Joseph E. Maddy’s Instrumental Music Lessons via Radio

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine instrumental music lessons taught for schoolchildren over the radio by Joseph Maddy in the 1930s and early 1950s. Research questions addressed (a) conditions, circumstances, and details surrounding the lessons and (b) pedagogical principles, strategies, methods, and didactic materials utilized in these broadcasts. Maddy, a pioneer in music education and a professor at the University of Michigan, taught band instruments over WJR in Detroit beginning in February 1931. He added lessons for strings in January 1933 and continued both series for the next four years. After a successful trial over WMAQ in Chicago during the 1935–1936 school year, the National Broadcasting Company (NBC) scheduled Maddy’s band lessons nationwide starting with the 1936–1937 season. Maddy expanded the program beginning fall 1937 to include winds, percussion, orchestral strings, piano, accordion, and fretted instruments. The broadcasts ended in spring 1939 due to lackluster sales of instructional materials and other factors. String lessons returned in February 1950 and continued locally through the fall of 1951 over WUOM at the University of Michigan. These programs contributed to the development of school bands and orchestras in North America and hold implications for distance learning in music today.