Will Earhart

MENC President 1915-1916

Born April 1, 1871, Franklin, Ohio

Died April 23, 1960, Portland, Oregon

Education:

Private lessons in violin, piano, and theory

Work:

Music teacher, Franklin and Miamisburg, Ohio

Music supervisor, Greenville, Ohio, 1888-1898

Music supervisor, Richmond, Indiana, 1898-1912

Director of music, Pittsburgh public schools, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 1912-1940

Founder/Administrator department of public school music, University of Pittsburgh,

1913-1920

Significant Publications:

Earhart, Will. The Eloquent Baton. New York: M. Witmark and Sons, 1931.

________. Music to the Listening Ear. New York: M. Witmark & Sons, 1932.

________. The Meaning and Teaching of Music. New York: Witmark Co., 1935.

Giddings, Thaddeus P., Will Earhart, Ralph L. Baldwin, and Elbridge W. Newton. Music

Appreciation in the School Room. Boston: Ginn & Company, 1926.

Professional Accomplishments:

Member, MSNC high school music committee, 1912

Chairman, MSNC Educational Council, 1918

Chairman, MSNC Research Council, 1919

Speaker, MSNC representative at Department of Superintendence meeting, 1927

Will Earhart was a music educator and philosopher who believed strongly in the value of musical beauty. He advocated teaching music with an emphasis on creating pleasing sounds, deriding the “machine-like chug-chug chug-chug” that he heard from amplified bass instruments in 1950s rock and roll. At the forefront of the aesthetic education movement in the 1940s, Earhart outlined the three appeals of music as sensory, mind, and feelings, and believed that all children had the ability to be musical if properly nurtured. According to Earhart, music in the schools was fully justified on aesthetic, intellectual and educational, and social grounds. He believed that music should be studied by all children, not just those who might choose it as a profession, so that they might enjoy it for the rest of their lives. He encouraged all people to avoid placing too much emphasis on material objects at the expense of those things of significant beauty that required time and effort to appreciate.

Earhart was also a pioneer in the expansion of the high school music program and the granting of credits to students enrolled in the courses. At the turn of the century, he developed a harmony course at Richmond High School, and a course called “A Critical Study of Music.” Through the study of sixteen composers from Bach to Wagner, Earhart emphasized the importance of context, form, and style. Since there were no recordings available, choruses formed the core materials, and Earhart made sure to have the best editions possible. In this early model for comprehensive musicianship, students sang and played the music, wrote essays, and took written exams, receiving one half credit each semester for their work. In 1898, Earhart formed a high school orchestra in Richmond, and although it usually met outside school hours, these students were also given a half credit each semester in they were deemed capable of public performance according to the high standards Earhart maintained for the group. The orchestra performed at many school events such as chapel services, commencements, and assemblies. Instrument gaps were filled with community members, alumni, and hired professionals when needed, but Earhart believed that it was better to play good symphonic literature with thin instrumentation than to compromise the quality of music. During this time Earhart also formed an adult chorus and the Richmond Civic Orchestra, and he organized annual festivals in which the school and community orchestras and choirs could perform together. Under the direction of Earhart, music education in the small town of Richmond, Indiana became so well known that music teachers made journeys to observe the programs, returning to implement the ideas back in their own towns.

Earhart was a visionary leader in the MSNC, ably articulating the philosophical foundations of the organization. He was active in MSNC for almost fifty years and was a founding member, although he missed the first meeting in Keokuk because of Easter church responsibilities. Despite doubts that it could be accomplished, Earhart organized and led an orchestra comprised of conference members at the 1921 MSNC meeting, including Edward Bailey Birge on viola and Osbourne McConathy on French horn. He continued to serve his profession until the end of his life, helping young teachers who sought his advice and writing articles for the Journal supporting aesthetic education.

Personal Biography:

Wife (Birdelle), son (Will Earhart, Jr.)

Quotes:

“The moral is to lead all pupils to sing, to play, to make up music, and to listen to much good music, as in concerts; but before you have them listen, be sure they have developed the organic appreciational apparatus to listen with, for ears alone will not suffice.”

Will Earhart, “Factors of Musical Appeal and Pupil Responses to Them,” Music

Supervisors Journal 7, no. 2 (December 1930): 24.

“All music, even that which ably functions toward its chosen specific ends, holds a precious element that speaks to some divination within us of more distant and lofty ends which it bids us go forth and seek.”

Will Earhart, “Music and Function,” Music Educators Journal 31, no. 1

(September-October 1944): 15.

“A failure in music education is teaching that subject in a vacuum and not connecting it with other human interests and experiences – this means having no philosophy on the subject.”

Will Earhart, “What is Music For?” Music Educators Journal 44, no. 6

(June-July 1958): 25.

Sources Used:

Beattie, John W. “Prophet with Honor.” Music Educators Journal 41, no. 4

(February-March 1955): 21-23.

Birge, Edward B. History of Public School Music in the United States, new and expanded

ed. Reston, VA: Music Educators National Conference, 1966.

Buttleman, Clifford V., ed. Will Earhart: Teacher, Philosopher, Humanitarian.

Washington, D.C.: The Music Educators National Conference, 1962.

Earhart, Will. “Factors of Musical Appeal and Pupil Responses to Them.” Music

Supervisors Journal 7, no. 2 (December 1930): 18-24.

________. “Is Instrumental Music in Public Schools Justified by the Actual Results?

Part II.” Music Supervisors Journal 8, no. 2 (December 1921): 36-40.

________. “Music and Function.” Music Educators Journal 31, no. 1

(September-October 1944): 15.

________. “A Philosophical Basis for Aesthetic Values.” Music Educators Journal

37, no. 2 (November-December 1950): 15-17.

________. “President’s Address.” Journal of Proceedings of the Ninth Annual

Meeting of the Music Supervisors National Conference, Lincoln, NE. 20-24 March 1916.

________. “Some Aspects of Musical Beauty and Its Appeal to Children.” Musical

Quarterly 11, no. 4 (Winter 1925): 248-260.

________. “To Justify or not to Justify.” Music Supervisors Journal 19, no, 5 (May

1933): 19-20.

________. “What is Music For?” Music Educators Journal 44, no. 6

(June-July 1958): 23-26.

Keene, James A. A History of Music Education in the United States. Hanover, NH:

University Press of New England, 1982.

Mark, Michael L., and Charles L. Gary. A History of American Music Education, 2d ed.

Reston, VA: MENC-The National Association for Music Education, 1999.

Normann, Theodore F. “A Steadfast Philosophy.” Music Educators Journal 49, no. 3

(January 1963): 30-40.

“Will Earhart Papers: Biography,” Special Collections in Performing Arts,

Performing Arts Library, University of Maryland. Available from

http://www.lib.umd.edu/PAL/SCPA/MENC/earhart.html; Internet.

For more information, consult the following sources:

Arneson, Jon. The Music Educators Journal Cumulative Index 1914-1987. Stevens Point,

WI: Index House, 1987.

Journal of Proceedings/Yearbooks, Music Supervisors’ National Conference, 1910-1940

McKerman, Felix E. “Will Earhart: His Life and Contributions to Music Education.”

Ed.D. diss., University of Southern California, 1956.

Submitted by Kaye Ferguson, November 2002.