Student Singing and Song Books in Scotland

Abstract

Students have always sung in the four Ancient Universities of Scotland. They were much later than German and North American universities, and a little later than England, in arranging the compilation and publication of national song books for students. These were The Scottish Students’ Song Book and The British Students’ Song Book and their few successors. The figure behind their creation was Professor John Stuart Blackie. Organised student singing in Scotland began in the late nineteenth century and continued until the middle of the twentieth century, when it gave way to other activities.