MENC in International Perspective

See James A. Keane , A History of Music Education in the United States (Hanover and London: University Press of New England, 1982); and Michael L. Mark and Charles L. Gary , A History of American Music Education, 3rd ed. (Lanham, MD: MENC / Rowman & Littlefield Education, 2007), Chap. 7.

Sondra Wieland Howe , Luther Whiting Mason, International Music Educator (Warren, MI: Harmonie Park Press, 1997).

The Music Teachers National Association was founded in 1876 by Theodore Presser and sixty-two colleagues in Delaware, Ohio. Retrieved from www.mtna.org June 4, 2007.

Internationale Musikgesellschaft (International Musical Society) was founded by Oskar Fleischer and Max Seiffert in 1899 with the aim of promoting international musical contacts. It ceased to exist with the outbreak of World War I in 1914. The International Musicological Society (IMS) was founded in 1927 to replace it. Retrieved from www.grovemusic.com , "International Musicological Society," June 4, 2007.

The purpose of WFEA was to promote international peace and goodwill through education. It functioned until the Second World War.

"Delegate to World Congress of Education," Proceedings of the Music Supervisors National Conference (1925 ), p. 306.

For a detailed account of these conferences, see Marie McCarthy , "The Birth of Internationalism in Music Education 1899-1938," International Journal of Music Education 21 ( 1993): 3-15.

Frances Elliott Clark was considered the "Mother of MENC" because she presided over the 1907 meeting at which MENC was formed. Will Earhart was president from 1915 to 1916 and Mabelle Glenn from 1928 to 1930.

Frances Elliott Clark , "British and American Music Educators Plan Unique Meeting," Music Supervisors Journal 15, no. 1 (1928): 7-11; Clark , "The British-American Field Day," Proceedings of the Music Supervisors National Conference (1929), 174-76; Will Earhart , "A Supervisor's View of the Lausanne Conference," The Musician 34, no. 11 (1929): 29, 43; Mabelle Glenn , "Visiting Music Classes in the Elementary Schools of England and Germany," Music Supervisors Journal 16, no. 1 (1929): 33-37.

"American Unity through Music," Music Educators Journal 27 (March-April 1941): 12.

John W Beattie and Louis W Curtis , "South American Pilgrimage," Music Educators Journal 28 (November-December 1941): 14-7; (January 1942): 17-8; (February-March 1942): 16-9; (April 1942): 22-27.

Vanett Lawler worked for MENC from 1930 until her retirement in 1968. During that time, she served as office manager, advertising manager of the Music Educators Journal, assistant executive secretary, associate executive secretary from 1930 to 1955, and finally executive secretary from 1955 to 1968. She labored diligently in the name of international cooperation as a member of the MENC American Unity through Music Committee and MENC's representative at the Music Division of the Pan-American Union. She reported her travels and observations of music education in Educación musical en 14 repúblicas americanas [Music education in 14 American republics] . Music Series No. 12 ( Washington, DC: Pan-American Union, 1945).

Hazel Nohavec Morgan , ed., "International and Intercultural Relations in the Field of Music Education," Music Education Source Book (Chicago, IL: MENC, 1947), p. 220.

"Hands Across the Air," Music Educators Journal 38 (May-June 1942), p. 14.

"Music Educators National Conference," Proceedings of the National Education Association (1943): 109; also "Music Education Mission to Other Republics," Music Educators Journal 30 (April 1944): 56.

"The Cleveland Meeting," Music Educators Journal 32 (April 1946): 9-11.

"A Declaration of Faith, Purpose, and Action," Music Educators Journal 32 (April 1946): 16-17.

MENC supported the development of music education internationally in other ways, too. It continued to host music educators from foreign countries at its biennial conferences. It published reports on international activity in Music Educators Journal and provided leadership for international activity through its Committee on International Relations. At MENC biennial conferences in Baltimore (1949), Philadelphia (1952), St. Louis (1956), Los Angeles (1958), and Atlantic City (1960), several music educators from other countries were present and contributed to the forum on Music in International Relations.

Clifford Buttelman was MENC's first executive secretary, serving from 1930 until 1955. He also served as managing editor of Music Educators Journal 1930-60 and director of publications 1930-62.

Frank Callaway to author, February 8, 1993.

Vanett Lawler was first appointed secretary general of ISME, but when she returned to MENC headquarters in Chicago, MENC declined her request to serve in that office. She withdrew and subsequently was appointed ISME treasurer.

Robert A. Choate , ed., Music in American Society: Documentary Report of the Tanglewood Symposium (Washington, DC: MENC, 1968), p. 139.

Numerous books and articles have been written on multicultural music education, and it is beyond the scope of this article to describe them in detail. For an overview of the multicultural movement in music education, see Terese M. Volk , Music, Education, and Multiculturalism: Foundations and Principles (New York: Oxford University Press, 1998).

Frank B. Abdoo , "Music Education in Japan," Music Educators Journal 70 (February 1984): 52-6; Nancy Smith , "Music Education in Ireland: The Meeting of the Waters," Music Educators Journal 74 (December 1987): 48-51; Barbara Kaplan , "Music Education in Israel," Music Educators Journal 70 (February 1984): 57-60; Karen C. Rogers , "Music Education in the People's Republic of China," Music Educators Journal 76 (September 1989): 43-5; Hilree J. Hamilton , "Echos from a Teaching Adventure in China," Teaching Music (October 2005): 24-27.

The conference was cosponsored by the Graduate Liberal Studies Program at Wesleyan University and Music Educators National Conference. Proceedings were published by MENC under the title Becoming Human through Music (Reston, VA: MENC, 1985).

Conference papers were published in the ISME Yearbook, XI (1984).

The goal of the WLC and Feed the Children collaboration was to raise money for a good cause, teach our youth about the importance of giving, and reinforce the importance of music education for all. Retrieved from www.menc.org/guides/wlc/wlcintro.html.

For example, MENC past presidents Paul Lehman (1984-86) and Dorothy Straub (1992-94) contributed to the Music Education National Debate (M.E.N.D.) that took place in Dublin, Ireland, in November 1996.

MENC provided complimentary conference registrations to a delegation of music educators from Lithuania to attend the MENC Biennial Conference in Washington DC, March 8-11, 2000. The group was visiting the United States under the sponsorship of the U.S. Department of State Voluntary Visitors Program.

The ISME Advocacy Standing Committee's Web page provides evidence of Carolynn Lindeman's leadership in music education advocacy within the society. See www.isme.org/en/advocacy/index.php.

At the MENC Centennial Symposium in Keokuk, Iowa, May 31-June 2, 2007, attendees included music educators from Australia, Canada, Germany, and the United Kingdom, as well as the United States.

Will Schmid , "Making the Changes," Music Educators Journal 82 (September 1995): 4. For a description of MENC's response to the "new world order" in the last twenty-five years, see Marie McCarthy , "Widening Horizons with a Global Lens: MENC Responds to the New World Order, 1982-2007," Journal of Historical Research in Music Education (in press). ■