MENC and Music Education: 1933–1957 Survival and Growth through a Challenging Era

Abstract

The second twenty-five years of MENC's existence, 1933 to 1957, was an era of unprecedented change and daunting challenge in America. At the same time this period in music education is characterized by unprecedented growth and development in the number of qualified music teachers and the number of children and youth whose lives were touched by those teachers, as well as higher standards for musical learning and performance, and the expansion of research in music and music education. Not only did music education manage to survive this era, but it grew and excelled as never before. The purpose of this study is to examine the work of the Music Supervisors National Conference (MSNC), and later, the work of the Music Educators National Conference (MENC), during the years 1933 to 1957. Research questions are: 1. What constituted the societal and musical context in which the organizations worked? 2. How did the organizations manage to survive through a challenging historical era? 3. How did the organizations achieve growth during this era? 4. What were the most remarkable accomplishments of the era? 5. Who were the most notable leaders? 6. What were the most important external influences on MSNC/MENC? 7. What was MSNC's and MENC's most important influence on others? These years include three distinct time periods: the Great Depression, World War II, and the early Cold War years. I especially value the opportunity to research and write about this era because I recall a great deal of it. In the interest of viewing music education in its historical context, I will also consider each of the three time periods from the perspective of a few personal memories drawn from having lived through the years when those events were happening. The Great Depression, 1933-1941 The first period begins a little more than three years into the Great Depression, which started with the collapse of the stock market in October 1929. America had been through depressions before, and most people thought this one would end quickly. It did not. When President Franklin D. Roosevelt took office, people from all levels of American society were desperately in need of life's basic necessities. In 1933 the national unemployment rate reached a peak of 24.9 percent. (1) Those who were laid off from their jobs received no unemployment compensation, and the Social Security program did not yet exist. Although many families were torn apart by the severe poverty they experienced, in most cases Americans drew closer to family and friends and combined their often-meager resources in order to get by. Roosevelt and the Banks Roosevelt's first act as president was to declare a national holiday, in which all banks were closed for a three-day period. Many of them would never reopen. Whether the fear of bank failures caused the Depression or the Depression caused banks to fail, the result was the same for people who had their life savings in the banks--they lost their money. Americans did not have the financial opportunities and safeguards we take for granted today. For example, there was no such thing as deposit insurance at the beginning of the 1930s. (2) In order to comprehend the severity of the Depression-era bank closures, it is helpful to know that an average of only seventy banks failed nationally each year during the 1920s. During the 1930s, however, the average was 900 bank failures per year. (3) One of the most memorable Depression-related stories from my childhood is my father's description of his experience with the bank holiday. A student at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, he went to his bank the morning after Roosevelt's announcement, only to find a long line of angry customers waiting outside the locked doors. Reaching into his pocket, he found a university cafeteria meal ticket. …