1957's Music in Schools Initiative -- The Class Project
At our 40th Reunion in 1997, several members of the Class of 1957 floated the idea of organizing a project that classmates could work on together over the ten years leading to our 50th Reunion. The class project was intended to give us an opportunity to work as a class to give something bark to the larger community.
We set three criteria for selecting a project: that it would invite and enable the active participation of the entire Class, not just a few classmates; that it would avoid becoming primarily a fund-raising effort; and that it would include a Yale/New Haven aspect. We discussed various potential ideas for nearly a year, but when we finally focused on music education in schools, the agreement among classmates was immediate, unanimous, and enthusiastic.
The objective we set is to promote expanded music education in public schools K12 across the country, in order to reverse what we perceive to be the reduction in music education that has occurred over many years, or at least since our K-12 years. We divided the project into four tasks:
- Gather serious research that establishes the connection between music education and the well-being of young people, both academic and emotional. We proposed the possibility of creating a national clearing house for such research, if one doesn't already exist;
- Collect anecdotes and studies of music programs in schools that are benefiting young people and the schools, and compile information on how such programs were established whether from within or outside the school, by whom, with what support, etc.;
- Disseminate the information gathered in 1) and 2) in such a way and to such an audience, as will best further our overall objective;
- Identify programs, based on the findings of our other efforts that can be developed for the New Haven public schools and implemented with the cooperation of the Yale School of Music.
As part of the preparations for our 45th Reunion this year, we've reviewed our progress to date in each of the project's tasks. At Reunion, we will propose specific steps for the next five years to build on the progress so far. As more classmates find themselves with more time to give, we expect that the momentum already established will increase even further.
Here's what we've accomplished so far:
- The Class of 1957 had already established its own web site (we're told it was the first among 1950s classes), so it was natural to place a project page on the site. Jim Ziegler '57 created our site, and Phil Richards '57 established the project page. That page, accessible from our Class home page
alumninet.yale.edu/classes/ycl957 is now the repository for results of all the project's efforts;
- Over 70 classmates are now involved in one way or another with the project, several of them taking part in a Class undertaking for the first time since graduation;
- Famed pianist Emanuel Ax and renowned mezzo-soprano Frederica von Stade agreed to become Honorary Participants in the project, and have met with us to offer both encouragement and advice;
- Through the efforts of Steve Hopkins '57, we established contact with The National Association for Music Education (MENC), a Washington-based group representing 70,000 music educators. We now have links on our web page to MENC's research and activities. We also have links to responsible academic research that provides scientific evidence of the benefits of music education in human development;
- We developed a questionnaire for classmates to use in gathering information on music education in their local school districts. So far, nearly 20 classmates have joined this effort. Nick Tingley '57 is coordinating the collection and organization of the questionnaire responses, and we already have interesting information on music in schools in Des Moines, Iowa, Highland Park, Texas, Darien, Connecticut, and Johnstown, New York.
- Through the efforts of Dave Mininberg '57, Gus Kellogg '57, and others, we have introduced the Yale School of Music and the New Haven Public Schools to a New York-based foundation called Education Through Music. ETM takes an approach to implementing music education that we have not found elsewhere. ETM contracts with a school district to place music teachers in a designated school and provide music education, both vocal and instrumental, to every student in every grade in that school as part of the student's regular academic program. Furthermore, ETM helps the school integrate music into other subjects, by bringing the school's teachers together to explain how the music program can further all their goals. There is a real possibility that our efforts will lead to the establishment this year of a pilot ETM program in a New Haven school, with the support and cooperation of the Yale School of Music.
As we prepare for the second five years of the Class of 1957 Project, we look for increased participation from our classmates to further all of the efforts that have begun so propitiously. We'd also like to suggest to other classes that if they find our project worthy of their support, we would welcome their involvement. We expect to have a busy five years in gathering, organizing, and disseminating information on music in school districts around the country, in expanding and publicizing our web site coverage of the project, and in reviewing the program that ETM plans to implement in New Haven and promoting such programs in other school districts.
The Project Coordinators welcome any questions: Malcolm Mitchell '57, 212-628-9177, or mlm@investmentpolicy.com and Don Roberts '57, 212-546-6252 or dmroberts@rcn.com
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