Education Section

2003 Forum: Connecting Ethnomusicology and Music Education

Bayside B, Hotel Intercontinental Miami
October 4, 2003
8:3010:30 a.m.
Presiding: Bryan Burton (West Chester University)
Assisting: Edward J.P. OConnor (University of Connecticut, ret.)
8:30

Ann Shaw Faulkner Oberndorfer: Ethno-Educator for the Homemaker

Terese M. Volk (Wayne State University)

8:50

Ann Shaw Faulkner is best known to music educators as the author of What We Hear In Music,
the music appreciation text that accompanied RCA Victor recordings from 1913-1943. What is not so
well known are her prolific writings in popular womens magazines: The Ladies Home Journal, Better
Homes and Gardens, and Child Life. Aware of her audiences, Faulkner designed her writing style to be
easily understood, and though sometimes critical, she clearly believed strongly in her topics.
In the early 1920s, Faulkner wrote monthly columns for Better Homes and Gardens, and Child
Life, under her married name of Oberndorfer. The topics ranged across the standard fare for music appreciation at the time: opera and the symphony, composers, and choral works. However, Oberndrofer
went beyond these areas to explore the musics from assorted cultural and geographic areas. She culled
her material from the ethnomusicology experts of her day, and presented the homemakers of America
with a rich tapestry of European and American folk musics. Granted the information was often stereotypical, but given the state of knowledge about world musics at that time, Oberndorfer was very much a
progressive.
This paper will describe her contributions in this decidedly non-traditional area of music education and ethnomusicology.
The Musical Quilt: Connecting Cultural Resources of the School Community to the Music Classroom
Maria Pondish Kreiter (Temple University)

Historically, school music programs have selected cultural musics derived from the major
groups identified in basal series resources and MENC publications. Individual schools and instructors
often ignore the ethnic enclaves found within the greater school community as a source for possible
classroom instruction.The creative teacher stretches to draw upon regional resources and community
groups to design a cultural immersion project which seeks to identify cultures within an individual community and examine the influence it has on other cultures regarding its history in the community. Such
a project teaches students about the identified culture from a variety of instructional, critical and musical
perspectives.
As a model, this projects intent is to showcase not only a written summary of the project
through action research, but also disclose a more detailed description of the various components used in
music, history and integrated arts. Included in these curricular activities are lessons for the music instructor based upon researched resources, data-driven evidence of student learning and examples of student-centered cultural quilts.
In conclusion, within each school and community lies a wealth of cultural resources to be identified and brought into the formal music classroom. Such innovative instructional techniques may challenge the traditional structure of music (and classroom) curricula, however, defining the role of indigenous musics in the music classroom and teaching the music and artistic culture of the ethnically diverse
populations demand creativity.

9:10

International Music Education Study: Implications for Graduate Study and Music Education
Stephen F. Zdzinski (University of Miami)

The purpose of this session will be to examine the role of international music education
study and its implications for graduate education in music and music education. This session will discuss a course offered in international music education, which examines music teaching and music instruction systems throughout the world.
Public and private school and community music programs, private music instruction & music
conservatory instruction, informal music instructional systems, and university work in music are studied
through readings, discussion, and through guest speakers from other countries who will share their musical
instruction experiences. Through this approach, students relate alternative music teaching approaches to
their own experiences, and start to question philosophical assumptions made in our own instructional systems in music. Students in this course are asked to design an ideal music education delivery system for a
country. They also address issues of art music and folk music use, teacher training practices, curricula,
institutionally-based and community-based music education practices, colonialism in music education, and
how international approaches not found in the United States might be useful for educational reform.
9:30

"The Florida Music Train: Teaching Music of the Cultural Crossroads"

Laurie Kay Sommers (Valdosta State University)

This presentation will use a recently completed unit from the Florida Heritage Education and
Florida Folklife Programs to address 1) issues of authenticity and "translation" of folkloric and ethnomusicological concepts to audiences of K-12 educators, and 2) musical diversity in Florida through a
multicultural curriculum module conceptualized as an imaginary train ride from the predominantly
Anglo-Celtic and African American cultural communities of North Florida, through the Greek community of Tarpon Springs, to South Florida and Key West (represented by Seminole, Cuban, Mexican,
Jewish, and Haitian music). The train motif comes from Floridas best known fiddle tune, The Orange Blossom Special.
The presentation will focus on issues involved in creating this model--including selection of repertoire
and collaboration between ethnomusicologist and classroom teachers-- ethnomusicology and the heritage education movement, and how the techniques and methods of public sector folklore and ethnomusicology came
into play in creating this resource. The Florida Music Train is the first music unit in the state's heritage education series and is based primarily on field recordings dating from the WPA through the 1990s which reflect the
efforts of public folklorists and ethnomusicologists over a 50-year period. The Music Train addresses the
theme "migration to Florida" through 5 lesson plans, graphics, a poster, and a compilation CD of folk and traditional music from Florida, complete with extensive recording notes. Resources from the unit will be illustrated
during the discussion.
9:50

Performing the Vocal Techniques of Latin America, India, and the Orient
Lisa Fredenburgh (Meredith College)
This lecture will center on how to teach authentic vocal techniques to singers while maintaining a healthy vocal mechanism. The bel canto vocal style popularized in Western Art Music will be
compared with the vocal productions in Latin America, India and the Orient.
The lecturer will give advice regarding maintaining a non-damaging vocal style and ask the
attendees to experience the various techniques in demonstration of these ideas. The lecture will be
aimed at authentic performance practice for performing groups of all ages, but may be most important
to secondary and post secondary educators.