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ther the “Survey” Course?

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Robert Trotter: an emphasis on equilibrium

liducators vote in favor, and innovators add zcst

Elliot! Sdiuarl/

Of all the courscs in the college and university musie curriculum, thosc designed to scrve students ma-joring in fields other than musie—of-ten labeled “survey,” “literaturę,” or “appreciation” courses—servc the largest constituency, and may have the greatest long-range value. Such courses are crucial in developing musical scnsitivity, responsiveness, and critical thinking among the au-diences of the futurę, as well as the futurę patrons, fund-raisers, and board chairmen who will shape the destiny of many musical institutions. The study of musie in the context of generał culture is also an illuminating pursuit in its own right; to whatever degree the ideał of broadly based liberał arts education still has value for today’s changing society, thcrc is no doubt that musie occupies an impor-tant place in such education.

Even so, many college and uni-versity musie tcachers have voiccd concerns, ranging from generał uneasiness to very specific reserva-tions, about the State of “survey-ap-preciation-litcrature” courses: their continuing fixation upon a limited body of Western masterworks, their reliance upon comparativcly old-fashioncd teaching methods, their tendency to stress musical history, bi-ography, and a severely restricted area of taste (usually at the expense of the musie that students already know), and their frequcnt confusion of “generał” awareness with a collec-tion ofisolatcd factsdrawn from vari-ous musical specialties.

Composer Elliott Schwartz, chair-man of the Bowdoin College musie depart-menl, was a participant at the CMS Wing-spread Conference.

Low status

On another level, there is inereas-ing concern about the low status accorded appreciation-survey courses within the musie teaching profession itsclf. Deans and chairmen often as-sign such courses to instructors with minimal experience or interest in generał education; rarely, if evcr, are new faculty reeruited and appointed on the basis of their ability to handle survcy courscs for the non-major. Given an acadcmic structure that values spccialization above all, de-partments are morę likely to concen-trate upon their professional pro-grams in performance, composition, musie education, or scholarship at the graduatc levcl. Similarly, those who teach at the post-sccondary level are rewardcd for emphasizing specialties, whether in their teaching or their research. The entire area of mu-sic-in-gcneral-culture has, until now, been defined as a non-specialty, or as a category between specialties, rather than a specialty of its own.

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These were just a fcw of the is-sues raised and discussed at an invi-tational conference on Musie in General Studies co-sponsorcd by the College Musie Society and the Johnson Foundation. 'The conference, held in mid-July in Racine, Wiscon-sin at the Johnson Foundation’s Wingsprcad center (a magnificent structure designed by Frank Lloyd Wright), was conceived by the CMS asa strong First step in bringing these issues before the larger community of American musie professors and administratora, and with this in mind the CMS leaderahip brought a di-verse, articulate, and lively group of participants to Wingspread. They in-cluded young instructors and distin-guished professors, as well as a num-ber of deans and chairmen, from a vast rangę of U.S. institutions of higher education: giant State univer-sities, tiny private colleges, two-ycar and four-year schools, rural and ur-ban, from every section of the United States. Many of the participants were