Anyone who has taken a band class or sung in a school musical knows how inspiring a music teacher can be. This year, U of T’s music faculty celebrates the 60th anniversary of the program that trains these future muses.
The faculty’s music education program was the first of its kind in Canada when it was established in 1946 by Arnold Walter, an Austrian-born musicologist who had arrived on the scene just a year earlier.
At the insistence of the provincial government, which felt that such a program would help foster more music classes at the elementary and high school levels, Walter established new vocational courses and linked the curriculum to that of the neighbouring Toronto (later, Royal) Conservatory of Music. The program also created spaces for returning soldiers who wished to become music teachers.
The program has progressed by leaps and bounds since those first baby steps, adding more international students and expanding its world music content to reflect the changing reality of music education. These days, students gain a solid grounding in the latest technology and theoretical practice.
This continuing development is essential to the program’s future success, says third-year music education student Jeff Magee.
“Our goal as educators is to reach as many people as possible through music,” he says. “Diversifying what we can teach, through alternative methods such as African drumming, midi recording, steel band, and popular music studies, will help attract future students.”
Currently, the program’s most ambitious project would see the establishment of a concurrent degree program with OISE that would accelerate entry into this specialized field of education.
The “music ed” program is instrumental for all students, even those not destined for the classroom, explains senior music ed professor Patricia Shand: “Every student will teach at some point, whether in private lessons, master classes or even through conducting, so everyone benefits from courses in music education.”
Although Magee and other senior students will not benefit from the joint OISE program, he sees it as “very valuable,” since the pedagogical and philosophical grounding it provides will give performance students an advantage in the business. For now, the U of T Students’ Association of Music Education, of which Magee is a board member, is compiling a registry of local schools whose music programs will take on undergrads as teaching assistants. This program will help students gain the hours needed in their specialized field for later studies in education.
This week in particular is a time of retrospection at the faculty, and the commemoration of the 60th anniversary will take many forms. Amidst various workshops, reunions (replete with an alumni band), and clinics for high school music students will be free celebratory events on campus open to students, including a concert of Thai music presented by a sax orchestra Friday at 5 p.m. at Walter Hall, and a workshop on world music by Patricia Shehan Campbell (a professor of music from the University of Washington) Saturday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. in Room 330 of the Edward Johnson Building (80 Queen’s Park).
U of T’s diverse group of music ed graduates includes James Campbell, Canada’s premier clarinetist, and famed author and music journalist Peter Goddard, amongst many alumni who’ve gone on to head (and in many cases, found) music ed programs at other universities. But most important are the unsung heroes of high school and grade school music classes, who achieve a kind of immortality through the generations of students they influence.
As Dr. Don Wright, last year’s recipient of U of T’s award for distinguished service in music education, put it: “(Music is) a giant relay race, where each generation passes the baton to the next.”
With 60 strong years under its belt, the music ed program at U of T is poised to pass the baton to many generations of young musicians to come.
