Joseph Maddy and the National High School Orchestra

Joseph Maddy became the first supervisor of instrumental music in Rochester, NY in 1918. Maddy convinced George Eastman to purchase 10,000 worth of instruments for the Rochester Public Schools. Maddy later founded the National High School Orchestra in 1926, and performed with his orchestra at many important events, including the MSNC 1926 Detroit meeting, and a meeting of the American Association of School Administrators (AASA) in 1927, which had a tremendous impact on administrators' interest in starting an instrumental music program in their own districts. A National High School Orchestra also performed at the 1928 MSNC in Chicago.

Administrators at all three conferences were impressed by the healthy experiences of students working together, excellent discipline, and the byproducts of citizenship, health, and useful recreation that were so important at that time. The success of Maddy's orchestra coincided with the proper cultural and sociological conditions of the time to bring about instrumental music's firm establishment in the schools.

Maddy and Giddings also started the National Band and Orchestra Camp at Interlochen in 1928. They co-authored a heterogeneous class method entitled Universal Teacher in 1923, which was significant because it gave all the instruments in the orchestra melodies to play.

PREV |1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | NEXT