Today In History: Music Festival at TC

The best way to enjoy music is to participate. -- Norval L. Church

Did you know that on May 12th, 1935 Teachers College conducted an annual music festival in which over 500 students from metropolitan elementary and high schools participated? Held in the Columbia gymnasium, there were seventeen ensembles, including bands, orchestra, and a brass octet for an audience of 300 persons. Professor Norval L. Church and Mr. Miles A. Dresskell organized the event after which they submitted reviews to the directors of each musical group. Performances included one by the Teachers College Orchestra, directed by Edwin Salzman. 

The experimental and demonstration schools of Teachers College, Columbia University, particularly the Horace Mann and Lincoln / New Lincoln schools were integral to the shaping and development of the curriculum of Teachers College, Columbia University. Progressive in concept, they concentrated on the individual child, while offering an interdisciplinary core program, electives in elementary grades, and an emphasis on the arts. Educational practices informed study and research to strengthen understanding and appreciation of academic disciplines and their application to the world around us.

The program in Music and Music Education at Teachers College, Columbia University embraces humanistic values as they relate to contemporary musical and educational life, while respecting past musical traditions. Faculty members are seasoned educator-musicians and practitioners, who bring a wide range of expertise in comprehensive musicianship, early childhood music, instrumental and jazz pedagogy, vocal and choral performance, assessment, improvisation, jazz, technology, and the full spectrum of public and private school music. 

Since 2004 the Gottesman Libraries has hosted live musical performances by student musicians and select professional ensembles in Everett Cafe as part of its Education Program which, among its goals, seeks to engage members of the community with one another and with a broad range of educational experts, and to provide understanding of the work being done throughout the College. Recently we hosted a special year-end musical performance by Teachers College's Vocal Chamber Ensemble under the teaching and direction of Dr. Jeanne Goffi-Fynn, Director, Doctoral Cohort Program in Music and Music Education, and Lecturer in Music at Teachers College, Columbia University.

The following articles are drawn from Proquest Historical Newspapers, which informs and inspires classroom teaching and learning.

• Teachers College Lists Many Summer Courses: Some Unusual Items Offered in the Field of Music and Music Education. (1927, Jul 10). New York Herald Tribune (1926-1962) 
• Classes In Music Test New Theories: Children Who Play While They Study Are Under Observation Now At Teachers College. (1928, Jul 29). New York Times (1923-) 
• Music Festival May 1st: 1,000 Expected To Take Part In Teachers College Program. (1934, Apr 29). New York Times (1923-) 
• Players and Singers Of 14 Schools Appear in Music Festival at Teachers College. (1934, May 13). New York Times (1923-) 
• 500 in Music Festival of Teachers College: School Students of Metropolitan Area Join in Meet. (1935, May 12). New York Herald Tribune (1926-1962) 
• City Welcomes School Groups to Music Week: 3,500 Singers and 300 in Bands Perform at Madison Square Garden. (1936, Mar 31). New York Herald Tribune (1926-1962) 
• Teachers College to Give Its Music Festival Today: Event Will End Observance of National Music Week. (1936, May 09). New York Herald Tribune (1926-1962) 
• U.S. Music Is Offered By Teachers College. (1946, May 05). New York Times (1923-) 
•  Dr. Peter Dykema, Educator In Music: Professor At Teachers College For 16 Years Dies--Editor, Author and Lecturer. (1951, May 15).  New York Times (1923-) 
• Musical Christmas Party at Columbia. (1952, Dec 15). New York Herald Tribune (1926-1962) 

Tips:

• Coleman, Satis N. (Satis Narrona). A Children’s Symphony : as Developed in the Creative Music Classes of Lincoln School of Teachers College, with the Themes Composed Entirely by Children of Elementary School, and Played by Them on Instruments of Their Own Making and Other Simple Instruments. New York City: Bureau of Publications of Teachers College, Columbia University, for Lincoln School of Teachers college, 1931. TCANA ; ML83 .C661 1931
• Mattern, David, and Norval L. Church. “Instrumental Activities.” Teachers College Record (1970) 37, no. 10 (1936): 75–90.

Images:

• Norval Luther Church, Professor Emeritus of Music Education, 1925-1962; by Marcia Howe, date unknown, Historic Oil Portraits of Teachers College, Columbia University, Courtesy of Teachers College, Columbia University
• Peter William Dykema, Professor of Music Education, 1924-1940;  by Louise Charlotte Blass, circa 1939, Historic Oil Portraits of Teachers College, Columbia University, Courtesy of Teachers College, Columbia University
• Poster Image: Lincoln School Of Teachers College. Summer Demonstration. (1936), Historical Photographs of Teachers College, Courtesy of Teachers College, Columbia University