Instrumental Music in American Normal Schools: A Historical Overview of Ensembles, Instruction, and Inclusion

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Friday 11:45 am
  In Roundtable Session: Musicking Normal Schools: Soundings of Capital, Gender, Race in Past, Current, Futures of Teacher Education

Abstract

From the mid-nineteenth through the early twentieth centuries, American normal schools offered students a wide range of opportunities to engage in instrumental music. Drawing on data from 31 universities that were formerly normal schools, this paper highlights how instrumental music—bands, orchestras, and fretted-instrument groups—played an integral role in both curricular and extracurricular life that contributed to cultural capital. Students received instruction through private lessons and class-based formats, experiences that mirror present-day K–12 and university offerings. In many ways, however, historical practices appear more progressive and inclusive than current models.

The data-collection process for this research occurred between November 2006 and September 2007. Letters requesting archival material were sent to 180 universities that were formerly public normal schools. One-hundred-and-eleven institutions responded, including nine historically Black normal schools and one Native American. Thirty-one archivists provided primary-source materials related specifically to instrumental music. These included photographs, yearbook descriptions, newspaper articles, event programs, and additional contextual images. Secondary materials such as institutional histories, archivist notes, and summarized archival collections were also included. While the data collection was limited by the discretion of archivists in selecting primary and secondary sources, the resulting large collection reflects a broad and representative sample of instrumental music education across American public normal schools.

Instrumental ensembles were central to student life and often emerged both from formal instruction and student-led initiatives. Groups were created for leisure and community-building as much as for education and public performance. One particularly striking finding was that women frequently served as directors of bands and orchestras—a sharp contrast to today’s gender norms in music leadership. Given that normal schools largely served women training to become teachers, ensemble participation was inclusive by necessity. Female students played all instruments, including those traditionally deemed masculine, such as the tuba, trombone, and string bass. This gender neutrality fostered a more egalitarian musical environment.

Military-affiliated, all-male normal-school bands were present. Still, mixed-gender ensembles were common. Segregated Black and Native American normal schools also had instrumental music options, including bands and string ensembles. These findings reveal rich intersections of race and gender in historical music education and demonstrate that music instruction was a meaningful part of teacher training across varied cultural and regional contexts.

Performances were widespread and valued by both campus and community audiences (Ogren, 1996, 2005). Sometimes groups were open to all stakeholders to participate and in some cases community members led and taught groups of students. Instrumental groups performed at graduations, religious services, literacy society meetings, athletic events, and for the entertainment of visiting dignitaries. Many ensembles played weekly, responding to community enthusiasm for musical programming. These performances offered stakeholders both artistic development and social capital.Today’s music educators may find inspiration in this history to adopt more flexible, collaborative, and equitable practices in their own classrooms and instrumental ensembles.

Author

• Jill M. Sullivan, Arizona State University