Philip C. Hayden
MENC President 1907-1909
Born November 20, 1854, Brantford, Ontario, Canada
Died May 15, 1925, Keokuk, Iowa
Education:
Attended New York University, 1876-1877
Attended Oberlin College, Ohio, 1878
Attended Oberlin Seminary 1881, left mid-term
Attended Oberlin Conservatory, 1882-1883
Work:
Assistant in family business, Hayden Dry Goods Emporium, 1873-1876
Music teacher, Vermont, Illinois, 1881-1882
Voice teacher, Quincy, Illinois, 1883-1900
Reporter, Quincy Daily Journal, Quincy, Illinois, 1883-1900
Supervisor of music, Quincy, 1888-1900
Supervisor of music, Keokuk, Iowa, 1882 (part-time), 1900 (full time)
Significant Publications:
Numerous editorials in School Music Monthly, School Music
Professional Accomplishments:
President, Department of Music Education, NEA, 1899
Founder/Editor School Music Monthly (School Music after 1902), 1900-1925
Philip Cady Hayden grew up on a New York farm in a family of seven children. His mother sang and played piano and organ at the church, and all of her children sang in the choir. Throughout his life, Hayden was active in the Congregational church, although he worked with church choirs in a variety of denominations. When Hayden was a teenager, his father moved the family to Long Island and established a dry goods business, and Hayden gained business experience working in the family store. From age nineteen to twenty-nine, Hayden attended several colleges and universities sporadically, even enrolling in seminary at one point. Although he never completed a degree, this is not as unusual as it might seem today, for people of that time were more likely to attend college for specific courses rather than a formal degree.
Hayden believed that music was important in the school curriculum because it broadened students’ education. He promoted rote singing for young children, but advised teachers to integrate sol-fa and interval exercises by third grade to lay the foundations for music reading. When he was a music teacher in Illinois, he organized singing groups modeled on the old singing schools in several small towns to revive interest in sight-singing.
Hayden had supplemented his teaching incomes with work as a reporter, and he used this experience and his business knowledge to establish the first successful school music publication in 1900. Named School Music Monthly, it was devoted to wide-ranging discussions of school music and teaching methods. Hayden also intended the journal to serve the Music Department of the National Educational Association and the National Federation of School Music Teachers. In 1902, Hayden merged his journal with School Music, which had been started by Helen Place, music supervisor in Indianopolis, and she became assistant editor. Hayden frequently contributed his own writings to the journal, renamed School Music, and he served as editor until the time of his death.
Hayden was active in educational organizations from the time he moved to Illinois. In 1890, he was appointed to chair a committee to organize the music section of the Illinois State Teachers Association, and the next year he was elected president when the section was formally approved. Hayden also became involved in the National Education Association at this time. In 1905, he began publishing a series of articles about his teaching method called Ear Training in Rhythm Forms. The following year, he invited about thirty midwestern music supervisors to observe his method and remain for general discussions. After receiving enthusiastic responses, he officially invited the music supervisors to meet in Keokuk in 1907 because the NEA convention that year was so far away on the West Coast. Although there is some question as to whether Hayden planned to propose a separate organization before the event was held, conference attendees began to discuss it on the second day of meetings. They voted to establish The Music Supervisors Conference with Hayden as the first president.
Personal Biography:
Married Mary Neely Ralston, 1886.
Children: Joseph Ralston Hayden, Van Brocklin Hayden
Quotes:
“The teaching of music, like the teaching of all other branches, should be based on tested and sound educational principles, and the instructor should be first of all a teacher, then a musician.”
“Emotional singing refines and ennobles not only for school life but for all life.”
Philip C. Hayden, “Music in the Public Schools and Some Elements Essential to Its
Success,” Addresses and Proceedings of the National Education Association, Saratoga Springs, New York (1892): 531, 536.
“The greatest offering a music teacher can give a community is a class of graduates who can read music, understand, and appreciate it.”
Philip C. Hayden, Editorial, School Music 25 (March 1924): 15.
Sources Used:
Birge, Edward B. History of Public School Music in the United States, new and expanded
ed. Reston, VA: Music Educators National Conference, 1966.
Cannon,
Chester N. “The Contributions of Philip Cady Hayden to Music Education in the
United States.” Ed.D. diss., University of Michigan,
1958.
Hayden, Philip C. Editorial, School Music 25 (March 1924): 15.
________. “Music in the Public Schools and Some Elements Essential to Its
Success.” Addresses and Proceedings of the National Education Association, Saratoga Springs, New York, 1892.
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.
Thuerauf,
Jeff. “Philip Cady Hayden Biography,” MENC Founders of 1907. Available
from
http://www.public.asu.edu/~aajth/history/hayden~pc/hayden~p.c.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
School Music Monthly and School Music 1900-1925
Submitted by Kaye Ferguson, November 2002.