Bolsheviks and Big Brother: The Difficult Relationship between MENC and the Michigan School Band and Orchestra Association

Abstract

During the period of rapid growth in public school music in the United States between 1920 and 1950, music education associations were created in most states to coordinate activities and contests. (1) The Music Educators National Conference (MENC), (2) established in 1907, reached out to these organizations through its band, orchestra, and vocal contest divisions, and most of these state associations affiliated with the national organization; by 1946, MENC affiliates existed in forty-four of the forty-eight states. (3) As a result, the MENC became the umbrella group for music educators in most areas of the country; this was not true in Michigan, however, where barriers were erected between a significant portion of music teachers and the MENC, inhibiting unified advocacy and policy efforts. Mary Lynn Rampolla has suggested three reasons for historical research: 1) to understand how the present came to be; 2) to broaden current perspectives; and 3) to help shape the future. (4) Following these suggestions, this article will 1) outline the significant historical events that have defined the relationship between the MENC and the largest music education association in Michigan, the Michigan School Band and Orchestra Association (MSBOA) (5); 2) uncover the effects of that relationship on music education in the state; and 3) deepen our understanding of this complex relationship so that collaboration among the music education associations in Michigan (and in states with similar circumstances and conditions) may increase. Context: The Formation of State Associations in the Midwest The midwestern region of the United States was the geographical center of growth in school instrumental music, especially the states of Ohio, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, and Michigan. (6) The band contest movement provided a strong impetus for this growth. Although band directors in all these states created associations to organize band contests during the 1920s and 1930s, each association's relationship with the MENC evolved differently. Paul Sanders cited Ohio as having the West in the establishment of school music, as Boston had led the East. By 1850, school music programs had been formed in Cincinnati, Columbus, Massilon, Oberlin, and Zanesville. (7) The Ohio School Band Association was founded in 1924 to help govern state band contests and was expanded in 1929 to include orchestral activities. (8) In 1932, the group changed its name to the Ohio Music Education Association and broadened the scope of its activity. (9) The organization affiliated with the MENC in 1934 and since then has governed most aspects of music education in the state, including scholastic music festivals. (10) Formed in 1920, the Wisconsin School Music Association (WSMA) was the first organization for school bands in the United States, dedicated to expanding the number of bands through contests. (11) By 1930, Wisconsin held the largest instrumental music contests in the nation, and when the National School Band and Orchestra Association was formed in 1933, it borrowed extensively from the WSMA constitution, which had been written four years earlier. (12) While it remains the governing body for most school music activities in Wisconsin, the WSMA works closely on a host of issues and shares a common staff and office complex with the MENC state unit and the Wisconsin Foundation for School Music (a philanthropic enterprise that provides funding for state music events) at the Wisconsin Center for Music Education in Waunakee. (13) The Illinois School Band Association (ISBA) was organized in 1924 immediately after the first state band contest. (14) The ISBA continued to hold the contests until World War II travel restrictions prompted a suspension of the events. Following the war, the Illinois High School Association assumed control of the contests. The ISBA then became an advisory committee to the Illinois Music Educators Association (formed in 1939) and was eventually absorbed by that organization. …