Music Educators

Journal
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For President-Elect
Music Educators Journal 1978 64: 101
DOI: 10.1177/002743217806400501
The online version of this article can be found at:
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For President-Elect

Mary E. Hoffman is an associate professor of music education at the University of Illinois, UrbanaChampaign. She teaches graduate and undergraduate courses in general music methods and materials.
Prior to going to Urbana-Champaign, she was supervisor of elementary and junior high music in Milwaukee schools, elementary district music supervisor in Philadelphia schools, and vocal music teacher
at both the elementary and secondary levels in public schools in Delaware, Connecticut, and Pennsylvania. She earned a Bachelor of Science degree at Lebanon Valley College, a master's degree from Teachers
College, Columbia University, and spent two years
in advanced study at Northwestern University,
Evanston, Illinois. She has served as guest conductor
for more than forty district and all-state choruses,
and she has been general clinician at national and
regional MENC conferences. She has conducted
more than two hundred workshops in thirty-three
states and Canada. As 1974-1976 North Central Division president, she served on MENC's National Executive Board. She was a member of the MENC Publications Planning Committee from 1966 through
1972. Before leaving Wisconsin in 1969, she was
elected president-elect of the Wisconsin Music
Educators Conference (WMEC), and she served on
the WMEC Board of Directors from 1963 through
1967. She served as chairman for the search committee for a new MENC executive director in 1976.
She is currently a member of the curriculum committee for the educational television
project,
"MUSIC ... ." She has coauthored three music texts:
Teaching Music: What How and Why; Silver Burdett
Music Book Seven; and Silver Burdett Music Book
Eight. She also has served as special editorial consultant for two other book series; Making Music Your
Own and Summy-Birchard Music Series.
"There are foreboding signals on the education
scene today that have begun to affect music programs
around the nation. These signals divide into two
main categories: economic and ideologic. In many
instances, the latter is a direct result of the former;
when the dollars are not there, cutbacks must be
made. Music is often the scapegoat because curricular and budgetary decision-makers do not have any
comprehension of what music really contributes, in
an educational sense, to life.
If we, as music educators, are to reach the decision-making team, we must give attention to several
major arenas: students, administrators, parents, legislators, school board members, and the general public. This attention must be given through personal
commitment, accountability, public relations, economic know-how, and political strategy.
A personal commitment to music education implies an enthusiasm for sharing one's knowledge
with another person. It means both being a superb

musician and having the ability to understand fully

the way students of all ages learn music.
For years music educators have been showing
proof (accountability, as it is now termed) of students' learning through performance results. The accountability problem lies in the overwhelming percentage of students for whom we have no achievement data because they are not involved in the
public performing aspects of music, nor do they desire to become involved. We must devise ways of
reaching a larger number of students in a variety of
music settings and of securing hard data to show the
general public that nonperforming students have
learned something important.
We must mount high-powered public relations
programs at the local, state, and national levels to
translate our fine teaching into real meaning. We
must seize every opportunity and utilize every medium to demonstrate exactly what it is we want to have
students learn as a result of our work.
We must anticipate economic problems and be
willing to do a bit of collective cheese-paring in order
to save total programs. We must take our message to
our legislative bodies. We must convince lawmakers
of the importance of music to life. We must promote
legislation that puts music education as a line item
in school budgets and ensures inclusion of music in
the school curriculum.
And finally, we must ask of ourselves and our nation the ominous question: 'What would our world
be like without music?'"
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101

For President-Elect

..

Mark Lammers is chairman of

the department of music at Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter, Minnesota. In addition to his
duties as chairman of the department, he teaches brass instru- ^- .
ments, brass ensembles, stage l:
4
band, and music education. He
is in his twenty-sixth year of
teaching in Minnesota schools.
Eighteen of those years were in
the public elementary, junior high, and senior high
schools of the state. Last year, while on leave from
Gustavus, he served as acting director of bands at the
University of Minnesota, Minneapolis. He has been
an active member of MENC and the Minnesota Music Educators Association, of which he is past president. He has also held state offices in the American
School Band Directors Association and the National
Association of College Wind and Percussion Instructors. He holds memberships in the American Association of University Professors, the National Band Association, the National Association of Jazz Educators, Phi Beta Mu, various honorary societies, and
the American Federation of Musicians.
"A motto by which the Music Educators National
Conference stood for many years was 'Music for
for Music.' Although we
Everybody-Everybody
have not used this motto for some time, it might hold
for us the key to effectively move music education
forward in spite of adverse economic conditions in
various parts of the country.
With the advent of various forms of arts legislation, both at the national and state levels, we may be
entering what many people are calling 'The Age of
the Arts.' If the nation as a whole is entering such a
period of adventure in the arts, the schools must be
involved-in fact, I doubt if there will be an 'Age of
the Arts' in this country unless the schools are involved.
Music educators will have to go the legislative
route. We will have to become arts advocates not only in our schools but at all levels of government. It
will take strong and growing national and state organizations of music educators to accomplish this
goal. We are fortunate to have a well established organization to help us in our effort to bring the franchise of music to every student.
When we make the move to legislative action, we
will need all of the facets of MENC that have made
the organization what it is today-the publications,
the research, curriculum study, and so on. We will
need accurate and firm data to support our efforts.
All this means an expanded role for both our national office and our state organizations. It will require
the active support of everyone in our profession.
There might be some distress for music educators
in certain parts of the country, but we might also be
in a position to realize the goal for which we have
stood: Music for Everybody-Everybody for Music."
102

North Central Division

i
Patricia A. Lewis is the imme;
diate past president of the Wisconsin Music Educators Conference. Since receiving her bachelor's and master's degrees in
7
alT-/,'Wisconsin, she has taught both t:
instrumental and vocal music,
instructed university class-piano
--M
and music methods classes, and
directed church choirs in Massachusetts and Wisconsin. Her current position, for the past twelve years, as teacher/
supervisor of the K-12 vocal music program in the
Stevens Point (Wisconsin) Public Schools has allowed
her to work in many areas of music education. She
has performed as an accompanist and bassoonist
with local civic and university groups, and has been
active at the state and national levels as a presider,
facilitator, panelist, clinician, and adjudicator for
various conventions, workshops, inservices, and
conferences for music teachers and educators of all
levels of instruction. She is a member of many professional organizations and serves as a board member for several fine arts groups.
"In these times of economic difficulties, the basics
movement, and other current issues, leadership in
music education must have aggressive and optimistic attitudes in order to maintain existing music programs and to build even stronger ones in today's
schools. It is not enough for music educators merely
to say music is necessary to the development of the
total child; we must provide evidence that will be
understood and accepted by the public in order to
change their attitudes and perceptions, thereby placing music education higher in the priorities of school
boards and administrators, colleges and universities,
teachers of all disciplines, community organizations,
artists, the media, legislators, and the parents and
students who ultimately decide education priorities.
If we do not supply full evidence in terms they can
accept, we must realize that we will not be successful. The times urgently require the affirmation of a
new humanistic vision of man through all parts of
our education system. The MENC is the strongest association of arts educators and is in a position to provide creative leadership on the many issues facing
music educators today. To do this, greater emphasis
must be placed on research that defines and supports
the value of music education. Schools and communities with successful music and fine arts programs
must be identified and further highlighted. We must
continue to support and expand, if possible, the present MENC government relations programs at the
state and national levels. All the arts, including community arts, must work together, for it is in unity that
we will find strength. The arts have genuine political
power, and we must create a national confidence in
the whole idea of governmental support for the arts
that can, in the years immediately ahead, be brought
to its full realization."

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Southern Division

For President-Elect

-':
Marianne Holland is choral
director at Spring Valley High
School, Columbia, South Carolina. She received her bachelor's
degree from Limestone College,
Gaffney, South Carolina, her
Master of Music Education degree from the University of
South Carolina, Columbia, and
has done further graduate study.
She has taught vocal and general
->
music at all levels, from kindergarten to college. She
was coauthor and music team member for the Dreher
High School federally funded humanities program.
She served as South Carolina Music Educators Association (SCMEA) choral president and is a past president of SCMEA. She is currently serving as editor of
The South Carolina Musician, SCMEA's official publication. She was South Carolina's MENC Building
Fund chairman and served as SCMEA convention
chairman for four years. In 1972 she was chairman of
the Humanities Committee for the Atlanta MENC
conference. She was 1970 Teacher of the Year in
Richland School District No. 1 and is 1977-1978
Teacher of the Year in Richland School District No.
2.
"Throughout its history, MENC has attempted to
provide leadership in meeting the challenges of
building and maintaining music programs in the
schools of our country. The profession has presented
to us current trends and new directions for future
development in the arts. We music educators in the
classrooms have, unfortunately, not always kept ourselves informed and aware of trends in education
and, thus, have failed to realize that, in terms of the
educational climate today, music programs may be in
jeopardy. From kindergarten through the graduate
level, music educators must remember that one not
only must teach the talented but also the average, the
below-average, the handicapped, and the emotionally
disturbed students. Music curriculums should be
planned to provide meaningful learning activities for
all types of students. Music is a basic value in meeting the challenge of preparing youth to live well in
society.
MENC should continue its dialogue with other arts
education groups, for through cooperative efforts the
positive image of the arts may be presented to a
much larger segment of the population. The music
profession can provide information, schedule conferences of arts educators, work for federal and state
arts legislation, and provide instructional assistance
for the development and maintenance of music programs. We are the music profession: let us use its
tools and services in the development of a music curriculum for all students. Remember that today's students will be the performers and consumers of music
as well as the taxpayers, voters, and community leaders of tomorrow."

Joe B. Buttram is director and

professor, school of music, University of Kentucky, Lexington.
In addition to administrative
duties, he teaches graduate
courses in history and philosophy of music education, research, and psychology of music,
and guides graduate research. He
holds bachelor's and master's degrees from North Texas State
University and received his doctorate from the University of Kansas. He was assistant professor of music education at Loyola University, New Orleans,
and later served as dean of the college of music at
Loyola. For five years, he was instructor of vocal and
instrumental music in elementary and secondary
schools. His writings include articles in the Journal
of Research in Music Education and the Journal of
Music Therapy. He has delivered several papers and
has served as panelist or moderator for state, regional, and national conventions of professional music
organizations, including the Music Educators National Conference. Currently, he serves as research
chairman for the Kentucky Music Educators Association.
"Music educators constantly seem to be in the position of having to make justification for the inclusion of music in formal education. This situation
does not appear likely to change for some time, particularly in view of the present economic squeeze
and movements such as 'back to the basics.'
Through the efforts of many in the profession, the
importance of music has become increasingly well
defined and the underlying rationale made much
more convincing. Music is recognized as providing a
unique aesthetic experience essential to the full attainment of human potential. Music can meet needs
for the individual that are unapproachable through
any other medium. At the same time, music may fill
societal needs, such as understanding and acceptance of others and their values. Music can serve
functionally as used in therapy or ceremonially.
Justification for music education does not really
seem to be the basic problem. The problem is making
effective use of supporting arguments through education, research, and the constant insistence on quality
programs. More effective education is needed for the
members of our profession. Constant research is
needed to answer basic questions, to sharpen methodology, and to refine materials. Improved techniques for communicating to the practitioner new
ideas derived from research must be developed.
Quality must remain constant-only
quality programs are and should be in demand. Continued attention by the members of the Music Educators National Conference to these efforts will be a major factor in obtaining greater stability and success for the
profession."
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103

For President-Elect

Western Division

Pat B. Curry received his bachelor's and master's degrees i

from Arizona State University,
Tempe, and his doctorate from
Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah. As an Arizona high
school
teacher he directed
bands, orchestras, and choirs,
and taught theory and literature
classes. For over twenty years he
served as minister of music in
his church. In 1960 he became director of orchestras
at Northern Arizona University (NAU) in Flagstaff,
where he currently is chairman of the music department, director of the University Orchestra, and director of the NAU Summer Music Camp. He is a life
member of MENC. Curry has been a regular member
of the viola sections of the symphony orchestras of
Phoenix and Tucson and principal violist of the Flagstaff Symphony Orchestra. He has been guest conductor for orchestras in Arizona, California, Utah,
Nevada, and New Mexico. He is a past president of the
Arizona Band and Orchestra Directors' Association,
the Arizona Music Educators Association (AMEA),
and AMEA's Higher Education Division.
"MENC was developed as a consortium of music
or specialiststeachers and performers-experts
who were highly interested in music and young
people. I believe that music has an intrinsic value
that can be experienced only through sound. The
outstanding band, orchestra, and choir directors of
the past instilled taste for and imparted knowledge
about music to their students-the less than superb
directors did so in lesser degrees. MENC has to hang
onto the obvious-the
musicians and music. If
MENC makes its greatest thrust toward this end then
it can survive as a vigorous influence on the American education scene. If it assists its members in sustaining music and the making of music, there will be
a greater reluctance on the part of school districts to
drop or even deemphasize music in the schools. The
feeling exists among some band, orchestra, and choir
directors (of all levels) that MENC is trying to tell
them that they have served their purpose in MENC,
and they are no longer needed. We must stop this
trend of thought and allow these music experts to
return to positions of prominence in their own organization. MENC's primary effort should be to promote
excellence in all its teachers (members). If excellence
of teaching and of musicianship exists in a school
program, the pressures of economic difficulties and
moves to the basics would have to be very powerful
before that music program would be cut back or eliminated. Music can be over intellectualized. Let's reflect carefully and cautiously in our attempts to force
music into a mold that may not be appropriate for an
art. Let music survive and MENC will always have a
reason for being."
104

Louis P. Nash is consultant in

music and the arts for the California State Department of Educa- ,
tion. He studied at Amherst Col- ;
.
lege and received his bachelor's
degree from the University of
California at Los Angeles, and
his master's degree and a doctorate in music education from the
University of California at Berkeley. He has been president of the
California Music Educators Association. He has
taught music at the elementary, secondary, and college levels. He was supervisor of music in the Burbank (California) Schools and taught music education at California State University at Los Angeles. He
served on MENC's National Commission on Organizational Development, which spent two years studying the total organizational structure of the Conference. He has been president of the Oakland and Los
Angeles County music educators associations and
has served as a clinician and adjudicator throughout
California. He assisted in the development of music
objectives for the National Assessment of Educational Progress and is coauthor of Goals and Objectives
in Music Education. He currently serves on the
board of the California Music Educators Association
and the California Alliance for Arts Education. He
represents California in a coalition of states that provides national leadership in arts education and is
supported by the JDR 3rd Fund.
"To maintain and build strong music programs in
the schools, the profession should ascertain the major concerns from music teachers and provide direct
service to schools according to needs expressed at
the local level. California has established a successful program to assist schools and districts. Music
teachers and their schools requesting assistance have
been helped by a cadre of their fellow music teachers, resulting in some dramatic improvements for
music education. A variation of the California plan
could be implemented on a national level to provide
direct service to the local music teacher and the concerned school community. Music education should
continue to develop and implement a public relations program to convince national and state legislators and local school boards and their communities
of the necessity for strong music programs.
In spite of overwhelming evidence of the importance of music education and the increased interest
of the general public in music, schools are often very
slow to respond. The greatest support for music
comes from good music teaching and outstanding
music programs. The profession must stand behind
and support music teachers so that their expertise
may be extended to its full potential, and they will
provide the finest music program possible in each
school and college in the country."

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