The Vocal Teacher of Ten Thousand: E. Azalia Hackley as Community Music Educator, 1910–22

Abstract

Known as “the vocal teacher often thousand, ”Emma Azalia Hackley (1867-1922) dedicated much of her career to the promotion of music activities in black communities. She organized dozens of community gatherings at which she taught music reading fundamentals, techniques of singing, and appreciation of the classics to huge groups of amateur musicians and the general public. This essay introduces aspects of the late nineteenth-century musical landscape in the United States that preceded Hackley's entry into music education, and recounts her career as a community music educator. The article concludes with the identification of more recent manifestations of the philosophical underpinnings that informed her teaching, thereby establishing connections between her work and contemporary educational thought. Hackley's own writings serve as the primary source material for this discussion whenever possible, supplemented by first-hand accounts of her activities that appeared in the black press and those written by her associates. Her accomplishments add an important chapter to the history of community music education which has thus far received little scholarly attention.