Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
b A
News Number
THE
VOL. 88. No. 1
REVIEW
Published Weekly.
Federated Business Publications, Inc., 420 Lexington Ave., New York, N. Y. Jan. 5 , 1 9 2 9
Single Copies 10 Gents
$2.00 Per Year
Music Teachers Urge High
School Music Credits
Music Teachers' National Association at Fiftieth Annual Conven-
tion in Cleveland Endorses Granting of Credits for
Music Work Done Outside Classrooms
LEVELAND, O., December 29.—An outstanding feature of the fiftieth annual convention
of the Music Teachers' National Association, which came to a close to-day after sessions
covering three days, was the resolution adopted by the organization at its business meet-
ing endorsing the principle of granting high school credits for work done in music outside the
classroom.
The decision is expected to have a far-reaching effect on the future of musical instruction, for,
as it is pointed out, it will mean a standardiza-
tion of work and the licensing of all music teach-
^^ mmm ^^^ m ^^^^^^^^^ m '^^^^^^^^ m ^^ mm ^ m
ers in order to insure the type of instruction that
will warrant credits.
The improvements made in musical instru-
7V7D more important
development
ments were also commented upon freely by
L i could have been made at the
various prominent speakers before the conven-
annual convention
of the Music
tion, particularly Mme. Olga Samaroff, famous
Teachers' National Association than
American pianist and writer on musical sub-
that which was taken in the adop-
jects. She discussed radio, new methods of
tion of a fesolution endorsing the
phonographic tone production, recent discov-
plan of giving high school credits for
eries on scale formation, and new instruments
work done in music outside the class-
producing intervals as small as a sixteenth of a
room. This is a gigantic as well as
tone.
C
A Notable Step
"You can't kill the urge to make music," she
-said, "but all these scientific discoveries are
going to make teaching different. Johnny isn't
going to be willing to play as badly as he does,
nor is his family going to be as willing to listen
after they have heard really good music on the
radio."
H. L. Mason Speaks
Another speaker was Henry L. Mason, presi-
dent of the Mason & Hamlin Co., who gave an
interesting and comprehensive talk on the de-
velopment of the piano as an instrument since
1876, giving details regarding the improvements
that had been and are being made in that basic
instrument.
E. M. Skinner, the well-known organ manu-
facturer, made an address with reference to the
passing of the organ from the motion picture
theatre, and declared that it was a good thing
both for the organ and for the audience inas-
much as the instrument had been turned into a
clown in an effort to meet the demand of the
films. He declared that there was a growing
appreciation for the music of the modern organ,
which, he said, brings the organist a,lmost to
a highly notable step in the direction
of establishing music instruction on
a solid foundation in our school sys-
tem and should be received through-
out the trade with an immense meas-
ure of gratification. Surely, with such
important developments in this move-
ment to musicalize America through
the schools, we are on the threshold
of a great era of musical activity and
appreciation.—EDITOR'S
NOTE.
the level of the violinist in the relation of the
player to the instrument.
The growth of the movement for group piano
instruction in the public schools of the country
was a,lso a subject for discussion, and, although
there were some who opposed the movement
for various reasons, a great majority appeared
to see in such instruction a real advantage for
the independent music teacher in the develop-
ment of latent talent, and in the elimination of
the hard elementary work which at times proves
so monotonous to the teacher. It was generally
conceded that group instruction properly carried
3
on would mean an increased supply of pupils
seeking advanced training.
At the banquet of the Association held on
Friday evening at the Hotel Cleveland, a fea-
ture was the playing of movements from Mozart
and Haydn by a stringed quartet from the John
Adams High School in a manner which brought
forth high praise from many of the guests, par-
ticularly Ernest Fowles, of London, famous as
a lecturer on music and as adjudicator of the
London Music Festivals. He declared that the
quartet illustrated better than anything he had
seen the musical progress in America's schools.
Ernest Fowles gave a most interesting ad-
dress before the convention. "Frankly, I ex-
pected to find that we in England could teach
you something musically," he stated, "but I
must be honest. Your audiences in America
are better, far better, than ours in England.
"But then," he continued, a twinkle in his
eye, "it is like everything else we hear about
America,—all fairy tales—and much wilder than
the ones in story books.
"The music festival is one of the greatest in-
spirations of the present day. In America it is
still in its infancy, but I believe you will find
that it rejuvenates your music when it becomes
more widespread."
During the convention the development of
voice and piano music was taken up by many
prominent authorities in music, including D. A.
Clippinger, Chicago; William Treat Upton,
Oberlin Conservatory; and Charles N. Boyd,
Pittsburgh Musical Institute.
In the course of the banquet Mme. Samaroff
came out strongly in defense of "Made In
America" musical talent, speaking as one of the
few American-born musicians to achieve fame
in her own country. Catering to the foreign
musician was, she declared, a farce and a trag-
edy. "We are still suffering from the heritage
of Colonial days when everything had to be
imported," she said.
Mme. Samaroff then outlined plans of the
Schubert Memorial, an organization which
undertakes to give four unknown artists a debut
each year in Carnegie Hall before a music-lov-
ing audience—where they can be both heard and
appreciated. The four are to be chosen in the
future in a nation-wide contest.
Some 300 music teachers from all sections of
the country attended the convention, and Cleve-
land music stores held open house for the dele-
gates throughout the week.