Nadia Boulangerís Impact on American Music Education: Summer Courses for Music Educators During World War II
Julie Dunbar, Ph.D.
Edgewood College
Abstract
Nadia Boulanger biographer Don Campbell once noted that Boulangerís influence ìbranched out to hundreds directly, and to thousands in sympathetic manner.î This paper examines that premise by highlighting aspects of Boulangerís pedagogical work during 1941-1944, when she spent the summer months teaching dozens of primary and secondary-level Dominican music educators who were based in Sinsinawa, Wisconsin. While Boulangerís influence on American music is primarily associated with her famous composition students, her work with music educators during the war years was also of significance, and had a lasting and far-reaching impact. Boulangerís summer-session pupils went on to teach music at primary, secondary and collegiate institutions throughout the United States. Archival materials from the Sinsinawa Mound Motherhouse are used to demonstrate the impact of the summer courses, including photographs, handwritten letters from Boulanger, and course notes supplied by educators who took the summer courses. Recent interviews with former pupils additionally emphasize Boulangerís impact on music education in America.
Boulangerís connection to the Sinsinawa Dominicans was made in France where a Sister Mary Edward Blackwell began studying with Boulanger, having just completed study under Resphigi in Rome. Sr. Blackwell spent the summer of 1935 with Boulanger in Gargenville following the death of Boulangerís mother. Blackwell continued studying with Boulanger at the Ecole Normale, and was in correspondence with her via letter until Boulanger arrived in the United States during World War II.
While maintaining her grueling schedule in America during the war years, Boulanger spent approximately six weeks each summer with the Dominicans. While these summer months were retreats for Boulanger, the Sisters recall a grueling course of non-stop study that greatly impacted their future teaching.
The PowerPoint presentation to accompany the paper, which focuses on a very different facet of Boulangerís career, features photographs, quotations given during lectures, and highlights from interviews of the musicians who studied with Boulanger. It provides access to unpublished materials that re-emphasize Boulangerís driving passion for teaching, and her enormous impact on American music education. It also demonstrates that Boulangerís influence expanded well beyond the musically famous.
Sample photograph; Nadia Boulanger in Wisconsin during the War Years
Julie Dunbar, Ph.D.
Edgewood College
1000 Edgewood College Drive
Madison, WI 53711