A Brief History of String Education in the United States

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A Brief History of String Education in the
United States
From the 1800s to the Present

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Presentation in Four Main Sections

• String education in the U.S. prior to 1911
• Establishment of string education in the public
  schools
• Important pedagogues, educational leaders, and
  other figures of string education during 20th
  century
• Status of string education today

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I. String education in the U.S. prior to 1911

• 1850s singing school masters who also taught
  musical instruments
• After Civil War traveling musicians generated
  interest in learning instruments
• Music conservatories born
• Very few public school orchestras
• Training was mostly from private teachers and
  orchestra schools were extra-curricular

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II. Establishment of string education in the
public schools

• The Maidstone Movement in England
• 1911 Albert Mitchell establishes first public
  school violin class
• Joseph Maddy first supervisor of instrumental
  music in New York.
• 1910-1930 more orchestras and bands were
  established for various reasons
• However, the role of the school band was being
  elevated over the school orchestra

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III. Important pedagogues, educational
leaders, and other figures

• Three most important contributors to string
  education in the schools
• Samuel Applebaum
• Paul Rolland
• Shinichi Suzuki

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Samuel Applebaum

• Taught for 35 years at Manhattan School of Music
• Prolific author of written materials for use in
  string classrooms
• Active in teacher training at ASTA workshops
  during 50s and 60s
• ASTA teacher of the year in 1967
• Important for his ability to codify and simplify
  string pedagogy

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Paul Rolland (1911-1978)

• Professor of string education at University of
  Illinois
• Significant contributions in the development of a
  pedagogy based on movement and balance in string
  playing
• Received government grant in 1967 to study
  implementation of his pedagogical ideas in
  elementary and secondary classroom situations,
  worked with over 35 public school teachers on
  this project

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Shinichi Suzuki (1898-1998)

• Most influential string pedagogue of the
  twentieth century
• Philosophy musical "talent" is not innate, but
  is developed in the individual
• Mother tongue method"
• Originally wrote for violin, but now also for
  orchestral strings, piano, guitar, flute, and
  harp

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IV. Status of string education today

• Our string pedagogy foundation established by
  Applebaum, Rolland, and Suzuki is strong
• Since the 1980s, the number of students joining
  school orchestras has increased
• More studentsneed more teachers
• String teacher shortage
• Predicted 5,000 public school string teachers
  will be needed in the near future
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