Robert A. Choate
President of MENC 1954-56
Date of birth: 1910: October 22, 1910, Anna-Jonesboro, Illinois
Died: 1975:
January, 29, 1975, Newton, Massachusetts
Education: 1935 - B.S.M., Cornell College, Mr. Vernon, Iowa
1940 - Masters of
Music, Northwestern University
Studied at Washington
State College, Pullman
1950 – Education
Degree, Stanford University
Work: 1935-36 –
public school music teacher, Toledo, Iowa
1935-46 – organist,
choral director, First Methodist Church,
Toledo, Iowa
1936-38 – music
supervisor, Palo, Illinois
1939-42 – Director of
Music Education, Spokane, Washington
public schools
1939-42 – Minister of
Music, First Presbyterian Church, Spokane,
Washington
1942-50 – Director of
Music Education, Oakland, California public
schools
1942-50 – Minister of
Music, St. John’s Presbyterian Church,
Berkeley, California
1950-52 – Director of
Music Education, Evanston, Illinois public
schools
1950-52 – visiting
professor and Chairman, Music Education
Department, Northwestern University
1952-54 – Dean of
Boston University College of Music
1954 – Dean of School
of Fine and Applied Arts, Boston
University
Specialty areas: Music education, music administration, church music
Publications:
Choate,
Robert A., ed., Documentary Report of the Tanglwood Symposium. Washington,
DC: Music Educators National Conference, 1968.
Choate,
Robert A., and Max Kaplan. “Music in
American Society – Introduction to
Issues.” Music Educators Journal. (April 1967):
43-51.
Choate,
Robert A. “Music in American Society: the MENC Tanglewood Symposium.”
Music Educators Journal. (March 1967): 38-40.
Choate, Robert A., Barbara Kaplan, and James Standifer. Sound, Beat, and Feeling. New
York: American Book Co., 1972.
-----.
“No. 1 School and Home Radio Project: Standard Has Set a Standard for
Distinctive
Public Service in the Field of Music.” Music Educators Journal. (April
1947):
19-21.
-----.
“The Shaping Forces of Music in the Changing Curriculum.” Music Educators
Journal. (April-May 1961): 30-32.
-----.
“UNESCO Names MENC as Participant.” Music
Educators Journal. (January
1955): 22.
-----.
“The Years Ahead.” Music Educators
Journal. (April-May 1956): 21-24.
Rossi, Nick, and Robert A. Choate. Music of Our Time; An
Anthology of Works of
Selected Contemporary Composers of the 20th. Boston: Crescendo Pub. Co.,
1970.
Professional
Accomplishments:
1940-42 – President, Washington
Music Educators Association
1941 – Chairman, Northwest Music
Educators Conference
1941-42 – Editor, Washington Music
Bulletin, official publication of Washington Music
Educators
Association
1943-44 – Chairman, Committee on
Inter-American Education, University of California
1944-45 – Chairman, Committee on
Latin American Education, University of California
1944-48 – Chairman, Committee on
Music Education, California School Supervisors
Association
1946-48 – MENC Board of Directors
1950 – Chairman, MENC Editorial
Board
1948-50 – MENC Executive Committee
1954-56 – President of MENC, and
organized and directed ten commissions for study of
music
education in the United States
1956-58 – Chairman, State
Presidents Assembly
1962 – Editorial Board, Music
Educators Journal
1964 – Chairman, MENC Publications
Committee
1986 – MENC Hall of Fame
Biography:
Robert A. Choate (1910-1975) was well known and respected
as an educator, musician, administrator, and author, and as a longtime member of
the MENC, he served the organization in a variety of ways. He was chair of the
Editorial Board from 1950-54, and President from 1954-56. As President, he was
credited with organizing and directing ten commissions for the study of music
education within the United States. He was chair of the States Assembly from
1956-58, a member of the Editorial Board for the Journal in 1962, and chair of
the Publications Committee in 1964. In 1967 he directed the Tanglewood
Symposium Project.
Choate’s
leadership was not limited to the MENC, as he was also involved in countless
educational and cultural organizations. He was a member of the board of
directors of the Oakland Symphony Association, chair of the California School
Supervisors Association, director of the New England Opera Theatre, chair of
the music committee of the Boston Arts Festival, president of the Boston
Chamber Music Society, a trustee of the Boston Opera Group, and a member of the
board of directors of the of the Massachusetts Council for Humanities. In
addition, he was on the editorial board of the Journal of Aesthetic
Education, co-author of Music of Our Time, and senior author of New
Dimensions in Music. Choate is also know for his work as professor of music
and dean of the Fine and Applied Arts School at Boston University. He was gentle and unassuming, and kept in touch with the
grassroots of the profession, yet effected change at the highest levels. Robert
Choate died in 1975.[1]
Quote:
From the 1968 “The Tanglewood
Declaration”:
The arts afford continuity with the aesthetic tradition in
man’s history. Music and other fine arts, largely nonverbal in nature, reach
close to the social, psychological, and physiological roots of man in his
search for identity and self-realization.
Educators must accept the
responsibility for devoting opportunities which meet man’s individual needs and
the needs of a society plagued by the consequences of changing values,
alienation, hostility between generations, racial and international tensions,
and the challenges of a new leisure.[2]
Sources Used:
Arneson,
Arne Jon. The Music Educators Journal Cumulative Index 1914-1987. Stevens
Point, Wisconsin: Index House, 1987.
Choate,
Robert A., ed., Documentary Report of the Tanglwood Symposium. Washington,
DC: Music Educators National Conference, 1968.
Mark,
Michael L., Charles L. Gary. A History of Music Education. Reston, VA:
The
National Association for Music Education, 1999.
“In
Memoriam: Robert A. Choate.” Music Educators Journal. (March 1975): 27, 105,
107.
University
of Maryland Libraries. Robert Choate Papers.
http://www.lib.umd.edu/PAL/SCPA/MENC/choate.html.
For more information,
consult the following sources:
“In
Memoriam: Robert A. Choate.” Music Educators Journal. (March 1975): 27, 105,
107.
Mark,
Michael L., Charles L. Gary. A History of Music Education. Reston, VA:
The
National Association for Music Education, 1999.
University
of Maryland Libraries. Robert Choate Papers.
http://www.lib.umd.edu/PAL/SCPA/MENC/choate.html.
--Submitted by Diana Hollinger,
December 2002