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MayDay Group Institute: June 10 - 14, 2002:
The University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA
"Re-forming Music Teacher Education: Recent Trends and New Directions for Foundations"


Action for Change: Broaden the Conversation

Patrick M Jones
University of the Arts
Philadelphia, PA, USA

While the vision of the MayDay group is to be international - and much work has been done and should continue along those lines, and many international members do in fact belong to MayDay - it is still primarily a North American organization. It is interesting to study the participants here this week which is, I realize, only one of many such colloquia sponsored by MayDay over the years.

Of those who came (30 or so?): 1 is from Scotland, 8 are Canadian, and the rest are from the United States. The overwhelming majority are from the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic States, with the greatest concentration (7) being New Yorkers. If my numbers are correct (and this is done from out of my head, which is not always the most reliable resource), there were only 6 US participants from outside the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic. They were:

Arizona - Sandy Stauffer - Arizona State University -
but she's originally a Pennsylvanian and taught at Peabody in Maryland

Idaho - Liz Gould - but she's moving to Toronto

Missouri - Terry Gates - but he's really a displaced New Yorker

Ohio - Bret Aarden from Ohio State - but he was only here a day or so

Texas - Hildegard Froehlich - University of North Texas -
but she's originally from Hamburg, Germany

Wisconsin - Julia Koza - University of Wisconsin - but she was only here for a day

Thus, there were vast regions of the US not represented here this week.

Canada, on the other hand, is represented from Coast-to-Coast. Of the eight Canadians I counted here, they represented the four provinces of:

British Columbia
Manitoba
Ontario
Prince Edward Island

These 8 Canadians represented not only a greater geographical distribution of their country than the US representation did, but a greater percentage of Music Education professors as well.

We in the US complain about the dominance of the performing ensemble in K-12 music education, and of the wall of separation between performance ensemble and general music teachers. The Canadians apparently don't have that problem and even expressed unhappiness with the division of the evening sessions along those linesÉsuggesting instead that we perhaps structure the evening sessions differently. However, in spite of their concerns, we continued to meet in that configuration, thus ignoring their needs and concerns, and reinforcing the very paradigm for Music Education that we Americans claim we want to change.

It is interesting to note that the one to stand up and fire the first volley against the Aesthetic Goliath is a Canadian man named David. Along with him are other vocal philosophers in our field, Tom Regelski from New York, and Wayne Bowman, from Manitoba. Thus, the Canadians are two thirds of the philosophical equation. Which is not to discount other philosophersÉbut I think this illustrates my point.

The Canadians do not have the behemoth MENC and NASM to fight. Membership in MayDay might not hold the negative "anti-MENC" connotations for Canadians that some in the US academy may fear. It is also interesting to note that during the discussions of last evening it was 2 Canadians (Wayne and David), a Canadian to be (Liz), and a German ex-pat (Hildegard) who kept calling for us to stop talking and take action. They do not fear MENC and NASM and want to move forward. Thus, perhaps concentrating efforts to expand in Canada would be most fruitful for the short term, bearing in mind we want to continue to grow throughout the US and in countries around the globe.

All of this having been said, I will state my suggestion in the format of a Tom Regelski Action Learning Curriculum:

ACTION IDEAL: Increase the Canadian voice at the MayDay table by:

1. increasing Canadian membership to include representatives from every Province of Canada and at levels from Pre-K to University

2. designing session formats and topics that strike a balance between meeting the concerns of Canadian as well as US representatives; and those of other countries

3. investigating Canadian paradigms of Music Education that might serve as models for change in the US

4. holding our next meeting in Quebec City, at the Chateau Frontenac, with all travel, meals and lodging paid by Tom Regelski

COMPETENCY DIMENSION: Implementing these action ideals obviously puts pressure on our Canadian members to recruit in their home country. It also means that the US members need to listen and be sensitive to Canadian concernsÉand take action on them. Perhaps MayDay could meet along with Canadian organizations, such as CUMS or the Canadian Music Educators Association. Lori Dolloff's paper at CUMS made an impact. Perhaps MayDay could serve as a sort-of MUED CUMS in Canada. Action Ideal 4 (above) is up to Tom to figure out how he's going to finance it.

ATTITUDE DIMENSION: Achieving this action ideal might change the perception of the MayDay Group from being a negative US-Centric anti-MENC organization, to being a positive North American organization, with a truly international perspective, that is a welcoming home for all those interested in intellectual dialogue and action as outlined in the MayDay agenda.