Media Review: Music Education in Prince George's County, Maryland, from 1950 to 1992

Abstract

Moore, Judy W Music Education in Prince George's County, Maryland, from 1950 to 1992. Saarbrucken, Germany: Scholars' Press, 2013. 264 pp. Paperback. ISBN 978-3-6395-1288-5, $114.95. Judy Moore's Music Education in Prince Georges County, Maryland, from 1950 to 1992 is a welcome addition to the body of work about the history of regional music education. Within this book, the author chronicles a pressing need in the research. Moore explores a historical period that experienced societal change, desegregation, the civil rights law, and school busing laws that attempted to create socioeconomic balance in schools. Moore's thorough research and interesting narrative includes interviews and an oral history of three prominent music educators whose professional lives, dedication to the profession, and service to the students of Prince George's County, Maryland, served as the impetus for this work. In addition, she embraced the arduous task of interviewing twenty-three other professionals, from the school district and towns that compose the county, to create the story of music education during the turbulent years of 1950 to 1992. The three featured music educators dedicated to the profession and provided music education to students despite the and dramatic changes that existed. Moore notes that they remained almost oblivious to riots, shortfalls, and political turmoil (46). The book contains seven diverse and thorough chapters (Introduction; Historical Underpinnings; Winds of Change; The Life and Times of Leroy Battle; Maurice Allison; Dorothy Pickard; and Finale) and appendixes. Within each chapter, Moore explores, in depth, the realities associated with the establishment and preservation of music education in Prince George's County. Chapter 1 provides readers with a broad overview of the book and the larger project. Moore includes the research questions that guided her work and directed her toward oral history resources. Of note is her inclusion of similar studies that addressed music education during the desegregation era, particularly the study that examined the Chicago public schools and their use of Title I grants to fund instrumental music programs. When the federal government no longer funded these grants, the school board sought to eliminate elective programs including instrumental music. MENC and other national politicians-- including Jesse Jackson--successfully led a campaign to save them. Chapter 2 delves into the social upheaval and changes resulting from the civil rights era, the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and desegregation efforts. Moore interviewed Virginia Sims, the vocal music supervisor in Prince George's County during the late 1960s. Sims discussed the desegregation effort and how her junior high school principal brought faculty and students together to discuss the upcoming changes. Sims remains convinced that this forward-thinking action saved the school from much turmoil. In chapter 3 Moore recounts the resistance, beginning in 1954, of the Prince George's County School Board to embrace desegregation of its schools. She indicates the school board exercised tactics to delay the desegregation of the schools [and that the school superintendent was] recalcitrant and unwilling to permit blacks to sit next to whites in the classroom (46). Furthermore, she provides an in-depth view of two severe budget storms that nearly resulted in the elimination of school music. Owing to the support of the community, parents, and the conductor of the National Symphony in Washington, D.C., the programs were retained. Chapters 4, 5, and 6 discuss the influence of three significant music education figures in the Prince George's County Schools: Leroy Boots Battle, Maurice Bud Allison, and Dorothy Pickard. …