"Your task is to write a fictional first-person account of a performing arts learner in an earlier time period. Your goal is to imagine how it would feel to be taught by an educator of a different era, supporting your conclusions with evidence from the historical record. Even though it is in the voice of an individual, your essay should be well organized and beautifully written, with footnotes that support the events and practices you depict. Examples might be: a memoir from an elderly retired performing artist, describing her training as a pupil of a famous teacher in a European cultural center; a letter from a 19thcentury teenager describing his school in rural America; a letter from an early 20th century Swarthmore College student to a dean or a faculty member describing her attempts to learn dance. Research the period and document specific pedagogical details, using readings from a few sources, such as Mark’s A History of Music Education in America; Rainbow’s Music in Educational Thought and Practice; biographies, memoirs by and/or contemporary accounts of distinguished artists from the 17-20th centuries." -- Tom Whitman, Feb. 2009

Shelf Browsing
Composers and performers biographies are in the ML410, ML417, and ML420 call number areas.  Look for collections of musicians letters, journals, and other writings such as the Selected Correspondence of Fryderyk Chopin.