Robert Klotman: A Life of Musical Leadership

Abstract

When Robert was inducted into the Music Educators National Conference Hall of Fame in 2004, the nominating statement read, Klotman is best known for his extensive work in string pedagogy, his leadership in professional organizations, and his teaching at Indiana (1) By this time, his career had spanned decades, and he had been active across the whole spectrum of music education from K-12 through university levels. Because of his forceful personality, his leadership skills, and his ability to anticipate the impact of new teaching ideologies, significantly influenced how stringed instruments are taught in public schools in this country. Perhaps most importantly, he had the vision to reach out internationally and helped to bring Suzuki violin pedagogy to the United States. Given the impact of Klotman's work on string education, it is appropriate to look beyond the formal trajectory of his career at his childhood and education, the people and ideals that motivated him, and the major life experiences that shaped his career. For music educators it is appropriate to search out, in particular, the distinct issues that were important to and to consider how his advocacy for those issues shaped the path of music education in the United States during the last half of the twentieth century. Robert Howard was born in Cleveland, Ohio, on November 22, 1918. (2) His parents, Louis Harry and Pearl (Warshawksy) Kaplan were immigrants from Tetiev, a small town in the Ukraine located approximately seventy miles southwest of Kiev. (3) In the late 1800s, many Jewish families from that region came to the United States, often settling in the Cleveland area. Louis and Pearl married on December 16, 1917, but divorced when Robert was young. (4) Pearl raised her children on her salary as the owner of a beauty shop. began his musical studies at the age of nine. He remembers his father as being a very musical person who could pick up and play the violin without any instruction. In his family, it was just as natural to excel in music as it was to work hard in academic subjects. (5) Robert sang in the school choir in the third grade. However, when he sang he wanted to hear himself over the other children's voices, so he would sing louder than anyone else. His teacher said to him, I've got a special job for you, and made him the curtain puller. Disappointed, he went home to his mother who stated, Don't cry. You've always liked to play the violin. Thus, attributes the beginning of his violin career to his third-grade choir teacher. (6) His mother could not afford for him to take violin lessons, so she worked out an agreement with a local violinist named Hyman Schandler of the Cleveland Symphony Orchestra. Pearl would style the hair of Schandler's wife in exchange for a weekly lesson for her son. Klotman's mother was supportive of his music lessons, requiring him to practice daily. Later, she said that had she known he would become a professional musician, she would have made him practice three hours per day instead of only one hour. (7) During the years 1932-36, attended Glenville High School in Cleveland Heights, a suburb originally settled by northern European immigrants. After World War I and during the Great Depression, this area became an epicenter of Cleveland's Jewish population. (8) Ralph E. Rush (1903-65) was Klotman's high school orchestra teacher and an early mentor. (9) Rush became the band and orchestra teacher at the school in 1933 and immediately led the orchestra to first division honors at the national orchestra competition in Madison, Wisconsin. (10) says that Rush eventually became a father figure for him. Rush was likely Klotman's first real influence in his career choice and instilled in him the responsibility of belonging to a professional organization and serving the profession. (11) [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] According to Klotman, people are often curious as to why he attended the Methodist school Ohio Northern University. …