AMERICAN MUSIC EDUCATION FROM WWII TO SPUTNIKJennifer Jaromin

July 27, 2009

HISTORY

1945 – end of WWII – GI Bill of Rights 1947 – Jackie Robinson 1950 – Korean War 1954 – Brown vs. Board of Education 1954 – Nautilus – first nuclear submarine 1957 – Russian launch of Sputnik 1959 – Alaska and Hawaii become states 1960 – beginning of civil rights movement 1961 – first intercontinental ballistic missile 1962 – Cuban missile crisis

MUSIC EDUCATION HISTORY

1945 – Conant’s General Education in a free society

1947 – North Texas State University introduces first jazz studies program in American higher education

1948 – ASTA is formed 1950 – Child’s Bill of Rights in Music 1952 – Fennell forms Wind Ensembles at

Eastman 1953 – Journal of Research in Music

Education 1959 – Contemporary Music Project

EDUCATION IN AMERICA – REACTION AGAINST PROGRESSIVISM

GI Bill of Rights - 1945

Call for reform after WWII No need to keep students out of labor force Society demanded a return to academic

emphasis Poor and black communities demanded

compensatory education to level the playing field

GI Bill of Rights

The GI Bill made it possible for veterans to go to college. Today should it be the goal of high schools to have everyone attend college?

EDUCATION IN AMERICA – REACTION AGAINST PROGRESSIVISM

Publications: Mortimer Smith – And Madly Teach Bernard Bell – Crisis in Education Albert Lynd – Quackery in the public schools Arthur Bestor – Educational Wastelands Admiral H. G. Rickover – Education and Freedom James Bryant Conant – American High School

Today

Criticized the “aimlessness” of public education

EDUCATION IN AMERICA – REACTION AGAINST PROGRESSIVISM

Council on Basic Education – 1956 “schools exist to provide the essential skills of

language, numbers, and orderly thought, and to transmit in a reasoned pattern the intellectual, moral, and aesthetic heritage of civilized man”

Formed by Bestor and Smith

EDUCATION IN AMERICA – REACTION AGAINST PROGRESSIVISM

“Teacher training institutions put far too much emphasis on training teachers how to teach and far too little on training them what to teach.”

Certification requirements too easy

Critics focused on the “fact” that schools failed to provide scientifically trained manpower.

EDUCATION IN AMERICA – REACTION AGAINST PROGRESSIVISM

Conant and Rickover Science and math more important that arts

Rickover – warned that Russians would beat the US Felt that America was wasting it’s time trying to

teach all students equally, taking field trips, assemblies, etc.

Conant – intellectual meritocracy More challenging, rigorous courses Guidance system to “persuade” students to do

their “social duty and fulfill their potential

EDUCATION IN AMERICA – REACTION AGAINST PROGRESSIVISM

Basic skills emphasized

NEA and AASA

“Many leaders lost sight of the fact that these skills are simply tools that open the gate to education. They are not an education themselves.”

EDUCATION IN AMERICA – REACTION AGAINST PROGRESSIVISM

Curriculum changes Began with physics and math National in scope “teacher proof” curriculum Widely spread materials – commercially

Funding For sciences National Defense Education Act – 1958

Cognitive Psychology Complex learning at an early age Educational “toys”

MUSIC EDUCATION

Child’s Bill of Rights in Music – 19501. Every child had the right to full and free opportunity to explore and develop his capacities in the field of music in such was as may bring him happiness and sense of well-being2. Every child shall have the opportunity to experience music with other people3. Every child shall have the opportunity to make music through singing, playing instruments, and composing4. Every child shall have opportunity to grow in musical appreciation, knowledge, and skill through instruction equal to that given in any other subject5. Every child shall be given the opportunity to have his interest and power in music explored and developed 6. Every child has the right to such teaching as will sensitize, refine, elevate, and enlarge not only his appreciation of music, but also his whole affective nature

MUSIC EDUCATION

MENC St. Louis Conference 1950 Discussed issues in music teaching

Prescribed a program for music in the junior and senior high schools

Discussed teacher loads and scheduling

Discussed music buildings and equipment needs

MUSIC EDUCATION

At this time… Society was no longer trying to assimilate new

immigrants Community music groups were popular Pop music and jazz Start of push for racial equality Free music on television and radio Football affected music education

“Most people have an abundance of choices, but not enough time or money for a variety of activities. Every choice they make limits the other choices available to them. As a result, many never take advantage of the opportunity to develop their innate sensitivity to music, and perhaps go through life unaware of what they are missing.” (Mark)

PUSH FOR EQUALITY

1954 – Brown vs Board of Education Overturned Plessy vs. Fergusson Difficulties implementing desegregation

North=housing patterns South=Jim Crow laws

Thurgood Marshall

1955 – Brown II

It seemed as though only armed guards could enforce the law

Brown vs. Board

Brown vs. Board of Ed. was over 50 years ago. Today students still separate themselves in schools (at lunch, different classes, etc). What should teachers do to integrate students in classes?

FREDERICK FENNELL (1914-2004)

Internationally recognized conductor Graduated from Eastman 1952 – started Eastman Symphonic Wind

Ensemble Combine aspects of other performing ensembles 45 player instrumentation New music written for new ensemble

SHINCHI SUZUKI (1898-1998)

Created method of violin teaching to help Japanese children after WWII

First class had only one violin Mother Language idea

All people born with great potential Children learn to speak early, why not learn music? Not everyone will reach the same potential

Talent Education

SHINCHI SUZUKI (1898-1998)

Talent Education – 5 Key Points The human being is a product of his environment The earlier, the better – not only music, but all

learning Repetition of experiences is important for

learning Teacher and parents must be at a high level and

continue to grow to provide a better learning situation for the child

The system of method must involve illustrations for the child based on the teacher’s understanding of when, what, and how

SHINCHI SUZUKI (1898-1998) 10 factors of Talent Education

1. Talent Education should begin at an early age2. Regular listening is required since it is a rote approach3. Lessons are private and a length suitable for the child’s age4.Parents help with daily practice5. All compositions studied are to be memorized6. Note reading is introduced later, depending on age7. All students, regardless of ability, follow the same sequence of materials8. There are ten manuals of carefully selected music9. Cooperation, not competition is the motivation10. The pedagogy is up to date.

SHINCHI SUZUKI (1898-1998)

Misconceptions in America

SUPER – Suzuki Penfield Eastman Rochester

Nurtured by Love

Public schools should continue to start a year earlier

Suzuki concert

MADELEINE CARABO-CONE

Violinist

Sensory Motor Approach Use of props, costumes and toys for children to

learn musical concepts (note duration, staff, etc)

Children learn fundamentals of music by exploring through touch

EMILE JACQUES DALCROZE (1865-1950)

Swiss musician and educator Frustrated that music is taught in “isolated

compartments”

Method based on idea that the source of rhythm is the natural rhythms of the human body Includes singing, ear training, harmony, counterpoint, form, music history, applied music and ensembles

Maslow self-actualization

EMILE JACQUES DALCROZE (1865-1950)

Beliefs: Ear training before instruments Few texts – learn by doing Teacher must improvise on piano Rhythm is really motion Adaptable to any level of musical instruction Goal is to have a musical experience Perfect rhythm may be more rare than perfect

pitch Begin in early childhood

EMILE JACQUES DALCROZE (1865-1950)

Music is abstract, we hear it moving through time. Movement is concrete, we see it moving through space.

Just as there are consonant chords there is consonant movement – perfect coordination between limbs, head, and torso, the fundamental agents of gesture.

ZOLTAN KODALY (1882-1967)

Hungarian musician, educator, composer Method

Curwen hand signs Pictorial representation of rhythm Folk Music – musical mother tongue of language

Pentatonic Singing games Live with music as a part of life

ZOLTAN KODALY (1882-1967)

1950 – first school began in Hungary 1969 – first school began in America

Folk songs over dry, unpopular exercises Then great classics of past: Haydn, Mozart,

Beethoven Even while playing instruments, singing must

always be at the center of instruction

“We may say that the best teaching goes unnoticed. The students are guided ever so gently to new area of skill and awareness. Transitions are brought about smoothly. The course of a god lesson feels like a pleasant walk in good weather. The teacher is a musician guide. If we choose to follow Kodaly’s varied path of musical pedagogy, we will find that he tells us not so much what to do, but rather what to become.” (Farkas)

CARL ORFF (1895-1982)

German composer Carmina Burana

Orff-Shulwerk Music, movement, and speech are inseperable Use familiar songs/words

Belief in simple to complex

Children can learn as long as its presented at the right time and in the right order

CARL ORFF (1895-1982)

Philosophy of teaching music Pentatonic Ostinato patterns Music from geographical area Use of motives Orff ensemble instruments Elemental music - universal (descending minor

3rd) Use of speech patterns

Orff, Kodaly, Suzuki, and Dalcroze influenced American music education at this time. How much do they (or did they) influence your teaching today?

MOVE TO COMPREHENSIVE MUSICIANSHIP

1957 – Ford Foundation examined the place of art in schools Norman Dello Joio – placed young composers in

public schools Students could benefit from sharing in the

creative process

1959 – Young Composers Project Few music teachers understood composition

MOVE TO COMPREHENSIVE MUSICIANSHIP

1963 – Contemporary Music Project Grant from Ford Formed to:

Increase creativity Foundation for acceptance of the contemporary music

idiom Reduce compartmentalization between music

education and composition Cultivate taste and discrimination of contemporary

music Discover creative talent among students

1965 – develop comprehensive musicianship

AFTER SPUTNIK

Baby Boom Too many children in schools No point in trying to keep 16-21 year olds off job market

Cold War Propaganda Fueled attitudes Compete in military, science, economy, culture Emphasis on foreign language Move from cities to suburbs

“Thus the reforms of the fifties and sixties served, somewhat fortuitously, to allocate educational services unevenly across the social spectrum – in a pattern strangely reminiscent of that planned by the social efficiency educators of four decades earlier. Growing recognition of this situation and growing horror at the social cost such a system would ultimately exact in a democracy led to the next great era of education reform – the effort to secure equal educational opportunity for all Americans, especially for the poor and the black.”

THANK YOU!