Music in education
education, of the professional organizations, the Music Educators
National Conference, the Music Teachers National Association and
the National Association of Schools of Music, as the source for
guidance in developing curricula for education of music teachers.- Increased insistence upon balance in education of the music teachers,
as musicians and as educators. In the United States of America it is
not the conservatory which is the principal centre of supply and
training for music educators. The majority of music educators
receive their training in schools of music of State universities and
in State colleges of education in which there are offered courses in
music, courses in education and courses in the humanities. - Increased recognition of importance of quality of materials used
in the schools.
Inherent in this tendency is, of course, the problem of the deve-
lopment of mass taste which is essentially the development of
people themselves. United States music educators are devising
their own criteria. They are working out their own standards which
may or may not agree with European standards. There is no neces-
sity for uniformity of standards or criteria among music educators
all over the world. One of the fundamental purposes of this confer-
ence here in Brussels is to provide an opportunity for an exchange
of information on such matters. - Increased opportunities for co-operation between music educators
and musicologists, composers, private teachers and professional
musicians. This was not true to any appreciable degree 20 years
ago or even immediately prior to the last war. - Increased awareness of the public relations aspects of music edu-
cation-of the importance of a non-isolationist policy of the music
educators as regards their community.
Music educators are projecting the music education programme
into their communities. Especially noteworthy are the contribu-
tions of school music performing groups in communities all over
the United States of America. Witness the fact that at the present
time there are over 700 community orchestras of symphonic calibre
made up of adults in the United States of America-certainly a
tribute to the preparatory work which has been done in the schools
through the more than 30,000 school orchestras and the 50,000
school bands, to say nothing of the probably more than 100,000 or
more school choruses. - Increased attention by music educators and administrators of school
systems and colleges to the pre-service training (before entering