Dear Margaret (or Peggy, if you prefer) and Vocalisters:
I taught public school music in Minnesota beginning in 1956 and I
moved on to college teaching in 1978. I left public school teaching
because of the cutbacks that were already beginning in a state
(Minnesota) which has always placed a high priority on music and arts
in the schools. In other words, the reduced aid for music was even
beginning to show in a state which was a leader in music education.
My sadness over this was only surpassed by my shock at the even worse
conditions in other states as I moved into the southwest.
Because of this lack of training, a whole generation of young adults,
the boomers, have little or no real background in any kind of music
except the commercial music with which we are all surrounded. In
consideration of this I think it not unwise that amateur choral
groups remove or consider less important the ability to read music as
a requirement for membership and, instead, take up the burden of
teaching music reading within the choral organization. It is rather
easily learned in choral groups and it is most satisfying to discover
that one can truly read music, even if it is only done within the
group.
As a sidelight. During the years that the Christiansens (F. Melius
and his son, Olaf) founded and directed the St. Olaf Choir, sight
reading was never a criteria for membership. Voice quality and, most
important, a good ear for pitch were the primary requirements. The
ear was tested by having the student sing back a short melody of the
directors creation, no music was available nor shown. These 5 to 10
note melodies would always contain common intervals but intervals
that are almost always sung out of tune such as falling minor
thirds. The singer who innately sang them in tune was usually chosen
for the choir unless possessed of an unusable voice quality.
But each singer learned to read as a member of the choir. It was
simply expected and, consequently, achieved. So was memorization. I
never remember being instructed to memorize my music. It was simply
expected. A prime example of this was learning "Singet dem Herren" a
double choir motet by J. S. Bach. At the beginning of the third week
of rehearsal the basses individually turned in their scores on the
piano of Olaf at the beginning of the rehearsal. Two days later the
altos did the same thing. By weeks end the whole choir had the motet
memorized. Never a word said about doing this nor creating the
challenge to do it . It was just expected. The value of tradition
is immeasurable.
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