The Rural School Music Problem

Abstract

THE MUSIC TEACHER seldom has an opportunity to learn, firsthand, the results of the music program, or the lack of a music program in the schools. After graduation pupils scatter, and in the universities and colleges -the only places where these young people are found in great numbers-many are lost to music due to the college and university emphasis on subject matter and professional performance. campus organizations are interested only in the most talented and most successful of our school musicians; and on the basis of the achievement of this select group, little evidence can be gained indicating the results of our music program. This article is based on five years of contact with the boys in the Agriculture Short Course of the University of Wisconsin. These students are a fair example of the product of the rural schools and certainly indicate what is being done and what needs to be done in our rural work. Short Course was reorganized in 1932 into the present course, with the ideals and spirit of the Danish folk school. Professor Vincent E. Kivlin, its director, states that a few of the boys are not high school graduates but the majority of them have completed their high school education; the average age of the students is twenty-one; and, finally-a fact which is important to music education-these students all are firmly resolved to become farm leaders. Attendance at a fifteen-week session for each of two years is required for graduation. Dean Chris L. Christensen of the University of Wisconsin College of Agriculture tells us that The course of study is organized around the idea that these young men are to be farmers, citizens, and community leaders at one and the same time. We have, therefore, completely blended the so-called vocational emphasis with the scientific, cultural and citizenship emphasis. For example, there are courses in music, drama, citizenship, history, law, speech, and public discussion scheduled through the day, interspersed with the courses in agriculture. Three hundred men-the entire group-participate in the Community Music course, which is primarily devoted to group singing. A glee club is organized each year-and inasmuch as fully one-third of the entire group usually appear for the tryouts, the disappointment is so great to those not selected that holding the club down to a reasonable size becomes a major problem. A course in leadership is offered, providing training in the fundamentals of music and conducting, and a band and orchestra are organized when the instrumentation is adequate for these groups.