Well, this is kind of an unusual update. We’re all used to branding-type logos changing from time to time, but changes in something like a coat of arms are much more rare. But that’s what I have to report.
I’ve mentioned at GC before how Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia has spent much of the last few decades in what could be called a “back-to-our-roots” enterprise. There has been a great deal of interest in what our founders intended, what decisions they made to chart the course of the Fraternity, why they made those choices and how those choices are reflected in things such as our symbols. There has also been a great deal of examination of how those intentions and choices have become obscured over the years, and we have seen a gradual return to the intentions of the founders. The latest example of that is with our coat of arms.
It turns out that the coat of arms that we have all been used to is not quite what was adopted by our National Convention in 1910 (12 years after our founding). It’s close, but not quite. This is what we’ve used for over 50 years now:
But this is what the 1910 National Convention adopted as our arms:
Obviously, the two designs are similar, but there are some key differences. Some might take close inspection to detect: the cleaner lines of the hands, pan pipes and lamp; the thickness of the red saltire or the number of pan pipes or strings on the harp. Clearly though, the most noticeable difference (other than the shades of red and gold) is in the center – it is not our jeweled badge that appears (the design of which was also standardized by the 1910 National Convention), but rather the central triangle from our badge with a narrow border. The original design, which lacks the white pearls on the badge, not only keeps the arms limited to our three colors – red, black and gold – but also makes the black triangle with the three Greek letters and the
S much more prominent. In the "old" design, one notices the jewels of the badge; in the restored design, one notices the central triangle.
The revised design (with the badge) seems to have first appeared in the 1920s; somehow starting in the late 1940s, it became, for the most part, the only design used. With one exception, that is – our shingle (another thing adopted by the 1910 Convention) has always shown the “old” form of the design:
It was announced in the most recent edition of
The Sinfonian that the decision has been made to restore use of the arms actually adopted by the National Convention. Obviously it will take time to make the transition complete – I am sure that the old arms will continue to be seen in a variety of places for some time yet. (Although interestingly, the
post up-thread where I originally described our arms shows the restored arms because the image to which I linked was at Wikipedia, which was quickly updated with the restored arms.) But officially, we will now use the restored arms only.
Just thought I'd share.
Hybrid Mode
