Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
Established 1879
Vol. 105, No. 4
REVIEW
April, 1946
2795th Issue
THE PIONEER PUBLICATION OF THE MUSIC INDUSTRY
Why 650 Tiny Tots Enjoy Piano
Lessons in Baltimore Schools
by OSMAR P. STEINWALD
Supervisor of Instrumental Music, Baltimore Public Schools
Baltimore, Maryland
T'S fun and it works! Little hands
clap in unison, small feet walk
out the rhythm, little brown curls
and long blonde pigtails sway to the
'"music" as little fingers learn to play
on cardboard piano keyboards. John-
ny's brow is puckered as he practices
diligently on how to make the G clef
in his own workbook. Mary is con-
centrating on how to form whole notes
as perfectly as her recently learned
A.B.Cc. Susie bows prettily as she
successfully completes her piece on the
real piano while her companions have
played it equally as well without sound.
The group piano class in the Baltimore
Public Schools is in session. It must
be fun to hold the interest and co-
operation of each child. It must work
to achieve the results that it has.
Started Six Years Ago
Made available through a Carnegie
Corporation Grant, the group piano
class program in the Baltimore Public
Schools had its inception, under the
writer's direction, over six years ago.
The grant has ended but the program
was received with such enthusiasm
from the parents, teachers and children
alike, that, under a self-sustaining
plan, it has grown to almost problem
proportions. At the present time a
staff of eleven teachers give instruc
tion to seventy-six classes in twenty
four schools, totaling over six hundrea
and fifty children with additional
schools on the waiting list for classes
next fall.
I
THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW, APRIL, 1946
PTA Underwrites Courses
The Parent-Teacher Association acts
as the underwriter or agent and the
piano classes are instituted in any
school where the PTA requests it.
Each student pays five dollars ($5.00)
a semester (18 lessons) and the De-
partment of Education furnishes, be-
sides the classroom and its properties,
the instructor, a piano and the table-
top keyboards. The classes are limited
to a maximum of ten students eacl 1
and meet once a week for a fifty-
minute period. These periods are so
arranged that they alternate each
week between school and out-of-schoo]
time. Students are enrolled from thft
2nd through the 4th grades. They
must be beginners and must have a
piano available for daily practice of
one-half hour or more.
27^ Per Lesson
Parents are enthusiastic first of all
from the financial standpoint. For a
little more than twenty-seven cents
($.27 t a lesson Mrs. Jones' child can
receive a basic piano education cor-
related with ear-training, rhythmic
development, music appreciation and
general musicianship. After this peri-
od she finds that it is well worthwhile
for her child to go on with advanced
instruction in the private field. Like-
wise, Mrs. Smith may find, through
very little financial expenditure, that
piano is not for her Johnny. Even in
this case, although Johnny may never
be an adept performer, he has been
given a basic understanding which will
certainly aid in his music interests in
later life.
Teachers Endorse Program
While our sole objective is to pro-
vide the best possible instruction for
all pupils it is interesting to note that
this method also enlists the interest of
private teachers. Although somewhat
skeptical at first, they now endorse
the program wholeheartedly. They
felt ihat the piano classes in the schools
would take a number of students from
them. However, the reaction is just
the opposite. In introducing this basic
understanding of music to so many
children, the course creates a new
interest in piano that actually benefits
private music lessons.
Play Program Holds Interest
Mos> important of all, the children
love the program. Gone is the cut
and dried music lesson. The classes
are governed by ages and experiences
so that each group enjoys its own
mental equal. The beginning seven
years olds are taught by a play pro-
grain which seems not as a lesson but
as a new and wholly entertaining
game, while the older group carries out
its education on a more advanced lev-
el. There is a note of keen competi-
tion that keeps each student on his
toes. They are so accustomed to play-
ing before their group, criticizing and
being criticized that they lose their
self-consciousness and nervousness in
performing for the public. The stimu-