American Music Education from WWII to Sputnik

1. American Music Education from WWII to Sputnik Jennifer Jaromin July 27, 2009

2. 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

3. 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

4. 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

5. 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?

6. 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

7. 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

8. 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.

9. 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

10. 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.”

11. 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”

12. Music Education Child’s Bill of Rights in Music – 1950 1. 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-being 2. Every child shall have the opportunity to experience music with other people 3. Every child shall have the opportunity to make music through singing, playing instruments, and composing 4. Every child shall have opportunity to grow in musical appreciation, knowledge, and skill through instruction equal to that given in any other subject 5. 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

13. 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

14. 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

15. “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)

16. 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

17. 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?

18. 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

19. 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

20. 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

21. Shinchi Suzuki (1898-1998) • 10 factors of Talent Education 1. Talent Education should begin at an early age 2. Regular listening is required since it is a rote approach 3. Lessons are private and a length suitable for the child’s age 4.Parents help with daily practice 5. All compositions studied are to be memorized 6. Note reading is introduced later, depending on age 7. All students, regardless of ability, follow the same sequence of materials 8. There are ten manuals of carefully selected music 9. Cooperation, not competition is the motivation 10. The pedagogy is up to date.

22. 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

23. 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

24. 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

25. 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

26. 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.

27. 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

28. 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

29. “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)

30. Carl Orff (1895-1982) • German composer • CarminaBurana • 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

31. 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

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

33. Move to Comprehensive Musicianship • 1957 – Ford Foundation examined the place of art in schools • Norman DelloJoio – placed young composers in public schools • Students could benefit from sharing in the creative process • 1959 – Young Composers Project • Few music teachers understood composition

34. 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

35. 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

36. “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.”

37. Thank you!