure did his utmost to alter this unsatisfactory state of things, by strongly urging at the meetings of Headmasters and elsewhere, the necessity for making music count as a constituent item of the ordinary Public School curriculum.’ Dr CW Pearce, Director of Studies at Trinity College of Music.

In his first few years as Headmaster, McClure also took on the role of Director of Music creating a new musical culture and tradition at the School, with a mere 61 pupils, McClure had a huge task ahead of him. McClure is well documented for his huge successes as a Headmaster, educator, colleague and family man but for me, his enduring achievements in Music are the jewel in Mill Hill’s crown.

M c Clure’s early musical development

At School McClure was known as a competent academic, a keen and capable but not prolific sportsman, with a love of cricket and an unremarkable musician. There is evidence that he took piano lessons for about a year while a pupil at Holly Mount College (c.1874) but it wasn’t until aged 14 when he became good friends with a boy called James Johnstone, that his musicality really came alive. The Johnstone family had different interests to the McClure’s and the only common ground they shared was music: the entire family – there was a brood of siblings all close in age –were all musically well-schooled.

For two years, this is where ‘Johnny’ appeared to spend much of his free time playing the piano – he didn’t consider himself a singer at the time –convincing James, also a reluctant singer, to learn songs with him and perform them in school concerts. The Johnstones’ home, as well as his own, was a constant backdrop during McClure’s childhood and for many years into his adulthood.

The time McClure spent with the Johnstones essentially learning and playing music by ear outside the classroom is, I believe, key to his musical development.

McClure’s schoolboy reputation as more of a nascent musician at this early stage of his life is what interests me in his musicianship: did the apparent lack of formal study fuel his life-long desire to learn about music? While a motivated student in a formal lesson situation can quickly pick up the rudiments of musical theory, learn to relate to their chosen instrument – for example, the keys on a piano – and develop an understanding of the principles of a sound physical technique, many musicians would agree that a love for music is best nurtured away from a classroom.

In my opinion one of the most exciting parts of anyone’s early musical journey is when they discover that friends have similar musical passions and interests: devoting hours, days, weeks, and years of one’s free time to making music with good friends leads to an explosion in knowledge and ability. Friends learn from each other far faster than they would in a traditional teacher/pupil set up.

You learn to play each other’s instruments, synchronise musical tastes, push each other technically and theoretically, help each other through failure and weaknesses, and learn the principles of ensemble playing, all while having a jolly good laugh, falling out occasionally along the way, and turning these experiences into life-long friendships.

McClure’s early musical knowledge forged through self-discovery associated predominantly with pleasure rather than achievement leads me to conclude that this musical seed and positive childhood experiences explain why Millhillians past and present have flourished musically.

Mc Clure’s musical culture and character go hand in hand

In 1891, McClure took charge of 61 pupils and six members of the common room staff. From the date of his appointment, the qualities of his that stand out are his enthusiasm and his indefatigable desire to make things as good as they could be. McClure doesn’t strike me as an individual who strives to be the one, the only, or the best. His tacit goal appears is to achieve the best version of himself, his colleagues, and most importantly, his pupils.

McClure as an individual was full of charisma and charm and, from many points of view, an almost magical person. In the Music School today we have an expression about certain individuals whom we informally label ‘room warmers’ – people that have an inexplicable ability to metaphorically warm a room. For musicians (and performers in general) this is a hugely important quality that, although mostly unquantifiable, needs to be studied, analysed, and developed. McClure undoubtedly had this quality in abundance and used it unselfishly to help people make the most of themselves. His ability and desire to learn every pupil’s name and other personal information is well documented, as well as his ability to memorise large swathes of information. As a teacher he made every subject interesting ‘even mathematics’ and his desire for the School to flourish in sport was also well-known. Pupils and staff commented on his caring attitude

Hymns and M c Clure’s Devotional Services Book

As a fine musician, McClure knew only too well the importance of good hymnody, not only to teach the Christian faith but also to lift the heart and soul in communion with God. ‘There are times when even rhythmic speech does not suffice us, but moves us – again quite naturally – to seek the help of measured music, that we may find in singing what neither speech nor music alone could supply. Thus on Armistice Day we could not be content with cheers, even prayers left something unexpressed, until we sang with one accord our deep thanksgiving, ‘Praise God from whom all blessings flow.’

In his life, he played a significant role in compiling the Congregational Church Hymnal – a task made difficult because he thought there was a dearth of good hymns, possibly ‘no more than three hundred.’ When asked subsequently why he thought he had been given his Knighthood he self-deprecatingly teased that it must have been for his five years as chairman of this Hymnal Committee!

He brought all his expertise into the compilation of the Mill Hill Chapel Devotional Services Book in 1895 that contained 10 different Orders of Service and beautiful prayers for daily use, including the School Prayer. As with our new 2019 Mill Hill hymnbook, he had the school crest and the Latin motto embossed on the front cover. Included in his service book, McClure chose a further 88 ‘Supplementary Hymns’ to accompany the Congregational Church Hymnal. In the School’s archives, we are fortunate to have a leather-bound copy of this Devotional Services book that belonged to his wife Lady McClure. She has inscribed in the front in beautiful handwriting: ‘From “the School” to me on the Head Master’s Birthday, together with a copy of the same to himself – February 9th 1915 – gifts we prize very highly. M McClure.’

Continued overleaf

and his displays of kindness. This is McClure the leader and the individual but what about the musician?

In his first year, the School possessed only four pianos and had very few pupils who were capable of performing as a soloist. The choirmaster, Mr Peppin, had only just been appointed and, if music were to be built up at Mill Hill, there was a lot to do. In the early years, there was so little material for concerts that staff, including Mr Peppin and McClure, had to perform solos and duets alongside their pupils. From the outset McClure worked to create a new musical culture at the School.

As expressed by his daughter in her book: he didn’t deliberately set out to raise the standard or improve musical taste, rather, his primary goal was to make music a thing of joy.

She goes on to compare her father to a boy who has loved engines for years suddenly finding himself in an engine room.

From my perspective, McClure’s approach to building music was perfect and it is still the approach we take today. Pupils come together, giving up their (very limited) free time, to make music, but they don’t do it for qualifications or recognition, they do it for pleasure. While as teachers we try to create conditions under which joyful experiences can be a regular occurrence – whether they be in concert, on trips, in rehearsal, or in personal study – joy and pleasure in music-making are the fuel that keeps young musicians learning. The by-product is often excellent music and, once in a while, exquisite music!

Mc Clure music and leadership

In such a small and musically inexperienced school, McClure wasn’t able to be a musical director in the way we understand the role today.

At first, he led a small group of fledgling musicians playing alongside their masters, but during these early years, he built small instrumental ensembles and founded the school’s first orchestra.

As a musical scaffold for these novice ensembles, he learned to play every orchestral instrument. After only four years, with the school rapidly growing numbers and the choir in Mr Peppin’s capable hands, McClure was able to conduct the School choir and orchestra performing Handel’s ‘Messiah’.

As the music department grew, Mr Peppin took on conducting duties while tackling a more ambitious repertoire and introducing Sunday concerts. In 1896, Mr Laurence A Cane was appointed to replace Mr Peppin, who left to take up a similar position at Clifton College, and music continued to develop apace. In only six years, McClure was able to take a bit more of a back seat but continued to play an active role in school concerts and would frequently be seen playing his double bass in the orchestra.

To my mind, McClure’s love for music, his own unconventional musical development and the joy, enthusiasm, and excitement he found in it informed his approach a musical education. These qualities were to him essential ingredients in musical development.

M c Clure’s Sense of Fun and Musical Taste

From everything I have read, humour also played a part in McClure’s approach to learning. McClure is quoted as saying he wanted ‘all lessons to be fun, even mathematics’.

Humour played a big part in the musical life at Mill Hill and was, I suspect, sanctioned and heavily encouraged by McClure.

McClure thought that hymns ought to strive ‘after the sublime and the beautiful’ and conversely, he had a dislike of sentimental hymns with words that merely played to the emotions, or with tunes that did not stir the soul. He thought Christians were in danger of ‘suffering from a slothful tolerance of a poor second best.’ He was a controversial critic of the popular Christian hymn, ‘Fight the good fight’ that did not meet his exacting standards, either in words or music, and which he witheringly called ‘pitiable doggerel’. I think we can conclude from this that he would have disapproved that this hymn recently found its way into our new hymnbook.

Nevertheless, I like to think that he would be delighted with our hymnbook that also contains a selection of devotional readings and prayers – including his School Prayer from his service book. Our bespoke hymnbook was made possible with the help of donations and dedications from the wider Mill Hill community, thus supporting our long tradition of hymn singing in the School. The success of this project once again demonstrated McClure’s insight when he commented that the School, ‘though not rich in foundation, had a large endowment of goodwill and energy displayed by Old Millhillians.’

In particular, I think he would be pleased that the whole School still sings the hymn ‘Jerusalem’ with such fervent enthusiasm – one of the very few hymns that appears both in his service book and in ours. He liked it not just for its music, but for its clarion call to build Jerusalem – the Kingdom of God – in our land today, a kingdom characterised by the ‘Christian graces of faithfulness, truth, honour, love, patience, kindness, justice, self-denial.’

In one sermon McClure says, ‘There are many in our midst today, thank God, who are inspired by this same holy purpose of ‘building Jerusalem in England’s green and pleasant land.’ Although he acknowledges that this moral and spiritual work is not something that can be ever be finally accomplished even in many generations, nevertheless, ‘its completion is, or ought to be an aim of every English Christian.’

The Reverend Dr Richard Warden, former chaplain at Mill Hill School (2010-21)