Title: MENC: Remembrances and Perspectives

Author(s): Allen P. Britton

Source: Britton, A. P. (1994, Summer). MENC: Remembrances and perspectives. The Quarterly, 5(2), pp. 6-15. (Reprinted with permission in Visions of Research in Music Education, 16(5), Autumn, 2010). Retrieved from http://www-usr.rider.edu/~vrme/

It is with pleasure that we inaugurate the reprint of the entire seven volumes of The Quarterly Journal of Music Teaching and Learning. The journal began in 1990 as The Quarterly. In 1992, with volume 3, the name changed to The Quarterly Journal of Music Teaching and Learning and continued until 1997. The journal contained articles on issues that were timely when they appeared and are now important for their historical relevance. For many authors, it was their first major publication. Visions of Research in Music Education will publish facsimiles of each issue as it originally appeared. Each article will be a separate pdf file. Jason D. Vodicka has accepted my invitation to serve as guest editor for the reprint project and will compose a new editorial to introduce each volume. Chad Keilman is the production manager. I express deepest thanks to Richard Colwell for granting VRME permission to re-publish The Quarterly in online format. He has graciously prepared an introduction to the reprint series. MENC: Refl1.efl1.brances And Perspectives

By Allen P. Britton Dean Emeritus, School of Music University of Michigan

remember how pleasant and satisfying it gardless of merit, the candidate from the was to be president of the Music Educa- largest division always wins. So, since Michi- Itors National Conference. Like all teach- gan is in the North Central Division, the larg- ers of the subject, I believed that music was est, I got elected, as I learned from President the greatest thing ever invented and that Karl D. Ernst, who telephoned after the votes teaching music was the finest thing anyone were counted. could be doing. As president, I assumed that At the national level, the MENC was, as it I was, so to speak, roaming in the Lord's remains today, virtually free of politics in the very own vineyards, engaged in holy work partisan sense. There are never any rival fac- for which I would go to heaven someday, tions supporting the nominees. Every presi- unless I did something really awful. The late dent comes to office with ideas of his or her Louis Wersen had reassured me in this re- own, I suppose, but not with a burden of spect just after my election had been con- promised accomplishments. A candidate for firmed. "Allen," he said, "Don't worry about the presidency of MENC has never felt forced being president. You can't destroy the Music to say, "Read my lips." Educators National Conference in two years." So I had no burden of promises, but I did No one starts out with any intention of be- bring a private agenda consisting of two spe- coming president. It comes to every presi- cial items. One was to emphasize to the ex- dent, as it came to me, as a real surprise. tent possible the importance to music educa- Robert A. Choate simply called me at home tors of music itself as distinguished from meth- one night in the fall of 1959. As the immedi- odology; the other was to reconstitute the ate past president, Bob was chairman of the committee on accreditation and certification. nominating committee, and he wanted to With regard to the first, which stemmed know if I would be willing [0 accept the from a feeling that we teachers can easily nomination for president. Earl Beach of the come to think and talk too much about tech- Southern Division was to be the other candi- nical rather than artistic matters, the Ford date. Good, I thought, Earl is much better Foundation unwittingly came to my aid when qualified than I and is sure to be elected. If I it approached MENC about taking over the accept, I'll have the honor of the nomination, management of the Young Composers but I won't win, and I'll be able to continue Project, established several years previously work on my bibliography of eighteenth cen- under the artistic guidance of Norman Della tury singing-school textbooks.I joio, It was the hope of the organizers that It was only later that Clifford V. Buttel- the exposure of young composers to student man, at that time the executive secretary of musicians in the public schools would pro- MENC, told me that, in his experience, re- vide immediate feedback regarding the play- ability and acceptability of their composi- tions. School musicians, it was hoped, and Allen P. Britton serued as MENCPresident from eventualIy the general public, might come to 1960-1962. He is a founding editor of the like modern music better. Modern music, of Journal of Research in Music Education as well course, meant to Della Joio the kind of high as American Music.

6 The Quarterly Journal of Music Teaching and Learning art music being produced in collegiate com- called stage-band music but what was, of position departments. course, jazz. To prove that we also pos- Originally, the general management of this sessed a more universal taste, we engaged project had been entrusted to the National the Budapest Quartet for the final concert. Music Council, which at that time maintained The Ford people were impressed, and shortly a small office in New York with a part-time thereafter the MENC received a grant of executive secretary - not really enough staff $1,380,000. The extra $380,000 was for a for the task - so the Ford Foundation itself project of our own, intended to benefit music had been compelled to take over the practi- education specifically. We had asked for this cal management of the details, including se- extra money to make sure that our special lecting young composers, finding public schools interests could also be furthered. We as- to put them in, supervising sumed direction of the the operation, and tending to Young Composers Project all the other necessary work Louis Wersen had and launched our own the project entailed. Comprehensive Musician- Chester D'Arms, then Ford reassured me ... ship Project. We were for- Foundation officer for the arts, just after my tunate to secure the ser- had been looking for an orga- vices of Bernard Fitzgerald nization with sufficient staff election had been and Grant Beglarian in the and professional know-how confirmed. general direction and man- to do this job. The full story agement of the projects. I has been told elsewhere-, so "Allen,"he said, believe, but do not know it will be sufficient to mention "Don't vvorry for sure, since the imple- here that the search finally mentation of the project came down to a competition about being occurred under Gil between the MENC and the president. You Zimmer-man's leadership, American Musicological So- that Beglarian, himself a ciety CAMS),unlikely adver- can't destroy the composer and theorist, saries because one group Music Educators was the one who came up hardly knew of the existence with the idea of stressing of the other. The MENC de- National comprehensive musician- servedlywon out because the Conference ship (i.e., an advanced ver- AMS leadership failed to evi- sion of what people usu- dence much interest in the in t\Vo years." ally call music theory). fate of school music or Ameri- I'll never forget the day can composers. With the that Vanett, Gil chance of a Ford Foundation grant in the offing, Zimmerman, and I went from Washington to we began immediately to conduct MENC op- New York to talk to Chester D'Arms at the erations in a manner best calculated to con- Ford Foundation. Two things stick in my vince the people at the Ford Foundation that mind: One is that, after asking us to take MENC not only possessed enough staff to over the project, D'Arms turned about and manage the job but also the musical taste asked, in effect, what made us think that and knowledge to do so with appropriate MENC could handle something like this. The elegance. other is the vision of Vanett taking notes on Thus, in planning the program for the Chi- the back of an envelope, putting down a cago conference of 1962, I personally re- hundred thousand dollars here and a hun- viewed every proposed concert program dred thousand there. I kept reminding my- with a view to the quality of the selections. self that this would be the first time that the At Vanett Lawler's suggestion, so as to con- world of higher learning had come to believe tinue our promotion of American indigenous that our profession might have something to music, I approved a full schedule of sessions offer American culture. I hoped that we featuring what we then euphemistically were making a real breakthrough and that

Volume V, Number 2 7 many similar projects might be undertaken in Education Association (NEA) (this was in the the future. In this I was mostly wrong, as days before it became a trade union), argued things have turned out, for national inertia that elementary and secondary teachers and has made a mishmash of many rosy dreams. school administrators, as well as local school The IVIENCand the AMS still have nothing to boards, should also have voices in the mat- do with one another. The Ford Foundation ter. The NEA accordingly organized its own has not helped us in many years. subgroup called the National Committee on Coming to grips with the problems associ- the Accreditation of Teacher Education ated with accreditation and certification also (NCATE). The group included representa- involved our relationships, or the lack tives of the larger world of education, includ- thereof, with other organizations. In the first ing the AACTE (which surrendered its ac- place, I felt that the ME IC should not take a crediting power) and various factions of the one-sided position in the matter. But if I am NEA such as superintendents, teachers, and to make a complicated story intelligible, I school boards. must begin with reference to the American NCATE seemed to provide a plausible so- Association of University Presidents (AAUP), lution to the problem of representing educa- a potent group whose dictates, then as now, tion in the business of accreditation, so it largely control the American world of higher was approved by the newly formed and still education. Unable to tolerate the accredita- naive ACA while the rest of the educational tion process as then practiced, sometime dur- world was looking the other way. The prob- ing the 1950s the AAUP formed a subgroup lem with NCATE was that it was the only ac- that was designated as the American Com- crediting body that did not consist entirely of mission on Accrediting (ACA), decreeing that the institutions being accredited. The ASM, no accrediting body not recognized by the for example, was made up of the heads of new commission would be allowed on the the music departments comprising its mem- campus of any AAUP institution. bership. The AACTE similarly was com- The complexity of the situation can be in- prised of the heads of teachers colleges. ferred from the fact that at least five organi- Thus, accreditation was carried on by re- zations claimed accrediting jurisdiction in the sponsible and knowledgeable people who field of chemistry alone. Comparable situa- knew what was possible and what was good tions existed in other fields - there seemed and what was bad. The NCATE, on the to be more accreditors than there were fields other hand, consisted at first of 17 individuals of study. After the creation of the ACA, all appointed from the ranks of the general con- the accrediting bodies had to face the un- stituencies to be represented. Thus, these pleasant task of getting accredited them- persons were, almost by definition, respon- selves, and there ensued some really hot sible only to their own consciences, and, in times down at the old academic corral. my opinion, helpless in the hands of the pro- The ACA, however, had no hesitation in fessional representatives of the NEA, which recognizing the National Association of provided most of the funds for maintaining Schools of Music (NASM) as the proper body the NCATE itself. to accredit music instruction, and neither did As director of NCATE, the NEA appointed it have any hesitation in recognizing the and paid the salary of W. Earl Armstrong, American Association of Colleges for Teacher who quickly asserted himself and his organi- Education (AACTE) as the accrediting author- zation in the accreditation scene as well as in ity for courses in professional education. But the state certification of elementary and sec- which of these two bodies should accredit ondary school teachers. Armstrong's princi- programs for preparing music teachers? Both pal career had been made as an NEA em- NASM and the AACTE claimed jurisdiction. ployee. He led a movement aimed at putting In my opinion, the two organizations, if left the NEA in authority not only over elernen- to themselves, eventually could have worked tary and secondary education, but over out satisfactory arrangements, but still an- higher education also. As president of other organization, the influential National MENC, I was invited to attend several confer-

8 The Quarterly Journal of Music Teaching and Learning ences in Washington at the NEA national chance of getting the world of higher educa- headquarters on 16th Street, just north of the tion to submit to the certification of college White House. There I was instructed in the and university professors by state boards of NEA plan to "professionalize" all of educa- education. tion, to use the NEA term for it. Even profes- Nobody believed me. In 1960, Earl sors in medical schools, I was solemnly as- Armstrong came to Michigan to speak to the sured, would need to get teaching certificates presidents of lVlichigan liberal arts colleges that would require them to take several hours and defend proposed new state certification of academic credit in professional education. requirements for public school teachers. The I asked how such control could be ob- Michigan State Board of Education had pub- tained, not only in medicine but in liberal lished the proposed new requirements, arts, engineering, and other subjects, in the which were designed to establish a basis for face of the comparative strength of medical the reform of teacher training according to and other lobbies. The task was to be ac- NEA doctrine. The proposal raised from 30 complished, I learned, through state boards to 60 the number of semester hours credit of education, which were staffed entirely by that would be required in professional edu- NEA people. Certification laws could be cation, and limited the hours in the major changed so that all teachers, including those subject-matter field to 30. In a mimeo- in colleges and professional schools, would graphed document distributed statewide, the be required to obtain teaching certificates; Michigan board claimed that "no person who and the certificate, in turn, would require a has demonstrated a primary interest in a given total of 60 hours of credit in departments of subject matter can at the same time have a pri- education in such areas as administration, mary interest in the welfare of children.t'> history, psychology, and practice teaching. Needless to say, Armstrong was not well These were certainly the days in which the received in Michigan by the assembled col- NEA and its supporters basked in the heady lege presidents and deans. When he got back glory of their own imagining. to Washington, he told Vanett that he had I remember spending a whole morning in been assured by the Lansing staff of the state a Washington hotel room discussing the matter board of education, previous to the meeting, with Armstrong, and I engaged in many hours that the people in Michigan were solidly in of conversation with other members of the favor of the proposed new certification re- NEA staff. I was unsuccessful, not only with quirement. He was shocked at the vehe- them, but also with members of the MENC mence of the opposition and felt himself staff. Everyone around me was convinced that somehow betrayed. the NEA was invincible and that NCATE This incident illustrates how far out of should and would take control of the prepara- touch the NEA was with American education tion and certification of all teachers in Ameri- as a whole. And so, it seemed to me, was can education, including those in colleges and the rest of the world of professional educa- universities. The NASMwould soon be out of tion. For reasons that are not entirely ob- the business of accrediting, I was told. scure, the world of education with a capital-E I came to feel that the NEA staff and many had partitioned itself intellectually from the professional educators all over the country rest of the educational world. At the time believed in the NEA and its doctrines much that there was a considerable amount of dis- in the way that the faithful of any church be- dain for capital-E education on the part of lieve in the true religion. I pointed out that "mere subject-matter specialists" (as the NEA medical schools never paid any attention to called college professors), and the capital-E anyone but themselves. I pointed out that types felt similar disdain for lower-case edu- engineers would insist on managing their cators. There was a lot of misunderstanding own affairs. I pointed out that faculties in and distrust on both sides. the liberal arts tended to view the world of Within the ME C family itself, the problem professional education with a lofty disdain. was complicated by a certain rivalry between In short, I told them that the NEA had zero two of our greatest leaders. Marguerite V.

Volume V, Number 2 9 I remember ho~ pleasant and satisfying it~as to be president of the Music Educators ational Conference. Like all teachers of the subject, I believed that.music 'was the greatest thing ever invented and that teaching music ~as the finest thing anyone could be doing.

Hood and Vanett Lawler are both members believe, but because NCATE was a creature of the MENC Hall of Fame, and rightly so. of the NEA. Our rent-free quarters in Wash- And if we had a hagiology, they would be ington were at the NEA headquarters itself. listed there too, for if any two people ever During Karl Ernst's presidency, he became deserved MENC sainthood, their names are convinced that the MENC should not concern Marguerite and Vanett. Yet these dynamic itself with accreditation and certification and women came to view one another with con- abolished Marguerite's committee. I re-estab- siderable suspicion. They both, for example, lished it, convinced that we should take a were devoted to the International Society for positive but neutral stand in the matter. As a Music Education (ISME), and each contrib- result, I like to believe, some important uted generously of her time, talent, and battles were won for music education. One funds to its welfare. In its early years, Vanett of the objectives of NCATE was to denigrate took care of ISME business through the the importance of proficiency in subject mat- MENC office facilities. Marguerite was also a ter by limiting the number of credit hours founding member of ISME and attended ev- one could take in it. The NCATE position, as ery meeting until shortly before her death. stated by Armstrong, was that interest and Their rivalry in ISME matched that in MENC. ability in subject matter (i.e., music) was When the Journal oj Research in Music comparatively unimportant. In the public Education (JRME) was founded, I first came discussion at East Lansing, in response to an to know Vanett, who then held the title of objection I had made in this regard, Arm- assistant executive secretary. We got along strong asked me whether or not I agreed that very well, but when I came to Washington in music should form a part of every child's 1960 as the new president, I could sense a education. When I indicated that I did agree, little wariness in Vanett's manner. It he smiled and said that I had just proved that stemmed, I soon came to believe, from every teacher could teach music, because ev- Vanett's problematical relationship with both eryone would have received musical instruc- Marguerite and with the dean of the Univer- tion as a part of general education. Hoping to sity of Michigan School of Music, Earl V. keep the MENC on some middle ground, I ar- Moore. Moore was the long-time chairman gued that no winner could ever emerge from of the NASM Commission on Accrediting. the campaigns being waged. Departments of He actively opposed the entrance of NCATE education were not likely to be abolished, and into the accrediting of music programs. Mar- neither were departments of music and other guerite, a professor of music education at subjects. All these people somehow would Michigan and chairman of music in the Ann have to learn to get along together. Arbor public schools, sided with Moore in This all happened a fairly long time ago, trying to keep musicality as the basis for cer- and other problems have risen to the fore- tification in music. After her term as presi- front of attention. Nevertheless, although the dent, Marguerite became chairman of the NEA itself is certainly out of business as a MENC Committee on Certification and Ac- force in accrediting, NCATE and the NASM crediting. Her problem with the NASM was are still functioning, and the academic wars in defending the importance of teaching of the 1960s are still being waged with methodology. Her problem with NCATE was scarcely diminished vigor in the 1990s. A in defending the importance of teaching mu- recent issue of National Forum, the Phi sic itself. Vanett sided with NCATE, not from Kappa Phi Journal (Fall, 1993) contains de- any doubts as to the value of music itself, I tailed articles by many of the principal pro-

10 Tbe Quarterlyjournal of Music Teaching and Learning ponents of views on various sides of the is- E. Maddy served in 1936-38. Of course, I sue. Discouragingly, at least from my point didn't know Joe while he was president, but of view, W. Earl Armstrong's successor as I got to know him very well later when serv- president of NCATE, Arthur E. Wise, recom- ing at Interlochen as director of the Univer- mends that NCATE be empowered to "make sity of Michigan Division of the National Mu- education a profession" by having the au- sic Camp (now the Interlochen Arts Camp of thority to accredit all college curricula for the Interlochen Center for the Arts). In those preparing teachers+ He has the full support days, nominations for the presidency were of Dale G. Andersen, president of the Asso- made from the floor during the official busi- ciation of Land Grant Deans of Education.> ness meeting, and Joe thought he had won Frankly I am amazed to find that 30 years of election mainly because his name was better failure to gain SUpp011for the NCATE view- known than that of the other nominees. Joe point has stimulated no change in thinking. was one of our genuine geniuses of music I note that the Goals 2000 Educate America education, a sprightly spirit who enlivened any Act makes no mention at all of the means by gathering. Wherever Joe could be tied down which the goals might be achieved. The pas- for a week or two, there you would find a sage of this bill indicates that no one in Con- 200-piece high school symphony orchestra. gress is aware that accrediting bodies already I met but never got to know Louis exist; the world of higher education and its Woodson Curtis (1938-40). I met Fowler system of accreditation seem to have escaped Smith (1940-42) as a student, when he visited all notice. The business of reaching national the campus of the University of Illinois in the goals for education apparently will be left spring of 1937 in order to interview Graham entirely to congressional committees. This is Overgard for a position at Wayne University probably just as well, I suppose, given the in Detroit. Years later, Smith told me that proven ineptitudes of NCATE and the capital- Overgard had impressed him because when E educational establishment. Smith missed the train at the station in One of the most valuable aspects of the Champaign, Overgard took him on to presidency of MENC is getting to know the Rantoul, speeding through heavy rain in a people who carry out its business. I was for- car with faulty windshield wipers along the tunate enough to work directly with Clifford highway that follows the railroad tracks. Buttelman, Vanett Lawler, and Charles Gary, Reaching out to move the windshield wipers each of whom served the MENC enormously with his hand, Overgard successfully over- and unselfishly with intelligence, energy, and took the speeding Illinois Central Express. love for the profession. The MENC has also This is how you get really good jobs. benefited from the marvelously dedicated I came to know the next four presidents services of many others, among whom I can- only after their terms were completed, and not fail to mention Gene Morlan, who man- then only slightly, but they indeed were per- aged all of our national meetings for many sons of real stature, genuine leaders in the years; Jerry Ivie, the quiet and indefatigable field, and possessing personalities varying in lady who seemed to have responsibility for nature but of dominating influence: Lilla keeping the ship as a whole in the right Belle Pitts (1942-44), John C. Kendal (1944- channel; Dorothy Regardie, who was Vanett's 46), Luther A. Richmond 0948-50), and devoted secretary; and other devoted em- Charles L. Dennis 0950-52). Then came ployees such as Harriet Mogge, Birgitte Marguerite V. Hood, who, as described Parrow, and Marlynn Likens. Each expressed above, did not hesitate to involve MENC in dedication to the proposition that the elected the developing struggle over the education leadership should be treated with great for- and certification of teachers but who also in- bearance, kindness, and promptitude, and sisted upon the establishment of the Journal that each regular member deserves nomina- of Research in Music Education. In both of tion as teacher of the year. these endeavors she had to overcome the It also has been my pleasant good fortune resistance of the national office. Both Vanett to know almost every president since Joseph Lawler and Cliff Buttleman thought they al-

Volume V; Number 2 11 ready had enough to do in running the Music for his proposed winter school. And he did Educators Journal. Once the national board so, somewhat to my surprise. I had always had established the new journal, however, known that Joe would get the money some- both gave it every possible support, I have day, for he never stopped trying, but I didn't always felt grateful to Clifffor teaching me know when. Joe acquired the funding from how to read hot-lead type upside down and W. Clement Stone, the wealthy insurance backwards, right out of the Linotype machine. magnate from Evanston who continues his Marguerite's successor, Ralph E. Rush generosity to Interlochen to this day. Stone's (1952-54), was also crucial to the establish- pet principle was, and remains, to acquire ment of JRME. Having made his early repu- and keep a positive mental attitude in all of tation as the conductor of a famous high life's endeavors. In Joe, Stone was quick to school orchestra in Ohio, he went on to recognize a true believer. serve for many years as chairman of music Alex H. Zimmerman (1962-64), a veritable education at the University of Southern Cali- prince of a man, became president at a par- fornia. Robert A. Choate (1954-56) presided ticularly difficult time in his career (the over the transfer of our national office from school board in San Diego was in political Chicago to Washington and the appointment turmoil, and during his presidency Alex lost of Vanett Lawler as executive secretary to his job as chairman of music), but he suc- succeed Clifford Buttelman. There was some ceeded in getting the Ford Foundation opposition to Vanett's appointment. A man- projects off the ground and continued to agement firm that Robert Choate consulted, achieve success in other venues of music however, pegged the salary for such a posi- education. We remained close friends tion at $25,000, a figure that exceeded the throughout the remainder of his life. total budget of the MENC at the time. So the His immediate successors, Paul Van best-qualified person, Vanett, got the job Bodegraven (1964-66), Louis G. Wersen only because she could be hired for only a (1966-68), and Wiley L. Housewright (1968- slight increase in salary. 70) similarly became good and close friends William C. McBride 0956-58) was elected as we worked together on a variety of MENC at the St. Louis meeting, and quite by chance committees, task forces, commissions, and I was pulled out of the hallways to serve as the like. I had gotten to know Paul first in chairman of the vote counting and so had 1952 as a member of the national executive the pleasure of notifying Bill of his victory. board at the time JRME was authorized. Paul Bill proved to be a careful monitor of the is skilled in matters of finance and for many business activities of the national office. Karl years acted as the chief financial advisor for D. Ernst (1958-60) succeeded in setting up a MENC, serving without salary, of course. pension plan for Vanett, the first MENC had Under his guidance, our organization moved ever established. Since Cliff Buttelman had from chronic financial precariousness to no pension, Karl saw to it that both Cliff and genuine stability. Louis Wersen served with eventually his widow were continued on sal- Paul and me on the finance committee. I ary for the rest of their lives. Karl subse- remember when we decided to relieve quently became the first American president of Vanett of the responsibility of handling our the International Society for Music Education. investments - not that she hadn't done well I succeeded Karl, and so had the honor or with them. As a matter of fact, she had done presiding at the Chicago conference of 1962. much better than the big New York bank to My wife Veronica and I stayed in the huge which we consigned our funds for a few Marshall Field suite on the top floor of the years. We felt that she should not be bur- Hilton Hotel. (We had spent our honey- dened with such responsibilities. moon in the same hotel, but not in that Wersen was also very competent when it suite.) I remember that at the reception right came to finances and served as a restraining after the final concert, Joe Maddy took me influence in such matters until he became aside to tell me that he was "going up to president himself. He then decided that it Evanston tomorrow to get a million dollars" was time for MENC to exert itself more in the

12 The Quarterly Journal of Music Teaching and Learning musical and educational worlds. Since the dency, my knowledge of their contributions published final report of the Yale Seminar of came only as a distant observer, except, of 1963 had been maliciously edited so as to course, in the cases of Paul R. Lehman (1984- put music education in the worst light pos- 86) and Karl J. Glenn 0990-92), both former sible, Louis decided to stage a conference students and graduates of the University of that would highlight the successes and ben- Michigan; forgive me for mentioning with efits of school music rather than its shortcom- great pride their outstanding accomplishments. ings. The result was the Tanglewood Sym- I remain in touch with ME C largely posium on Music Education of 1967. Bob through membership on the Council of Past Choate served as managing chairman, and he Presidents. The latter group meets for dinner employed professional conference managers every biennium, and a happier group than and editors to provide practical know-how this is rarely convened. For the most part, and to edit the papers and prepare the news we are content to reminisce a little and criti- releases. The symposium as a whole was cize a little less. Of recent years, we have carried out in a distinguished and strictly pro- been entrusted with the administration of the fessional manner. The dismal effect of the selection process for the MENC Hall of Fame, Yale Seminar was put behind us, and the which is generally a happy business except for profession was able to unite behind the prin- an occasion or two when the relative impor- ciples expressed in the Tanglewood Declara- tance of various components of our compli- tion, composed by Charles Gary along with cated profession comes into question. Accord- Arnold Broido and me as a summary of the ing to regulations adopted by the national sense of the meetings. Louis Wersen had board, only three names can be added to the contributed immeasurably to the cause of Hall of Fame each biennium. Is a famous spe- music education for all of his long career, but cialist in general music of greater worth than a perhaps his greatest single achievement is famous conductor, administrator, composer, or the Tanglewood Symposium, which came textbook author? No one knows, of course. into being solely as a result of his courage In the end, the selection committee can only and creativity. act on a consensus of individual opinions As president, Wiley Housewright negoti- about individual music educators. ated an extension of the Ford Foundation I began with mention of how pleasant and project, securing an additional grant of satisfying it was to be president of MENC. $1,380,000, among other things. His contri- There were special highlights, of course, butions to music education over his extended such as our interim meeting of August, 1961. career are truly extraordinary. I first came to It took place in Washington at our national know him in 1953 when he was appointed headquarters in the NEA building. Quite by as an associate editor of JRME. He was al- serendipitous coincidence, Jacqueline ready well known as a choral conductor and Kennedy was putting on one of her concerts as president of the Southern Division. Wiley on the lawn at the White House, a concert to has attracted many more honors than most of which all of the institutionalized children of us, including that of having the magnificent the area were invited and which was to be music building at Florida State University performed by the high school orchestra and named after him by the state legislature. A ballet troop from Interlochen, with Joe southern gentlemen in the best sense of the Maddy conducting. Vanett was a friend of term, Wiley remains the very embodiment of Letitia Baldridge, Mrs. Kennedy's social secre- the true scholar and impeccable musician. tary, and managed to get the whole board With the end of Wiley's term of office in invited. There were no more than 200 in the 1970, my own work with MENC tapered off audience, children and adults combined. We quickly. I resigned as editor of JRME in 1972, were seated on the south lawn on ordinary after having been appointed dean of the collapsible chairs in front of a temporary School of Music at Michigan. Although I made wooden stage and a portable shell. When the acquaintance of all the fine men and the concert was about to begin) who should women who succeeded Wiley in the presi- come out of the White House to greet us but

Volume V; Number 2 13 the President himself. I happened to have After spending a day or two exploring an aisle seat, and he walked right by me, beautiful Rio; enjoying its mountains, mosaic close enough to touch. He apologized for walkways, and beaches; and riding its cable his wife, who was in Hyannisport, and cars, we flew to Santiago, which involved hoped we would accept him as a substitute. changing planes in Buenos Aires. Thus, we Kennedy was at his best on this sort of occa- happened to be in an aircraft flying high sion, and in this particular instance he was over the Andes at the moment that President superb. I can never forget his grace of man- John F. Kennedy was shot on November 23, ner and speech. He closed by saying he had 1963. We knew nothing of it until going so much work on his desk he could not stay through customs in Santiago. Instead of for the concert, but that he would leave his opening our suitcases and pawing through office window open so as to hear everything. our belongings - as was normally done at No other meeting of the national board com- that time - the uniformed customs agent pared with this one. fixed me with his eye and pronounced what Two or three days later, when Joe and the I finally understood to be the name Kennedy students were back at Interlochen, Joe sud- with a question mark behind it. I gave some denly remembered something he had forgot- kind of affirmative indication as to my ten to tell the president, so he dialed the knowledge of the name. He then struck his White House number and asked to speak to chest and said, "Muerto." I didn't understand him. Kennedy came right on the line and Spanish but nonetheless understood that asked, "What can I do for you, Dr. Maddy?" something was gravely amiss. That was a particularly happy day at camp. Arriving downtown, we saw the newspa- Still other memorable events occurred two per headlines with words such as asesino. years later, after Alex Zimmerman, bless his During the next few days, we were treated heart, called to ask if I would be willing to with the respectful concern that is accorded represent him at a conference of music edu- those who have just suffered a death in the cators in Santiago, Chile. By that time, I held family. Within a day or two, many shop the MENC office of first vice-president. Alex windows in Santiago were displaying replicas thought I deserved a foreign trip, he said, of the White House. The Chilean flag hung since I had not managed to get one during at half-mast in the park off the Avenida my term as president. Never having been in O'Higgins. A funeral mass was sung at the South America but possessing a long-stand- cathedral, attended by the president of Chile. ing love for anything Hispanic, I agreed to A week or so later, while taking a side trip to go, even though it involved reading a paper. Cuzco in Peru, we strolled into the cathedral The jet planes were new then, and fast, but on the square and found it filled with school the trip from New York to Rio still took eight children attending another mass in honor of hours. I was surprised to learn that Rio is Kennedy. Recognized as Americans, we halfway across the Atlantic Ocean. I was were ushered to aisle seats in the front row. also surprised to learn that hotels in Rio do It was in Santiago that I first came to know not serve dinner until 11:00 p.m., and that some of the beautiful Chilean songs that food can not be obtained any earlier else- haunt me to this day. In my mind's eye, I where. So Veronica and I both had good can still see and hear the lovely and distin- appetites by the time we were served. guished Chilean music educator Brunilcla I remember that the dining room was Cartes singing "Rio, Rio" along with the others walled with windows which, at that hour, present at a dinner given us at the Club Union: looked out on the expressway carrying How grandly flows the river, how grandly to homeward-bound traffic, six lanes headed the sea. south. Anyone who wanted to go north, And when my tears augment it, how much however, simply got in a lane and did so. grander it will be River, river, bring me back my love - bring The sight was horrifying, but it prepared us me back my love because I am tired of for better understanding the vibrant people weeping. of South America.

14 The Quarterly Journal of Music Teaching and Learning This lovely song often is sung in Chile at the sionally, people have urged us to fight for end of any gathering, and this particular special causes. But today's wisdom may well MENC president, ever after, remembering it, be outmoded tomorrow. Music and teaching longs to return to the mountains and valleys both are arts, not sciences, and their very na- of Chile. tures are conditioned by change. We must, It was there I first met Eric Simon, who be- of course, always be willing to listen to the came a life-long friend. He was attending as newest ideas, but whenever one of them is the delegate from Uruguay, where he was at so striking that we come to think that the that time conductor of the Montevideo Sym- end of change has arrived at last, we are phony Orchestra. The occasion was the sec- probably wrong. We can be confident only ond annual meeting of the Inter-American that music itself is good, that teaching music is Society for Music Education, the Latin Ameri- a worthy endeavor, and that we can justifiably can version of the MENC, organized by the trust in the collective wisdom of the profession redoubtable leader of Chilean music educa- to find how best to carry out its mission. tion, Cora Bindhof de Segrin. I was gratified Let me add a word in praise of music to learn how highly respected Vanett was in teachers, my companions in the journey of Chile and indeed throughout Latin America. life. If there are people anywhere in the The University of Chile honored her in a spe- world who surely go right to heaven in spe- cial ceremony while we were there. Vanett cial baskets when they die, their names are had worked in South America for many years to be found on the membership rolls of the as a representative of the Pan American Music Educators National Conference. Vigor- Union and was particularly beloved because ous in everything they do, they gladly and she had taken the trouble of learning the unselfishly spend their time on earth instruct- Castilian tongue. ing humanity, young and old, in the art of You may have noticed that so far I have music. I am sure God loves them each and avoided attempts at profundities, and I hope every one. I trust that includes me. that you will not be too disappointed if I Notes don't attempt many now. In fact, no one has 1. The bibliography of tunebooks took 30 more a very clear idea of just what ME C should years to finish. It has recently been published as really be about, other than to publish jour- Allen P. Britton, Irving Lowens, and Richard Crawford. American Sacred NIl/sic Imprints, 1698- nals and to stage meetings where music edu- 1810- A Bibliography (Worcester, lVLA:Ameri- cators can come talk to one another and lis- can Antiquarian Society, 1990). ten to students perform. I have gradually 2. See "The Tanglewood Symposium," pp. 77- come to the conclusion that our basic aims 78, in Allen P. Britton, "Music: A New Stan," should be defined only after the fact, as we Brittanica Review a/American Education (Chi- cago: Encyclopedia Brittanica, Inc., 1969), vol. 1, analyze what the profession has already actu- pr· 73-91. ally accomplished. It seems to me that 3. Ephemera of this sort are difficult to docu- MENC as an organization should be consid- ment in an orthodox way. You can find the mate- ered a vehicle for the exchange rather than rial mentioned here among my personal papers, the promotion of ideas. Those who at any located in the MENC Historical Center at the music library of the University of Maryland. See Box 12, given time are charged with MENC affairs "Accreditation and Certification," Michigan, file should seek, I believe, only to provide for folders 25-39. the widest possible spectrum of ideas and 4. Arthur E. Wise, "A Vision of the Future," Na- activities, maintaining a willingness to sched- tional Forum, The Phi Kappa Pbi journal, 73 (Fall, ule any activity that members wish to engage 1993), pp. 8-10. 5. Dale G. Andersen, "The Journey Toward in. That, I think, is what we have mostly Professionalism: Accreditation, Licensure, and done over the years. MENC has pro- Certification," National Forum, The Phi Kappa Phi grammed all shades of opinion and all types journal, 73 (Fall, 1993), pp. 11-13. ~ of music. It has never sought to maintain one opinion over another. We as an organization have often been I ~ Subscribe Today! I subjected to criticism on this account. Occa-

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