A central tenet of music education policy and advocacy is the belief that all children should have the opportunity to learn music. Yet despite decades of effort by educators, we have not established a system where music education is consistently available to all students. This talk presents patterns of participation in music education across the United States, from early schooling through professional training, highlighting factors that contribute to attrition and barriers to college entry. Together, these findings raise important questions about how music education is structured, who it serves, and what is lost when students fall away from music.
About the Presenter
Rebecca B. MacLeod is professor of music education and Daniel J. Perrino Endowed Chair in Music at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC), where she teaches string education and conducts the Philharmonia Orchestra. Author of Teaching Strings in Today’s Classroom and coauthor of Clifford K. Madsen’s Contributions to Music Education and Music Therapy: Love of Learning, she is also a contributing author to Teaching Instrumental Music: Perspectives and Pedagogies for the 21st Century, Rehearsing the Middle School Orchestra, and Teaching Music Through Performance in Orchestra. She is published in the Journal of Research in Music Education, International Journal of Music Education, Bulletin for the Council of Research in Music Education, Update: Applications of Research in Music Education, Journal of Music Teacher Education, String Research Journal, Psychology of Music, The Strad, American String Teachers Journal, and various state music education journals. She has served on the editorial boards of the Journal of Research in Music Education, the String Research Journal, and as guest reviewer for the International Journal of Research in Music Education. She has received the University of North Carolina Greensboro (UNCG) Junior Research Excellence Award and the Researcher Award from the American String Teachers Association. In demand as a guest conductor and clinician, MacLeod has conducted regional and all-state orchestras in over 20 states. Prior to joining the faculty at the UIUC, she was professor of music education at the UNCG for 18 years. She is recipient of the North Carolina Board of Governors Teaching Excellence Award, the UNCG School of Music, Theatre and Dance Outstanding Teaching Award, and a semifinalist for the Grammy Music Educator Award. During her early career, MacLeod taught elementary, middle, and high school orchestras in Hollidaysburg and Beaver, Pennsylvania. She earned an undergraduate degree from Duquesne University and M.M.E. and Ph.D. degrees from Florida State University. MacLeod currently serves as immediate past president for the American String Teachers Association.
The Jean Sinor Lectures
The Jean Sinor Memorial Lecture Series, which invites renowned guest scholars to the IU Bloomington campus for several days each year to speak and interact with music education students, is named in memory of Jacobs School of Music Professor Jean Sinor. The lecture series was made possible by a gift from Jean’s husband, Denis Sinor, who was distinguished professor emeritus of Central Asian Studies in the Department of Central Eurasian Studies at Indiana University and a tenured lecturer at Cambridge University between 1948 and 1962. He was one of the world’s leading scholars for the history of Central Asia.
Jean Sinor
Eugenia (Jean) Sinor, the daughter of Bernice and Joseph Trinajstic, was born on September 22, 1946, in St. Louis, Mo. She attended Webster College, where she was a merit scholar and completed a Bachelor of Music with majors in piano and music education in 1968. Sinor attended the Liszt Academy in Budapest and earned a certificate in solfege, pedagogy, and conducting in 1969. Later, she worked as a general music teacher in Greensboro, N.C., and Bloomington, Ind., schools and was a co-founder of the Indiana University Children’s Choir. She completed the Master of Music Education degree at the IU Jacobs School of Music in 1975 and was appointed lecturer in music education in 1976. In 1984, she completed a Ph.D. in Music Education and was appointed assistant professor and chair of music education. In 1991, she was named director of undergraduate studies in the Jacobs School of Music. She was promoted to professor of music in 1998.
Sinor was dedicated to the teaching principles of Hungarian composer Zoltán Kodály (1862-1967). She received a National Endowment for the Humanities Kodály Fellowship and became internationally known for her work as a clinician and author of teaching materials. She was known by colleagues and students as a versatile and gifted teacher. Sinor served as a visiting lecturer at 20 institutions and taught over 70 workshops, nationally and internationally. She authored several scholarly articles and four textbooks, including the Silver Burdett publications, Kodály Curriculum Guides, and World of Music.
Her contributions to the Music Education Department at Indiana University covered the full range of the music curriculum, from elementary music methods through doctoral seminars. She advised over 30 theses and dissertations. As chair of Music Education, she oversaw significant development in the department’s curriculum and mission. Sinor served two terms as president of the International Kodály Society. Her keen leadership, intellect, critical thinking, and communication abilities were sought out and valued by many. Her humanity, incisive humor, and generosity were appreciated by all who worked with her. As director of undergraduate studies, Sinor advised over 1,000 undergraduates each year and served as a mentor to many graduate students. She passed away on March 9, 1999, while on a research trip to Budapest, Hungary. She has been sorely missed by her colleagues in Indiana and worldwide. In a heartfelt effort to honor Jean Sinor’s incomparable contributions to the field of music education, we dedicate this lecture series to her memory.
Denis Sinor
The benefactor of the Jean Sinor Memorial Lecture Series was Denis Sinor, distinguished professor emeritus of the Department of Central Eurasian Studies at Indiana University, Bloomington. Sinor was born in Hungary in 1916 and was educated in Hungary, Switzerland, and France. After World War II, in which he served as a member of the French Resistance and later in the Free French Forces, he joined the faculty at Cambridge University. In 1962, he came to IU, creating the Department of Uralic and Altaic Studies (now the Department of Central Eurasian Studies) on the Bloomington campus. Sinor worked tirelessly to promote an appreciation of Inner Asia in the world beyond its geographic and political neighbors, China and Russia. In 2008, he was awarded the President’s Medal for Excellence, one of the highest honors conferred by IU, by President Michael McRobbie.
At IU, Sinor established two key and renowned resources: the Asian Studies Research Institute, known today as the Denis Sinor Research Institute for Inner Asian Studies, and the Inner Asian and Uralic National Resource Center. The institute’s collection of materials is unparalleled, and the Resource Center is a one-of-a-kind entity in the U.S., providing support to scholars studying languages such as Estonian, Finnish, Hungarian, Mongolian, Persian/Tajik, Tibetan, Turkish, and Uzbek. To these gifts, Sinor added a major gift to the Music Education Department of the Jacobs School of Music in memory of his late wife, Jean. Through a matching component of his gift, Jean’s admirers and students worldwide contributed to the endowment for the Jean Sinor Memorial Lecture Series. Denis Sinor passed away on January 12, 2011.
