The Tanglewood Symposium was a conference that took place from July 23 to August 2, 1967, in

Tanglewood, Massachusetts Tanglewood is a music venue in the towns of Lenox and Stockbridge in the Berkshire Hills of western Massachusetts. It has been the summer home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra since 1937. Tanglewood is also home to three music schools: the ...

. It was sponsored by the

Music Educators National Conference The National Association for Music Education (NAfME) is an organization of American music educators dedicated to advancing and preserving music education as part of the core curriculum of schools in the United States. Founded in 1907 as the Mus ...

(MENC) in cooperation with the

Berkshire Music Center The Tanglewood Music Center is an annual summer music academy in Lenox, Massachusetts, United States, in which emerging professional musicians participate in performances, master classes and workshops. The center operates as a part of the Tanglew ...

, the

Theodore Presser Foundation The Theodore Presser Company is an American music publishing and distribution company located in Malvern, Pennsylvania, formerly King of Prussia, Pennsylvania, and originally based in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania. It is the oldest continuing music publ ...

, and the School of Fine and Applied Arts of

Boston University Boston University (BU) is a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. The university is nonsectarian, but has a historical affiliation with the United Methodist Church. It was founded in 1839 by Methodists with its original campu ...

. The purpose was to discuss and define the role of

music education Music education is a field of practice in which educators are trained for careers as elementary or secondary music teachers, school or music conservatory ensemble directors. Music education is also a research area in which scholars do origina ...

in contemporary American society and to make recommendations to improve the effectiveness of music instruction. Participants included sociologists, scientists,

labor leader A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits ( ...

educators A teacher, also called a schoolteacher or formally an educator, is a person who helps students to acquire knowledge, competence, or virtue, via the practice of teaching. ''Informally'' the role of teacher may be taken on by anyone (e.g. whe ...

, representatives of corporations, musicians, and people involved with other aspects of music.

The Symposium

Position papers had been published in the March and April 1967 issues of the ''Music Educators Journal''. The papers served as the bases for discussion at the 1967 MENC divisional conferences and for the Tanglewood Symposium. The sessions were moderated by Max Kaplan, Wiley Lee Housewright (1913–2003), Allen P. Britton,

David P. McAllester David Park McAllester (6 August 1916 – 30 April 2006) was an American ethnomusicologist and Professor of Anthropology and Music at Wesleyan University, where he taught from 1947–1986. He contributed to the development of the field o ...

, and Karl D. Ernst. Three broad questions were considered: * What are the characteristics and desirable ideologies for an emerging and

postindustrial society In sociology, the post-industrial society is the stage of society's development when the service sector generates more wealth than the manufacturing sector of the economy. The term was originated by Alain Touraine and is closely related to si ...

? * What are the values and unique functions of music and other arts for individuals and communities in such a society? * How may these potentials be attained?

The Tanglewood Declaration

The Tanglewood Symposium is summarized in the statement entitled "The Tanglewood Declaration," which provided a philosophical basis for future developments in music education. Of particular importance, the Declaration called for music to be placed in the core of the school curriculum. *a. Music serves best when its integrity as an art is maintained. *b. Music of all periods, styles, forms, and cultures belongs in the curriculum. The musical repertory should be expanded to involve music of our time in its rich variety, including currently popular teenage music and avant-garde music, American folk music, and the music of other cultures. *c. Schools and colleges should provide adequate time for music programs ranging from pre-school through adult or continuing education. *d. Instruction in the arts should be a general and important part of education in the senior high school. *e. Developments in educational technology, educational television, programmed instruction, and computer-assisted instruction should be applied to music study and research. *f. Greater emphasis should be placed on helping the individual student to fulfill his needs, goals, and potentials. *g. The music education profession must contribute its skills, proficiencies, and insights toward assisting in the solution of urgent social problems as in the "inner city" or other areas with culturally deprived individuals. *h. Programs of teacher education must be expanded and improved to provide music teachers who are specially equipped to teach high school courses in the history and literature of music, courses in the humanities and related arts, as well as teachers equipped to work with the very young, with adults, with the disadvantaged, and with the emotionally disturbed.Introduction to Music Education, 3rd Edition, Hoffer, Charles R.

References

{{Reflist * Gary, C.L. and Mark, M.L. (2007). A History of American Music Education. Plymouth, United Kingdom: The National Association for Music Education. * Mark, M. (1986). Contemporary Music Education. New York: Schirmer Books.

The Symposium

The Tanglewood Declaration

See also

References

Further reading