National Anthem Project

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The National Anthem Project was launched in 2005 to raise national awareness of the importance of music education by MENC: The National Association for Music Education. According to the description on its official website, "Sadly, budget cuts to school music programs in recent years have led to dwindling opportunities for students to learn an important part of their cultural heritage – patriotic music. The members of The National Association for Music Education (MENC) – our nation’s music teachers – want all Americans to know our National Anthem and to take pride in singing it together ... and for all children to have access to music in school. We’ve launched the National Anthem Project to raise awareness about the importance of supporting and funding school music programs. We believe every child deserves a complete education that includes music and all the benefits it brings to their lives." The National Anthem Project has been warmly received by many American school music teachers and citizens.

Contents

[edit] Strategy

The mission of MENC is to advance music education by encouraging the study and making of music by all. In an effort to find a campaign to raise awareness about the importance of music education that would interest a wide cross section of American citizens, MENC conducted a Harris Poll which found that 2/3 of Americans polled could not sing the words to the first verse of "The Star-Spangled Banner". Further, many people who did know the words said they learned them in school music class. MENC, drawing the connection between the accessibilty of school music and knowledge of what it considers an important part of American culture, patriotic music, used these findings to launch the National Anthem Project.

[edit] Process

With the support of Jeep and other corporate sponsors, The National Anthem Project toured the USA in 2006, making "Road Show" stops in every state. The Road Shows featured performances of all kinds of music by student ensembles. Visitors were encouraged to try singing "The Star-Spangled Banner" solo to test themselves on the lyrics. At each stop, one singer was designated the best and given $1000 to donate to the local school music program of his or her choice.

With the end of the Road Show, the National Anthem Project focuses on the planned Grand Finale in Washington, DC, June 14-16, 2007, which will feature a world-record-achieving performance of the national anthem on the National Mall.

[edit] Controversy

Initially, some feedback received by MENC indicated there were some who were dissatisfied with the choice of "The Star-Spangled Banner" as the focus for the campaign because they were unhappy with the song itself, either because of its perceived difficulty to sing, or its lyrics, which are undeniably militaristic (e.g. "bombs bursting in air", "conquer we must", etc.). Other concerns included the policy of deliberately using music class time to promote patriotism (rather than for musical skills and understandings), which was explicitly declared for several months on MENC's website: "MENC is sponsoring The National Anthem to revive America's patriotism by educating Americans about the importance of The Star Spangled Banner-both the flag and the song." MENC's response to these concerns was to maintain that everyone can be taught to sing the melody, and to take no position on the content of the lyrics, maintaining that the important issue was that everyone knows the words to the national anthem, whatever song it is, and can sing them together. (As a side issue, MENC hoped to encourage public group singing of the anthem, which at sporting events in particular has become something of a showcase for solo singers.)

Several leading music education professors in the USA and abroad have expressed concerns regarding the project's implications, and MENC has been unable to obtain the endorsement of any influential music education philosophers for the National Anthem Project. To date, critical questions regarding the National Anthem Project have been raised by music education scholars at the Asia-Pacific Symposium for Music Education (2005), the MayDay Group (2005 & 2006), and even MENC’s own Philosophy Special Research Interest Group (2006). These concerns surround the issue of whether American public school music teachers should lead students during wartime in an unprecedented plethora of activities involving "The Star-Spangled Banner" and its lyrics (e.g. "conquer we must, when our cause it is just, let this be our motto"). Many music education professors perceive that the project's emphasis on a single militaristic song offers limited musical benefits to music students and may run counter to key concepts in the education field, such as multiculturalism and international education (See UNESCO's 2006 statement below). Some even believe the National Anthem Project may qualify as a mild form of war-time propaganda (psychological operations), militarism, or at the very least, selling out within public education. These individuals believe that in terms of positive effects, it remains to be seen whether the considerable investment of time and money into the National Anthem Project will result in either a higher quality of music education for American music students, or improved working conditions and job opportunities for American music teachers. In other words, some perceive that the project may have very little to do with the raison d'etre or stated objectives of music education organizations.

Some professors in the USA and Japan have also suggested that this project be reconsidered in light of the ongoing controversy surrounding the mandatory singing of Japan's national anthem (Kimi ga Yo) in public schools. Initially promoted by Japanese music education organizations, the policy of making the singing of the Japanese anthem mandatory in schools has recently been declared unconstitutional by some Japanese courts. In the USA, the corporate sponsors of the National Anthem Project provide financial incentives to school music programs that consent to emphasizing patriotism, which some consider to equate to commercial intrusion of a corporate and nationalistic agenda into public education during wartime.

Despite these issues, some American school music teachers remain convinced that the National Anthem Project will offer benefits of some kind to their programs, and continue to offer it their enthusiastic support.

[edit] External links

[edit] See also

[edit] Further reading

BOOKS:

  • Bohlman, Philip V. (2004). The Music of European Nationalism: Cultural Identity and Modern History. ABC-CLIO.
  • Brown, Steven (2006). Music and Manipulation: On the Social Uses and Social Control of Music. Berghahn Books.
  • Franklin, M.I. (2005). Resounding International Relations: On Music, Culture, and Politics. Palgrave Macmillan.
  • Heller, Dana (2005). The Selling of 9/11: How a National Tragedy Became a Commodity. Palgrave Macmillan.
  • Kinzer, Stephen (2006). Overthrow: America's Century of Regime Change from Hawaii to Iraq. Times Books.
  • Russell, Bertrand (1984). Education & The Social Order. Unwin Paperbacks.
  • Saltmann, Kenneth J. (2000). Collateral Damage: Corporatizing Public Schools - A Threat To Democracy. Rowman & Littlefield.

ARTICLES:

  • Apple, Michael (2002). Patriotism, Pedagogy, and Freedom: On the Educational Meanings of September 11th. Teachers College Record, 104(8).
  • Beegle, Amy (2005). Patriotism and Music Education in the United States of America. Proceedings of the Fifth Asia-Pacific Symposium for Music Education Research.
  • Brubaker, R. (2004). In the Name of the Nation: Reflections on Nationalism and Patriotism. Citizenship Studies, 8(2).
  • Brueggemann, W. (2003). Patriotism for Citizens of the Penultimate Superpower. Dialog, 42(4).
  • Dirks, Nicholas (2006). What the Scandal of Empire Could Teach the Colonisers. The Financial Times, (11 July).
  • Duffee, R. (2003). Patriotism in the Age of Investors. Peace Review, 15(4).
  • Gee, Constance (2002). The “Use” and “Abuse” of Arts Advocacy and its Consequences for Music Education. New Handbook of Research on Music Teaching and Learning (R. Colwell & C. Richardson, Eds.), Oxford University Press.
  • Hebert, David G. (2006). Rethinking Patriotism: National Anthems in Music Education. Asia-Pacific Journal for Arts Education, 4(1).
  • Jensen, R. (2003). Patriotism’s a Bad Idea at a Dangerous Time. Peace Review, 15(4).
  • Kertz-Welzel, Alexandra (2005). The Pied Piper of Hamlin: Adorno on Music Education. Research Studies in Music Education, 25.
  • Mahlmann, John J. [MENC Executive Director] (2004). On A Mission with MENC - More than a Song: Music Education and the National Anthem. Music Educators Journal, 91(1).
  • Mitsikopoulou, B. (2005). The Iraq War as Curricular Knowledge: From the Political to the Pedagogic Divide. Journal of Language and Politics, 4(1).
  • Quiong, L. (2004). What Does It Mean to Be an American?: Patriotism, Nationalism, and American Identity After 9/11. Political Psychology, 25(5).
  • Schweber, S. (2006). Fundamentally 9/11: The Fashioning of Collective Memory in a Christian School. American Journal of Education, 112.
  • Steinert, H. (2003). Unspeakable September 11th: Taken for Granted Assumptions, Selective Reality Construction and Populist Politics. International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 27(3).
  • Strachan, H. (2006). Training, Morale and Modern War. Journal of Contemporary History, 41.
  • UNESCO (2006, March 6). 2006 Joint Declaration of the UNESCO World Arts Conference (pdf), United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). Retrieved on 2006-07-1.
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