American Music for American Youth

“We Who Have the Destiny of Musical America in Our Hands”

“…Composer Howard Hanson wrote that music in the public schools "constitutes the most significant progress that has been made in the musical development of the United States." 25 Edward Bailey Birge noted in 1938, the centennial year of the entry of music in public education, that public school music education, "has come to be looked upon by educators, musicians, parents, and general community opinion as a great national asset, a foundation upon which to build the American musical culture of the future." 26 Developing musical culture, as reflected in journal issues of the 1930s, focused on music appreciation and becoming familiar with American composers and their compositions.…”

“…32 Howard Hanson endorsed Gehrkens's challenge to composers, expressing hope that it would be answered "by the composition of American songs for the American youth by American composers who are a part of his age and his spirit." 33 In 1936, Agnes Samuelson, president of the National Education Association, looked to the schools themselves to train the talent that will compose "the American epic" in music and make music "an even greater force in the cultural, social, and spiritual advancement of our nation." 34 Music professor Theodore F. Normann also looked to the schools, believing that music educators can be "of inestimable value in the stimulation and growth of American music and of American composition."…”