A Study of Certain Practices in Music Education in School Systems of Cities Over 150,000 Population

Abstract

M USc is ONE of the newer subjects in the curriculum of the modern school. While it was first introduced into the public schools more than a century ago, its greatest period of growth has occurred within the past thirty years. During this same time many changes have taken place in educational thinking and writing which have had a profound effect upon the practices of the public schools. Music educators have been preoccupied with the ready reception of their program by the public and concerned over the problems which always appear during a period of rapid growth. Their attention has been directed toward quantitative rather than qualitative matters. Music has now been accepted as a basic part of the school curriculum, and there is no longer much necessity for its protagonists to promote and defend it. Their efforts should now be turned toward a critical evaluation of the total program. Numerous studies have been undertaken which show the status of music education in individual states, but they are usually brief and are aimed at exploring only the minimum essentials of the music program. The present study was designed to present a broader picture, as well as to circumvent certain weaknesses of previous studies. First, by including only large city school systems, the questionnaires could be sent directly to music directors. As leaders in their field, these persons were qualified to give detailed information about current administrative and curricular practices. They were used also as a panel of experts, and asked to express their opinions on certain controversial questions. Second, because of their similarity of training, the music directors possessed a fairly uniform understanding of music education terminology, and the data obtained from the questionnaire should, therefore, be reliable. Third, 19 percent of all the people in the United States live in the forty-eight large cities that participated in the survey. These cities are scattered throughout the country, and the replies were tabulated so as to note both national and regional practices and trends. A questionnaire was sent to music directors in fifty-seven cities of over 150,000 population. Of these, fortyeight, or approximately 84 percent were returned. In order to add validity to the survey the writer made personal visits to four of the participating cities.