Satis Coleman's Philosophy Through Progressive Educational Thought

Satis Coleman’s Philosophy Through Progressive Educational Thought Daniel J. Shevock Penn State Altoona Paper presented at the MayDay Group Colloquium 28: Music Education and Cultural Context. Phoenix, AZ. June 17, 2016. Abstract: In order to confront patriarchal values in music education, music educators must know the philosophies of historic women music educators. Music educators’ general underestimation of the value of historic women is a critical concern. In this paper, new light is shed on the life of historically underrepresented, but important, female music educator Satis Coleman (1878-1961); exploring her philosophy of music education from the perspective of progressive educational thought. There were two guiding questions: How does Satis Coleman’s music education philosophy relate to and diverge from the educational philosophies of John Dewey and Jane Addams? And what does each educator believe about students living the good life and how does education foster this? Nine themes emerged from analysis: social, agency, interest, continuity, interdisciplinarity, nature, inner person, critiques, and the other. Keywords: Satis Coleman, music education history, philosophy, progressive education, John Dewey, Jane Addams, George Santayana, environmental philosophy, ecofeminism In order to confront patriarchal values in our field today, music educators must know the philosophies of historic women music educators. Music educators’ general underestimation of the value of historic women is a critical concern; “underestimation devalues women for future girls and boys” (Howe 2009, 179). “Sadly, until fairly recently the lives and experiences of women … have not constituted legitimate knowledge” (Koza 1993-1994, 3). Historians often recommend more studies on women music educators (McCarthy 2012, 162); and I have been interested in understanding one historic woman in particular, Satis Coleman (1876-1961), through studying her music education philosophy, which is resonant today (Shevock 2015). Daniel J. Shevock 2016 2 Feminist theorist bell hooks (2000) named feminism as “a movement to end sexism, sexist exploitation, and oppression” (1). Since feminism is about “consciousness raising,” as a male music educator influenced by the feminist “vision of masculinity where self-esteem and self-love of one’s unique being forms the basis of identity” (70), I recognize oppressive systems of patriarchy as exploitative, negatively affecting me and people of all genders. In this history of (music education) philosophy, new light is shed on the life of underrepresented, but important, female music educator, exploring her philosophy from the perspective of progressive educational thought. Further, as one small step in undermining oppressive patriarchy today, I will weave Coleman’s insights into the thinking of contemporary feminist music educators. After my initial study of Coleman, I asked, “Why did I not know Coleman’s name before examining her work?” (60). I suggest it might be systematic sexism or the move in music education from progressive to aesthetic philosophies. She also used the music (and wisdom) of non-Western cultures, and she was likely the first music educator to use ethnomusicology research (Volk 1996). Because of progressive education theorists’ importance to MayDay scholarship, understanding Coleman’s philosophy may be particularly pertinent to this group which is “mindful, reflective, and critically aware of cultural contexts” (Action Ideal #1). Progressive education was prominent during the first half of the 20th century and focused on learning as social experience and teaching as reflective practice. John Dewey, who is often cited in music education literature, was progressive education’s foremost philosopher (Noddings 2012). Sharing common roots, Coleman and Dewey both taught at Teachers College, Columbia University; both educators’ philosophies were influenced Daniel J. Shevock 2016 3 by the educational theories of Johann Herbart (Boston 1992, 28-29; Howe 2014, 109 + 168); and, according to Southcott (2009), Coleman’s ideas “echo those of Dewey” (23), including her referencing Dewey in her discussion of student interest in music (Coleman 1939, 16). Dewey’s educational philosophy didn’t emerge in a vacuum. Lamb (2014) lists eleven women who influenced Dewey, and, from this list, Jane Addams was broadly influential as “the first female public philosopher in the U.S.” (197). She founded Hull House; was a Nobel Peace Prize winner in 1931; and a founding member of WILPF, NAACP, and the ACLU. Further, Dewey named his daughter for Addams (Addams 1994, 29). Addams also appears in music education literature, though not as frequently as Dewey. In music education scholarship, Coleman has been studied since 1990— Southcott 1990; Boston 1992; Volk 1996; Southcott 2009; Shevock 2015. Coleman has been understood within the context of progressive education (Boston 1992, 107; Shevock 2015; Southcott 2009; Tellstrom 1971). A deeper understanding of how Coleman’s philosophy relates to that of Dewey and Addams seems relevant. Guiding Questions In Tellstrom’s Music in American Education, Coleman was used to typify tenets and teaching techniques of progressive music education, especially in contrast to fellow progressive educator Will Earhart (Tellstrom 1971). More recently, her philosophy has “been partially lost to the annals of music education history” (Shevock 2015, 57), possibly because our history is “gendered” (60). For instance, other than Tellstrom, and Howe’s more recent text, Coleman doesn’t seem to appear in major music education histories. Previous scholarship has focused on: Coleman’s teaching as an antecedent to Daniel J. Shevock 2016 4 world music pedagogy (Volk 1996); as an antecedent to eclectic music education (Boston 1992); the spiritual aspects of Coleman’s philosophy (Shevock 2015); and in relation to Johann Herbart’s Theory of Recapitulation (Southcott 2009). Because she wrote extensively, having more than thirty publications (Boston 1992), scholars are able to cast light on her philosophy within the context of varied theories that are relevant today. There were two guiding questions for this research: How does Satis Coleman’s music education philosophy relate to and diverge from the educational philosophies of John Dewey and Jane Addams? What does each educator believe about students living the good life and how does education foster this? Analysis Data for analysis include Coleman’s Creative Music for Children (1922) and Your Child’s Music (1939), books that bookended her New York teaching career. The first book was written for the music education community, while the second was written for a broader audience. These are analyzed in relation to John Dewey’s Moral Principles in Education (1909), Experience and Education (1938); and Jane Addams’s Educational Methods (1902), and Education by the Current Event (1930). To analyze each educator’s philosophy, educational aims, means, and assumptions were identified (written in the margins) within the initial texts for analysis: Creative Music for Children, Moral Principles in Education, Educational Methods, and Education by the Current Event. Aims, means, and assumptions served as “provisional codes” (Saldaña 2009, 120) to reveal important themes of each educator’s philosophy. To understand educational assumptions, The Moral Work of Teaching (MWT) Framework (Sanger & Osguthorpe 2009) was employed.i While the entire MWT framework was not used, the current study drew from Sanger and Osguthorpe’s Daniel J. Shevock 2016 5 normative moral assumptions, “regarding what is good/right/virtuous/caring” (18) and educational assumptions, “regarding the nature and scope of teaching and education in society” (19). These two assumptions seem to overlap in music education philosophy. For instance, a music teacher may think education can help cultivate the ability for people to understand others, and that understanding others is virtuous. Because of the connection to virtue, assumptions are connected to living the good life. It also follows that a teacher’s assumptions can influence aims (people who understand others) and means (introducing musics students might be unfamiliar with). Assumptions were identified by asking the question “what is living the good life?” For Gossett (2015), content, means, and aims were used to understand pedagogic values of band directors (14). Similarly, in this paper, aims and means are used to understand each educator’s philosophy. While Gossett’s pedagogic values are context dependent (see 11-12), the philosophies of Coleman, Dewey, and Addams were more generally intended. Educational aims were identified by asking the question “what type of people should education cultivate?” Means were defined by asking the question “what practices are used to accomplish aims?” Educational means can include methods of instruction and curricular materials (Sanger & Osguthorpe 2005, 61). Teachers utilize means to reach aims, but are guided more fundamentally by their assumptions about living the good life. The coded initial texts, guided by these definitions, were copied into a Word document table. Thirty coded sections were emailed to another music education researcher to “provide a ‘reality check’” (Saldaña 2009, 27) by agreeing or disagreeing with each code. A “minimal benchmark” (28) of agreement of 85-90% was surpassed (at Daniel J. Shevock 2016 6 97% agreement), and no modifications were made to the initial codes. Inductive analysis was employed to construct and group emerging themes (descriptive codes in relation to each educators philosophy), and secondary texts (Experience and Education, and Creative Music for Children) were coded by these nine themes: social, agency, interest, continuity, interdisciplinarity, nature, inner person, critiques, and the other. An additional text, which was identified by Coleman, Dewey’s (1913) Interest and Effort in Education was analyzed to better understand the theme interest. The nine themes were used to find similarities and difference among each educators’ philosophy (aims, means, and assumptions). Satis Coleman Music education historians began studying Coleman’s scholarship with Jane Southcott’s (1990) British Journal of Music Education article. Sheila C. Boston’s (1992) dissertation provides broad description of Coleman’s life. After this, Terese M. Volk (1996) placed Coleman’s pedagogy as a predecessor of world music education in Music Educators Journal. Jane Southcott’s (2009) Journal of Historical Research in Music Education clarifies Coleman’s philosophy, especially how Johann Herbart’s Theory of Recapitulation influenced it. In 2015 I published my Music Educators Journal article, sharing a qualitative analysis of the spiritual aspects of Coleman’s philosophy. Coleman was perhaps the first music educator to use ethnomusicology research (Volk 1996, 47). Moreover, Coleman published influential ethnomusicology studies. For instance, her historical and cultural studies of bells were referenced scholarship as diverse as English (Wood 2013) and philosophy (Illich 1990). An important part of her pedagogy was taking students on field trips to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where they would Daniel J. Shevock 2016 7 observe instruments from other cultures, and upon returning to class would construct these instruments (Volk 1996). However, students improvised on these instruments and used number notation to record their compositions, rather than performing music from other cultures in an “authentic manner” (47). Boston (1992) concluded her dissertation by suggesting Coleman’s philosophy was “analogous” to the eclectic approach to music education, “less concerned with particular methods and techniques than with the child itself and the child’s musical development” (145). However, today eclecticism is challenged as not being based on an underlying theory—not having an underlying unity. Dewey (1938) also challenged the idea of eclecticism in education: “an eclectic combination of points picked out hither and yon from all schools (5). If in the current study Coleman’s philosophy demonstrates an underlying unity it is not “eclectic,” however diverse Coleman’s educational means seem. Southcott (2009) connects Coleman’s philosophy to Recapitulation Theory. For instance, Psychologist G. Stanley Hall, who was referenced by Coleman, was a big proponent of Recapitulation Theory (29). Dewey was also influenced by Recapitulation Theory (Howe 2014, 109). However, Coleman (1922) did not seem to see her work as Recapitulation Theory, though it does draw on it for a specific purpose: This work does not attempt to support to discuss the once popular Recapitulation Theory. The natural evolution of music, however, does give a line of progression from simple forms upward, which is especially suited to the growing capacities of the child. (143 footnote, emphasis added) Coleman’s use of terminology connected to Recapitulation Theory was to help her formulate her understanding of childhood development, a part of progressive education. Findings Daniel J. Shevock 2016 8 Nine themes—social, agency, interest, continuity, interdisciplinarity, nature, inner person, critiques, and the other—emerged from analysis. Each theme also had subthemes, which helped to understand how the theme was discussed in the texts. For instance, social had the subthemes cooperation, and gender. Agency had the subthemes body, experimenting. Interdisciplinarity had the subthemes course of study, unity of knowledge, and toward simplicity. Sections of text were labeled with one of these themes and the initial code—aims, means, or assumptions. When an initial code fell into two categories, a choice was made to label the text as one, rather than having them double coded. However, texts were, at times, double coded for as themes. For instance, text describing a father’s opportunities to sing birdsongs with his child was coded under two themes social (and its subtheme, gender) and nature providing a conceptual link between the two themes. While all nine themes were analyzed, this write-up focuses on six themes— social, agency, interdisciplinarity, nature, critiques, and the other—which are particularly relevant to praxis today. The other three themes—continuity, inner person, and interest— provided relational (between the three educators) but not substantial divergent data. In particular, these three serve to reinforce Satis Coleman’s philosophy as connected to the educational philosophies of John Dewey and Jane Addams. Social The theme social was foremost in the texts under analysis for Dewey, Addams, and Coleman. A core assumption of Dewey’s (1909) education philosophy may be summed up in the assertion, “The moral responsibility of the school, and of those who conduct it, is to society” (7). Coleman discussed music as serving to help socialize students, and connects it to needs: “He [sic] will need the opportunities for social Daniel J. Shevock 2016 contacts, which music-making will bring him [sic], and he [sic] will need the many socializing effects on his [sic] personality which will result from his [sic] playing and singing with others” (4). Marissa Silverman (2012) connects needs and care, a contemporary thread of feminist educational theory: “Foundationally, music education should be ‘needs based.’ A music classroom should be founded on reciprocity between the carer and the cared-for” (111). As such, Coleman’s philosophy can be read from the perspective of music education as a caring profession. Image 1: “Ready for the March” (Coleman 1922, 32 insert) Promoting cooperation, rather than individual desire to show-off, was a major concentration in Coleman’s writings. Promoting cooperation was also a concern for Dewey and Addams. Addams (1902) assumption that “The situation demands the 9 Daniel J. Shevock 2016 10 consciousness of participation and well-being which comes to the individual when he [sic] is able to see himself [sic] ‘in connection and cooperation with the whole” (118) seems linked to Coleman’s (1939): “As we know, music should not be a ‘showing off’ affair; but it should be a social activity—having fun together—where neither fear of criticism nor craving for applause enters in” (62-63). The primary means Coleman recommends to foster cooperation are “group singing, group dancing, and group playing” (63 emphasis in original). Gender was a subtheme of social, which was discussed heavily by Coleman. Connected to the progressive concept of melioration, she discussed the changing genderexpectations in society: The changing points of view and the changing goals of society greatly affect the attitude toward music-making. My grandmother wanted her daughters to learn to sing and play piano merely to add to their social graces. … Men musicians, for the most part, were considered effeminate, good-for-nothings (Coleman 1939, 80) For Coleman, the social acceptance of male musicians was an advancement from previous beliefs. Coleman also made distinctions between mother’s work and father’s work in the musical raising of children. Mothers fostered creativity and singing voice, “The habit of spontaneous singing should begin early. If a mother sings spontaneously to her child, he [sic] may begin to answer her in a singing voice even before he can talk distinctly” (Coleman 1939, 43). In contrast, fathers were responsible for cultivating experiences with Nature (another theme of Coleman’s philosophy): In his outings with the child, the father has valuable opportunities to quicken the small ears to sounds of Nature, to keen perception and imitation of them: together they may learn bird songs—to know them and to whistle them; and so in numberless ways the father may contribute to the musical education of his child, even without having had musical training himself. (Coleman 1922, 189-190) Daniel J. Shevock 2016 11 Perhaps because of Coleman’s description of music as too effeminate a generation earlier, she seems to have had a higher expectation for the musical training of mothers than fathers. This seems to resonate with Oglala Lakota and American Indian Movement activist Russell Means’s discussion of a father’s duty to sing to the child “in the womb” and fourth quadmester (first three-months of life) (see https://youtu.be/CWnk0FAYG9A). Perhaps Coleman’s conception of the duties of mothers and fathers was responsive to the American Indian music she was familiar with as an ethnomusicologist and music educator. Agency All three educators discuss agency within their aims, means, and assumptions. For Dewey and Coleman, agency is embodied. Dewey’s (1909) means involved educating for “a trained and sound body, skillful eye and hand” (10). Coleman (1939) went as far as to say, “Activity is a law of life”; aiming for “the child’s bodily activity [to] be free from nervous strain and self-conscious tensions” (87). For Gould (2009), music is experienced “emotionally and cognitively in terms of our bodily engagement with it”; affirming “selves as mindful bodies in relationship with each other in the social world” (42). Coleman’s conception, a sort of embodied agency, seems like a worthy precursor to Gould’s work. Experimenting is a central means for agency. Coleman (1922) further connects that to another theme, nature: One day Florence [one of Coleman’s students] brought to me with great pride a musical instrument of her own discovery which was neither a wind, stringed, nor percussion instrument. It was a large thorny cactus plant which grew in a pot in her mother’s window. She had discovered that the long thorns on it would vibrate and make musical sounds when she flipped them; also that their tones were not all Daniel J. Shevock 2016 12 alike. … What better proof that the world—even the barren western prairie—is rich in musical possibilities if we only have eyes to see and ears to hear! (49) While Dewey (1909) connected social life (through complexity) to the natural environment (38), Coleman (1939) assumption (about living the good life) connects agency to nature. “He [sic] who creates in the field of the arts falls most naturally to the contemplation of Nature, the source of all beauty” (7). While Deweyan thought expresses the possibility of living “by means of a musical environment” (Gates 2005, 12), suggests a normal end for creative musicing (also living by means of a musical environment) is contemplation—a musical praxis leading to a spiritual praxis. Interdisciplinarity Interdisciplinarity (thought not using that terminology) was a central part of progressive education. Dewey (1909) argued against “A barren ‘course of study’” (31). Coleman (1939) recommends (as a means), “Parallel studies in different arts” because they “are always valuable in developing an understanding of the principles that underlie all the arts” (36 emphasis added). Klein (1990) suggests educators rely on interdisciplinarity to realize a variety of ends: “to answer complex questions; to address broad issues; to explore disciplinary and professional relations; to solve problems that are beyond the scope of any one discipline; to achieve unity of knowledge, whether on a limited or grand scale” (11 emphasis added). Because “Dewey himself was educated in the Hegelian tradition of internal, organic relations” (24), Coleman’s principles that underlie all the arts, as a unity of knowledge epistemological position, places Coleman within progressive educational thought. Coleman (1939) adds an additional critique: “If interest naturally follows ability, it is to be expected that where the individual has gifts in more than one line, the interests Daniel J. Shevock 2016 13 will probably be divided” (35). Coleman suggested versatility can lead toward living more simply, which was identified as an assumption of Coleman’s in my previous research (Shevock 2015). Because of this belief that interdisciplinary experiences lead to students finding the art(s) through which they best experience the good life, she suggested students not study music when interests lie elsewhere. This seems in sharp contrast to much of the music education for all ethos embedded in our profession. This belief in the authority of students’ interest may even be seen as a challenge to the music education profession (connected to another theme, critiques). Nature Nature was a major theme for Coleman, and was discussed by Dewey but not Addams within the texts under analysis. Dewey (1909) expressed an assumption that seems anthropocentric [human centered], “The ultimate significance of lake, river, mountain, and plain is not physical but social; it is the part which it plays in modifying and directing human relationships” (35). Coleman’s (1939) assumptions (about nature and humans’ relationships with it) stand in contrast: Many people go through life deaf to some of the most beautiful sounds in Nature. They walk in the woods and never hear the soft crunch of their feet on the dry leaves, the whirr of the bird that flies overhead, or even the song which the bird sings when he alights in the tree. They never think to listen to the wind blowing through the branches or notice the musical babble of the stream rushing over the stones. And that delightful little time-beater of the evening, the cricket under the leaves—all this rare music is missed, probably because the traveler was never taught, as a little child, to listen for these things and to love Nature with his [sic] ears as well as with his other senses” (95 emphasis added) Not only does Coleman connect the theme nature with her conception of embodied agency (ears and other senses), but the position between humans and nature seems to Daniel J. Shevock 2016 14 involve reciprocity—humans love nature—and the cricket has musicing agency (his/r musicing occurs whether or not people are there to learn from him/r). Coleman’s (1939) music education means also connect to nature, including the “dramatization of songs … representing an animal or other character” (134-135), and recommend students attend summer music camps because they include “out-of-door life, and all other healthy summer activities which are so fine for the child’s health and social development” (129) Image 2: “Some Music Lessons are Best Out of Doors” (Coleman 1922, 86 insert) Coleman (1939) felt using nature as a music education means led to spiritual wellbeing: Did you ever go far from the sound of paved streets, whirring machinery, trains, street-cars, automobile horns, radios, and from the shrill, shouting voices of people, and realize that only there in sweet silence, could you feel the harmony of the spheres that the Greeks talked about, hear the rhythmic beat of Nature, and have a bit of understanding of the voice of God [sic]? If so, then you know what I mean when I say that an important requisite for the best development of your child’s musical powers, expressed by a healthy well-poised body, is a great deal of silence. (91-92) Daniel J. Shevock 2016 15 While Addams did not discuss nature, and Dewey’s environmental philosophy was, at a minimum, less robust than in the texts under analysis, Coleman’s environmental philosophy seemed to connect that of to another pragmatist and progressive philosopher of that era, George Santayana. A Californian whom I had recently the pleasure of meeting observed that, if the philosophers had lived among your mountains, their systems would have been different from what they are. Certainly, I should say, very different from what those systems are in which the European genteel tradition has handed down since Socrates; for these systems are egotistical; directly or indirectly they are anthropocentric, and inspired by the conceited notion that man [sic], or human reasons, or the human distinction between good and evil, is the centre [sic] and pivot of the universe. That is what the mountains and the woods should make you at last ashamed to assert. (106) Not only does it seem Coleman spent time in the woods, leading to a less anthropocentric conception of non-human life, but Coleman’s valuing of creativity, spirituality, and simplicity is found in Santayana’s (1911) work. “[Primeval solitudes/ the mountains and the woods] allow you, in one happy moment, at once to play and to worship, to take yourself simply, humbly, for what you are, and to salute the wild, indifferent, noncensorious infinity of nature” (106-107). I have yet to find a reference to Santayana in Coleman’s work, or vice versa, so it might be dubious to assert that she developed her environmental philosophy directly from his work. They may draw from the same well, so to speak, as ecocentric ideas were present to some degree in the American humorists, whose anthropomorphizing of nonhuman life Santayana saw as a positive contrast to the European genteel tradition. However, it seems Coleman (1922) may have developed her philosophy experientially: For several years I had the opportunity to observe the methods of mother robins teaching their little ones to sing, as the trees around my home were nesting places for several families and several generations. These robins, year after year, held their singing school near my windows, and invariably they used the same little Daniel J. Shevock 2016 16 song for the baby birds to practice on—one much simpler than the wonderful songs the grown-up robins usually sang” (101-102) This type of appeal to experience may have put Coleman’s popular music education method in danger of becoming illegitimate after her retirement from Teachers College in the 1940s, with the supremacy of music education as aesthetic education. Roberta Lamb (1996) explains, “While feminist education often legitimates life experiences as an appropriate subject of analysis, few experiences could be more illegitimate in music study: Music, according to aesthetic theories, transcends life” (125). In Coleman, instead of a music education towards transcending life through music-asobject, we see a musicing rooted in actual life, human and non-human, and spiritual wellbeing being the aim: “To be happy, he [sic] must be a well-adjusted human being first and an artist afterwards” (Coleman 1939, 30). Image 3: “Four Stages in Our Development of the Lyre” (Coleman 1922, 142 insert) An aspect of Coleman’s philosophy that resonated Dewey’s environmental philosophy was drawing on evolutionary theory to construct educational means. As Daniel J. Shevock 2016 17 Dewey (1909) wrote, “We must know what these instincts and impulses are, and what they are at each particular stage of the child’s development, in order to know what to appeal to and what to build upon” (47?). Development and evolutionary discourse are found throughout both educators’ writings. As mentioned above, both drew from Recapitulation Theory, and Charles Darwin influenced both. Coleman connected evolutionary theory to sonic aspects of music education (simplifying rhythms and melodies) and instrument construction, such as having students construct more complex lyres as students aged (see image 3). Critiques All three teachers critiqued professions. Both Addams and Coleman considered the professions overcrowded. “The overcrowding of the professions by poorly equipped men [sic] arises from much the same source, and from the conviction that, ‘an education’ is wasted if a boy goes into a factory or shop” (Addams 1902, 105-106). For Coleman (1939) “the music profession is greatly overcrowded” (81) and shouldn’t be the aim of music education. Rather, as a means, “The remedy for these unfortunate conditions seems to lie in parents training their children to make music for the love of it, and not for professional or exhibition purposes” (83). Coleman talked extensively about ways parents might help students avoid a showing-off attitude, and this critique of professional ambitions connects to a previous theme, social. The Other Interestingly Addams and Coleman also shared a belief about the musics of African Americans. When discussing race relations, Addams (1930) suggested: There is one exception to this lack of recognition, in the admiration of those melodies which we have learned to call the only American folksongs and which Daniel J. Shevock 2016 18 have become the basis of the Negroes’ contribution to American music. Perhaps because an oppressed people have always been sustained by their dreams the spirituals became the support of their failing spirits. (219-220 emphasis added) America is truly musical. The negroes of the South are (or were) musical. They came from Africa with rich, musical voices, a natural capacity for melody and harmony and a tendency to musical production. Out of their natural gifts has come the most beautiful folk-song literature America has. The sorrows that civilization has forced upon the negro in removing him [sic] from his [sic] African home have doubtless had a part in the development of his music, but it is certainly not the result of any training that our civilization has given him [sic]. (Coleman 1922, 1011 emphasis added) Here we see the other, African Americans being held up for having the most beautiful folk-song literature America has, and that beauty being the result of something they lack, civilization, which is lacking because of oppression/ sorrows. Because each generation “produces its own distorted knowledge of the other” (Said 2004, 874), it would be vain to assume contemporary terminology avoids defining the other the way Addams and Coleman seem to. Further, it is likely the messy business of coming to know the other (rooted in the early 20th Century) that provides a foundation for why scholars find Addams and Coleman so compelling to ethical praxis today. Coleman’s discussion of the music of African Americans adds an additional professional critique: “but it is certainly not the result of any training that our civilization has given him [sic]” (Coleman 1922, 11). This leads to the unasked question, “To reform or abandon education? \ That is the question that no respectable professional dares to ask without facing the threat of disrepute” (Prakash & Esteva 2008, 15 emphasis in original). And this adds another layer to Coleman’s disappearance from our profession’s history: her critiques of music education (and willingness to music educate outside of schooling structures, such as the home and in nature) may have been professionally unpalatable to a profession that dares not face the threat of disrepute when music for all is really code for Daniel J. Shevock 2016 19 schooling for all, music as work/ toil/ labor, even when it means less musicing in the community. Image 4: “A Lazy Oboe Player” (Coleman 1922, 106 insert) Conclusions The current study can deepen our understanding of Satis Coleman’s philosophy by focusing qualitatively on aims, means, and assumptions and comparing and contrasting these with Dewey and Addams’s aims, means, and assumptions. To answer the second guiding question first—What does each educator believe about students living the good life and how does education foster this?—I looked at the assumptions of each educator. Assumptions for all three educators centered around the individual well-being, and changing society. Spontaneous activities (especially improvisation for Coleman) Daniel J. Shevock 2016 20 were valued because they increase an individual’s agency in society. Complexity of social life led to an interdisciplinary view of knowledge. Epistemologically, a unity of knowledge position was taken—people know the world through various disciplines/ the arts because there are underlying principles to all disciplines/ the arts. Interdisciplinarity may be problematic because as Lamb (1996) explains, “Unlike the interdisciplinary nature of feminist education, music education is discipline based” (125). Also, Coleman carried anti-profession critiques into music education. Addams and Coleman shared assumptions about African Americans, and Coleman admits that western civilization and music education didn’t make this important music, extending her critique of the profession. Coleman’s assumptions about nature seem more ecocentric than Dewey’s. The second research question—How does Satis Coleman’s music education philosophy relate to and diverge from the educational philosophies of John Dewey and Jane Addams—provided many interesting resonances among social; agency; interest; continuity; interdisciplinarity; inner person; critiques; and the other. Interesting divergences were found in the theme nature. For Coleman, experimentation led naturally to contemplation of nature. Coleman’s attempts to understand the other through music education can be understood in relation to socially conscious music education today. “A radical music education then first and foremost recognizes difference, positionality and degrees of privilege and works to counter structural inequities” (Hess 2014, 16 emphasis added). Coleman seems to have begun the work of coming to the other with hopes to recognize, and understand, though the work of positionality and understanding and countering structural inequities have progressed since Coleman’s time (an occurrence any progressive educator, with their belief in melioration, would cheer). Daniel J. Shevock 2016 21 Perhaps the most interesting divergence between Coleman’s philosophy and that of Dewey and Addams comes in the theme nature. In these texts, Dewey (1909) portrays nature’s “significance” in subservience to “human relationships” (35). This seems anthropocentric. Environmental philosopher George Sessions (1995) draws on Bertrand Russell’s criticism of Dewey (and Marx) suggesting the desire for social power over nature furthers ecological destruction (168). In contract, MacDonald (2004) recognizes that a large body of environmental philosophy views Dewey’s philosophy as anthropocentric, but counters that Dewey “can be defended against charges of antienvironmentalism and anthropocentricity” (xiv). He draws on Dewey’s Darwinism (Sessions also describes Darwin as non-anthropocentric): “Human nature is indeed specified, but Dewey argues that it cannot be understood outside of its natural environment. His project is to bring human nature back into nature as a whole” (88). To return focus to Coleman, non-human life has value itself (ecocentrism), such as her descriptions of the cricket and Coleman’s learning pedagogy from robins. Nature deserves “love” (Coleman 1939, 95) rather than “modifying and directing” (Dewey 1909, 35). And Coleman’s means follow this belief in the intrinsic value of Nature—listening to the rhythmic beat of Nature; recommending outdoor music camps; representing nonhuman animals in song. Sessions (1995) states, during “two to four million years of human history” as hunter/ gatherers, “ecocentrism has been the dominant human religious/ philosophical perspective throughout time” (158), but has only been a minority perspective among Western philosophers. Some of the philosophers he suggested tried to get us off of the Daniel J. Shevock 2016 22 anthropocentric detour included Spinoza, Mill, Thoreau, John Muir, and Santayana. Coleman’s environmental philosophy seems more in line with Santayana than Dewey. Why is music education scholarship largely missing both Coleman’s voice and a robust expression of environmental philosophy in an era of ecological crises? Ecofeminist Vandana Shiva (2007) suggests it may be because the feminine principle, which is ecologically sustainable, is challenging to economic progress. The recovery of the feminine principle is an intellectual and political challenge to maldevelopment as a patriarchal project of domination and destruction, of violence and subjugation, of dispossession and the dispensability of both women and nature. The politics of life centered on the feminine principle challenges fundamental assumptions not just in political economy, but also in the science of life-threatening processes. (14) Is it a coincidence that Coleman’s voice was lost near the same time music education founded its first research journals, Journal of Research in Music Education, and Bulletin of the Council for Research in Music Education? Is Shiva correct in her assessment that the feminine principle challenges political economy (profession) and science (research)? Taking students outside, where they lazily experiment with music while learning from nature does not seem economically or politically efficient—though it seems healthier than sitting students under fluorescent lighting for eight hours a day. After two decades of reputation in music education, did Satis Coleman disappear because structural sexism; the move from progressive to aesthetic values; the agency improvisation gives children (upending hierarchy); her interdisciplinarity; her hope to understand the other; her environmental philosophy; or some combination of all of these? Daniel J. Shevock 2016 23 References Addams, Jane. 1902. “Educational Methods.” In On Education, edited by Ellen Condliffe Lagemann, 98-119. New Brunswick: Transaction Publishers. [1994] ___. 1930. “Education by the Current Event.” In On Education, edited by Ellen Condliffe Lagemann, 212-224. New Brunswick: Transaction Publishers. [1994] Boston, Sheila C. 1992. “Satis N. Coleman (1878-1961): Her Career in Music Education.” PhD diss., University of Maryland College Park. 9315605. Coleman, Satis N. 1922. Creative Music for Children. New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons. ___. 1939. Your Child’s Music. New York: The John Day Company. Dewey, John. 1913. Interest and Effort in Education. Boston: The Riverside Press Cambridge. [Library of Congress reproduction] ___. 1975. Moral Principles in Education. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press. [Originally published 1909] ___. 1997. Experience & Education. New York: Touchstone. [Originally published 1938] Gates, J. Terry. 2005. “Dewey, Communication, and Habitus.” Action, Criticism, and Theory for Music Education 4, no. 1 (March): 1-17. http://act.maydaygroup.org/articles/Gates4_1.pdf. Gould, Elizabeth. 2009. “Music Education Desire(ing): Language, Literacy, and Lieder.” Philosophy of Music Education Review 17, no. 1 (Spring): 41-55. http://www.jstor.org/stable/40327309. Gossett, Jason B. 2015. “Values to Virtues: An Examination of Band Director Practice.” PhD diss., The Pennsylvania State University. https://etda.libraries.psu.edu/paper/26462/29722. Hess. Juliet. 2014. “Radical Musicking: Towards a Pedagogy of Social Change.” Music Education Research 2014. DOI: 10.1080/14613808.2014.909397. hooks, bell. 2000. Feminism is for Everybody: Passionate Politics. Cambridge: South End Press. Howe, Sondra Wieland. 2009. “A Historical View of Women in Music Education Careers.” Philosophy of Music Education Review 17, no. 2 (Fall): 162-183. http://www.jstor.org/stable/40495498. ___. 2014. Women Music Educators in the United States: A History. Lanham: Scarecrow Press. Daniel J. Shevock 2016 24 Illich, Ivan. 1990. “The Loudspeaker on the Tower.” 1-13. Retrieved April 19, 2016 from http://www.davidtinapple.com/illich/2000_loudsppu.pdf. Klein, Julie Thompson. 1990. Interdisciplinarity: History, Theory, and Practice. Detroit: Wayne State University Press. Koza, Julia Eklund. 1993-1994. “A Place at the Table.” The Quarterly. 4-5, no. 5-1: 3-4. (Reprinted in Visions of Research in Music Eduation 16, no. 5 (Autumn): 2010). Lamb, Roberta. 1996. “Discords: Feminist Pedagogy in Music Education.” Theory Into Practice 35, no. 2 (Spring): 124-131. http://www.jstor.org/stable/1476798. ___. 2014. “Where Are the Women? And Other Questions, Asked Within an Historical Analysis of Sociology of Music Education Research Publications: Being a Selfreflective Ethnographic Path.” Action, Criticism, and Theory for Music Education 13, no. 1 (March): 188-222. http://act.maydaygroup.org/articles/Lamb13_1.pdf. McCarthy, Marie. 2012. “Developments and Trends in Historical Research as Reflected in the Journal of Historical Research in Music Education, Volumes 21-30 (19992009).” Journal of Historical Research in Music Education 33, no. 2 (April): 152171. DOI: 10.1177/153660061203300204. McDonald, Hugh P. 2004. John Dewey and Environmental Philosophy. Albany: State University of New York Press. Noddings, Nel. 2012. Philosophy of Education. 2nd ed. Boulder: Westview Press. Prakash, Madhu Suri. 1995. “Ecological Literacy for Moral Virtue: Orr on [Moral] Education for Postmodern Sustainability.” Journal of Moral Education 24, no. 1 (July): 3-18. DOI: 10.1080/0305724950240101. Prakash, Madhu Suri & Gustavo Esteva. 2008. Escaping Education: Living as Learning Within Grassroots Cultures, 2nd ed. New York: Peter Lang. Said, Edward. 2004. “Orientalism Once More.” Development and Change 35, no. 5. Saldaña, Johnny. 2009. The Coding Manual for Qualitative Researchers. Los Angeles: Sage Publications. Sanger, Matthew & Richard Osguthorpe. 2005. “Making Sense of Approaches to Moral Education.” Journal of Moral Education 34, no. 1 (March): 57-71. DOI: 10.1080/03057240500049323. ___. 2009. “Analyzing the Child Development Project Using the Moral Work of Teaching Framework.” Journal of Moral Education 38, no. 1 (March): 17-34. DOI: 10.1080/03057240802601490. Daniel J. Shevock 2016 25 Santayana, George. 1911. “The Genteel Tradition in American Philosophy.” In Selected Critical Writings of George Santayana, Vol. 2, edited by Norman Henfrey, 85107. London: Cambridge University Press. Shevock, Daniel J. 2015. Satis Coleman—A Spiritual Philosophy for Music Education. Music Educators Journal 102, no. 1 (September): 56-61. DOI: 10.1177/0027432115590182. Shiva, Vandana. 2007. Staying Alive: Women, Ecology and Development. Atlantic Highlands: Zed Books. [Originally published 1989] Silverman, Marissa. 2012. “Virtue Ethics, Care Ethics, and ‘The Good Life of Teaching’.” Action, Criticism, and Theory for Music Education 11, no. 2 (September): 96-122. http://act.maydaygroup.org/articles/Silverman11_2.pdf. Southcott, Jane. 1990. “A Music Education Pioneer—Dr Satis Naronna Barton Coleman.” British Journal of Music Education 7, no. 2: 123-132. ___. 2009. The Seeking Attitude: Ideas That Influenced Satis N. Coleman. Journal of Historical Research in Music Education 31, no. 1 (October): 20-36. http://www.jstor.org/stable/25597933. Tellstrom, A. Theodore. 1971. Music in American Education: Past and Present. New York: Holt, Reinhart and Winston, Inc. Volk, Terese M. 1996. Satis Coleman’s “Creative Music”. Music Educators Journal 82, no. 6. (May): 31-33+47. http://www.jstor.org/stable/3398949. Wood, Jennifer Linhart. 2013. “Sounding Otherness in Early Modern Theater and Travel Writing.” PhD diss., George Washington University. 3587221. i It has been asserted by followers of Dewey that “all education is moral education” (see Prakash 1995), a sentiment with which I agree. Therefore, looking at educational philosophy based on a moral framework seems appropriate.