Music Educators Journal

THE preparation of this article was an avocational project for the author, who is assistant director of the NEA Division of Legislation and Federal Relations. However, readers will agree that he rates par with writers and musicians who espouse these arts professionally. His article is not only timely from the standpoint of the Mozart bicentennial, but it represents a viewpoint which music educators will appreciate. Mr. Sasscer, whose interest in music “stems from the good fortune of having superior music teachers in junior and senior high school,” is a member of the Cathedral Choral Society of Washington, D. C., one of the leading oratorio groups in the nation. Another of his avocations, he says, is “the care and feeding of a rather substantial record collection.” Recently Mr. Sasscer has been cooperating with the MENC as advisor to the special committee which is concerned with securing support for the pending postal bills designed to readjust the postal classification on educational and cultural materials, including music.

THE AUTHOR, a musician and former school music supervisor, now vice-president of Associated Music Publishers, Inc., is president of the Music Industry Council of the Music Educators National Conference. The title for his article was supplied by the editors who, after reading Mr. Grasso's manuscript, took responsibility for retiring the title he had written to the flag line. The article is more than “background and history.” It expresses the spirit of the Music Educators National Conference, whose 1907 founders included school music pioneers of the ilk typified by the Music Industry Council leaders in the year 1956.

The author of this article was the National chairman of the committee, appointed by the MENC Board of Directors in 1946, to set up and put into operation a program of student participation in the Music Educators National Conference. This article from the April 1947 issue of the Music Educators Journal, replacing the customary installment of the Collegiate Newsletter, has current significance. Its historical connotations are selfevident; it offers timely reading now-and any time---for thoughtful music educators