Dale A. Olsen
We Are the Doctors!
While it is certainly not a requirement for membership in The College Music Society, many CMS members have doctorates. Some of us even put "Dr." Before our names on our personal checks (reading Dr. Jane Doe or Dr. Fulano de Tal). I have often been asked by cashiers at supermarket checkout lines, "Oh, are you a real doctor?" While I have never answered "No, but I play one on TV," I usually say, "I'm a professor-doctor."
If I had more time at the checkout lines, I might explain that the meaning of "doctor" is "teacher," from the Latin noun doctor (teacher) and verb docere (to teach). So we are the real doctors, while those in the medical profession are the "unreal" (?) doctors (we may perhaps think that when we receive our medical or dental bills). It's amazing to me how we in the teaching profession have been made to feel like we're playing second fiddle to those in the medical profession. But this essay is not about healing and complaining. It is about teaching and communicating.
I began my President's Comments by stating that a doctorate is not a requirement for membership in CMS, and I certainly want to emphasize that point. Whether we have a doctorate or not, however, most of us are teachers, even though that aspect of our career may sometimes seem secondary to our personal and perhaps more specific goals of composing, conducting, performing, researching, writing, administrating, or whatever it is we do. Nevertheless, if we hold an academic position, chances are we teach, and everything we do academically and professionally when we are out of our classrooms helps to make us better teachers.
This particular issue of the Newsletter is devoted to music education, and I want to stress my point that we are all music educators in one way or another. While traditionally the thrust of American music education has been in elementary and secondary schools, and most college or university music education programs assist in the training of teachers, it is important to consider that all of us in musical higher education are also music education teachers, because all of us teach future teachers. In addition, most music education students will probably take courses beyond those that are specifically a part of the music education curriculum (i.e., required for the degree). I have now used "music education" seven times in this paragraph, and that may be a record. However, I would use it a hundred times if I could make all music academics realize that what we do is music education, whether we call it that or not.
At the third Music Education Summit in Washington, D.C. in October 1998, organized by the MENC—The National Association for Music Education, someone said, "Music is a tool for learning about history, values, how to understand others, and how to live in the world." This is indeed something every member of The College Music Society must think about, because when we teach music, we are teaching about history, values, how to understand others, and how to live in the world, whether consciously or unconsciously. Everything we do as faculty members in higher education affects how students learn, understand, and get along. Therefore, we have a tremendous responsibility because we hold one of the keys to the cultural survival of our country.
I was very impressed with the recent MENC Housewright Symposium in Music Education entitled "Vision 20/20," held in Tallahassee this past September. Most MENC members know what the important concerns are with regard to music's survival, and most have tremendous vision about what is necessary to ensure human cultural survival. They are aware of the significance of these words spoken by Richard Dreyfuss: "I believe that a nation that allows music to be expendable is in danger of becoming expendable itself" And they are aware of the importance of understanding other cultures through an understanding of the musics of other cultures. They also seem aware of the general significance and applicability of these words I recently wrote about the Warao of Venezuela, an indigenous culture whose music I have studied in depth*: "If we can learn to appreciate and understand Warao music, then perhaps we can learn to appreciate the Warao as a culture and love them as people." These should be the concerns of all music educators (and, I repeat, we are all music educators).
These must also be the concerns of deans and chairs of music schools and departments, because music administrators make and set policies that will affect millions of students in the next millennium. Cultural diversity is a fact of human existence; we must recognize that fact and we must teach music in a way that reflects the virtues and values of all cultures in our global village (earth) and our continental village (USA). The variety of humanity's creations and expressions is one of humanity's greatest strengths, and not to teach about multicultural diversity through music would be to backslide—a very dangerous prospect. The predictions for multi-ethnic and multi-racial population increases in the United States in the next century are staggering, and our country will become even more of a microcosm of the world than it is today. We must be ready for that fact, and music teachers and music programs must be even more prepared to teach about the strengths of multicultural diversity through music than ever before. Benjamin Franklin's words, "Failing to prepare is preparing to fail," seem to be very relevant at this time.
Thank you MENC and music education specialists. Please realize that The College Music Society shares your concerns, and your concerns are our concerns. I believe that together we can make many differences in our small world.
Best wishes and Happy New Year! Now that we have entered into the threshold of the next millennium, let us think about what we can do to ensure and assure that the human species and other living organisms will survive. Think about how we can all be advocates for music, and advocates for people and other species through music.
*http://otto.cmr.fsu.edu/--muh2052/ warao_indians_venezuela.htm
