conducting, your choir, your band, in music alone? If so, stop and think of the impact that music can make on the lives of girls and boys if you are deeply and sincerely interested in music, in children and in particular, in the human values of music. The greatness of music in education can come through what music can do for all the people as a social force, as an art, and as a therapy.


As we are concerned about the future of school music, what do we look for in the teacher of music? What are his or her responsibilities in music, in education, to the pupil, to the school, and to the community? While these are complex questions to which there are no final answers, we need to give them our serious attention. Times change, education changes, and the answers change. The responsibilities of the teacher of music have broadened. He must have competence in music, he must understand children, and he must know both the school and the community. Perhaps we can best get at the subject by taking a close look at a good music teacher in action.


Miss Norris is the kind of teacher we are


thinking about—the kind of teacher who devotes herself to continuous study of music, children, school, and community. She changes with the times and adapts herself to the growing responsibilities of the profession.


Recently I watched her work with a class of seventh-grade boys and girls in General Music. Their response to her leadership was excellent, for her interest in children and her understanding of them was apparent in every move she made. She knew the boys and girls in this class. She was aware of the problems some of them were facing in school, home, and community. She knew how to motivate and interest them in their work.


Miss Norris is a gifted pianist. She has spent many years developing her performance ability and musicianship, and to maintain and expand this musicianship she keeps up her study of the piano and finds satisfaction in playing for school and community functions. She considers herself a teacher


of music, and while choral music is her major interest, she cooperates with and encourages instrumental study.


Miss Norris considers professional activities to be very important and she has a genuine interest in solving professional problems. At present she is serving on faculty committees evaluating the curricular offering of the school, and a committee working for the improvement of school-community relationships. She is active in the professional and music education associations and is advancing professionally through summer study.


She and her colleague in instrumental music have done much to improve the status of school music in their community. Music in this instance is meeting its responsibility to the total school program and to the community. It is no longer regarded as a special or extracurricular activity, but is recognized as a regular part of the educational program for all students.


The Music Teacher and Research. What has research to do with the effective music teacher? A great deal. While in the past relatively little attention has been paid to findings in educational research, alert supervisors and teachers are beginning to realize that an exciting challenge is to be found here. We have come a long way in education since Mark Hopkins and his famous log. Part of this progress was achieved through costly trial and error. Much of it, in recent years, has come through the findings of scientific research and their practical application in the class room.


In spite of the propaganda to the contrary we know that Johnny can read, add and subtract, express himself orally or in writing, and score on achievement tests in almost any subject better than his father and mother could twenty-five years ago, at the same point in their schooling. Much of this is due to the application of educational research findings in our schools.


It is still true that we know much more than we put into practice in many areas of education and this particularly true in music education. All the more reason,


however, why we should seize opportunity by the forelock. Look with suspicion on those who would discredit research in music education. We are fortunate that a a generation of music teachers coming into prominence in the profession who eagerly seek new and better ways to teach music to children. In no field does a greater or more rewarding opportunity exist than for the enterprising, courageous music teacher. He recognizes that, far from being unrelated to his work, research can be the key to a whole new and exciting era of music teaching.


There are unanswered questions confronting the music teacher every day. How can we teach music reading so that it really works? How can we make the orchestra as attractive as the band to the high school student? What are the best ways of motivating home practice? What have we learned through research that will help us with the seventh and eighth grade boys in the General Music Class? A great deal of practical action research is needed that can be done by teachers in the classroom. Research does not need to be something that is complicated, something that is to be feared by the ordinary teacher in the classroom. Find new and better ways of doing things and tell others about them; find out how others have solved their problems. We are fortunate in our profession to have The Journal of Research in Music Education, published by the MENC. It has as its primary reason for existence the reporting of research in music. It is also encouraging to note the number of state music education publications that now are starting to report on research in the field. Research opens new horizons. Make full use of it.


You are in this meeting today because you are active in a professional organization of music educators. Through these organizations we can consolidate our thinking and move ahead. The professional organizations in music education need our active support, particularly in these days when the school curriculum is under fire.


It must also be emphasized that the interest and support of the music educator must not be confined to


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