research WSM History Tells


Where WMEA is Going Sheila Feay-Shaw, WMEA State Chair, Research


Organizations are known for looking at where they are and where they want to be going in order to help themselves grow. Wisconsin Music Educators Association is no different. Wisconsin


School Musician (WSM) magazine has been our record-keeper of history since before the organization began. I recently took a journey back through WSM in order to learn what it can tell Wisconsin music educators about the work we have been doing for the past 50 years.


In the early years of WSM during the 1940s and 50s, the magazine was focused on providing the repertoire lists for solo & ensemble festivals, outlining the rules for participation and publishing perfor- mance programs from around the state. The magazine also provided a means to introduce those conductors who had been chosen to lead the all-state music ensembles each year. Music clinics, put on by local universities and area school


Did you know?


• Wisconsin School Musician has been our record-keeper of history since before the organization (WMEA) began.


• In October 1959, Wisconsin School Musician published the minutes of a meeting of the constitution committee, announcing the birth of Wisconsin Music Educators Conference (WMEC) on January 1, 1960.


• Two hundred music educators had become founding members of WMEC and 107 were in attendance at the inaugural gathering.


• An effort to give different constituency groups voice in the magazine developed through columns and articles specifically focused on the professional areas of teachers.


50


districts, were included to provide profes- sional development in particular areas of music such as choral, band, marching and string techniques. According to S.E. Mear, president of WSMA in 1941, “It seems the clinic idea is going big everywhere … Let us continue with this grand work of bringing the problems and solutions right to our own neighborhood and district best able to meet the conditions.”1


By the


1950s, industry ads had become a major contributor to pages in the magazine.


Also in the 1950s, material for elementary music teachers became a visible element. As a push came for more active involve- ment of elementary music teachers, Wis- consin School Music Association realized that the professional needs of music teach- ers were more than that of an organization of schools where music was an element of the curriculum. Music teachers in all areas of music were seeking support on teach- ing techniques, curriculum and repertoire materials, and professional connections across the state. In April 1959, WSM published minutes from a WSMA meet- ing stating “some thought also is being given to a proposal to set up a separate


Music Educators Association within the framework of the State Association with their own offices, functions, etc., similar to the Athletic Coaches’ Association in its relationship to the WIAA.”2


In October


1959, WSM published the minutes of a meeting of the Constitution Committee, announcing the birth of the Wisconsin Music Educators Conference (WMEC) on January 1, 1960.


See the original meeting minutes exclusively in the online digital version of WSM.


The name and original constitution were modeled after the Music Educators Na- tional Conference (MENC) (now known as the MENC: the National Association for Music Education). WSM would now serve both WSMA and WMEC as a means for professional communication.


Beginning in February 1960, the material in WSM began to show signs of growth in content. An article titled “A Fine Time for Fine Arts” by Leon Fosha covered two complete pages of the magazine, something that had not occurred before this time. In addition, a full-page article by Thurber H. Madison outlined music as a basic concept in education.3


The election of president and president- elect for WMEC was announced in the April 1960 issue of WSM. An organizing meeting had been held on March 13, 1960. By October of 1960, the front cover of WSM listed WMEC for the first time with WSMA.4


See the election announce- ment from 1960 exclusively in the online, digital version of WSM.


September 2010


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