Media Review: Bernarr Rainbow on Music: Memoirs and Selected Writings
| Autor: | Marie McCarthy |
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| Rok vydání: | 2011 |
| Předmět: | |
| Zdroj: | Journal of Historical Research in Music Education. 33:89-92 |
| ISSN: | 2328-2525 1536-6006 1914-1998 |
| DOI: | 10.1177/153660061103300108 |
| Popis: | Bernarr Rainbow on Music: Memoirs and Selected Writings. Ed. Peter Dickinson. Introductions by Gordon Cox and Charles Plummeridge. Woodbridge, UK; Rochester, NY: Boydell Press, 2010. xiii + 398 pp. Index, hardback. ISBN 978-1-84383-592-9, $45.00 Bernarr Rainbow (1914-1998) was a leading historian of music education in the twentieth century. As Allen P. Britton (1914-2003) established the field of music education history in the United States, Rainbow spent much of his career following a similar path in Britain during the same time period. His enormous output of authored and edited books and other writings is celebrated in Bernarr Rainbow on Music: Memoirs and Selected Writings. This is the third book devoted to Rainbow's writings published by Boydell Press under the aegis of the Bernarr Rainbow Trust and the editorship of Peter Dickinson. Together with the other two books, Music in Educational Thought and Practice: Bernarr Rainbow with Gordon Cox (2006) and Four Centuries of Music Teaching Manuals, 1518-1932 (2009), they represent a major contribution to the field and a valuable addition to primary source literature in music education. In the foreword to this volume, the general editor Peter Dickinson provides a context for the publication, especially the writing of the memoir, and lists sources for the contents of the book. Organized in three parts, part 1 is introduced by Charles Plummeridge and includes Rainbow's memoir, A Salute to Life, written shortly before his death in 1998. Part 2 is a reprint of his 1980 monograph, John Curwen: A Short Critical Biography, an appropriate choice for a scholar who dedicated much of his scholarly work to Curwen's contributions to music pedagogy. In his introduction to part 3, "Selected Writings," Gordon Cox states that when he chose Rainbow's writings, he focused chiefly on his "two principal fields, the history of music education and the history of Anglican church music" (p. 140). In his introduction to Rainbow's personal memoir in part 1, Plummeridge summarizes the significance of Rainbow's contributions as teacher, researcher, and teacher educator. He provides a biographical sketch of Rainbow, which serves as an excellent prelude to the memoir. This is especially true for readers not familiar with the details of his life or with the development of British music education history during the twentieth century. By making reference to Rainbow's books and other publications, Plummeridge exposes the magnitude of his life's work. The memoir, A Salute to Life: Sketches Toward a Personal Memoir, is divided into nine chapters that describe Rainbow's life up to 1972. In that year, he left his post at the College of St. Mark and St. John where he had been director of music since 1952. Dickinson encouraged him to write the memoir and explains that Rainbow felt unable to continue the memoir after 1972 (p. ix). Dickinson also explains that the footnotes were added (presumably by him) to clarify references in the text, with the exception of those footnotes initialed BR. The footnotes are of immense value to the reader as a reminder of Rainbow's publications and as background for related events and developments in his life. The nine chapters are arranged according to the various stages of Rainbow's life from 1914 to 1972. The first two record memories of his childhood and school years. In these and other chapters, Rainbow's ability to remember the events and happenings of his life in great detail is extraordinary. As he describes his own life, he also situates it in the context of education and culture at the time. This is most valuable and adds depth and interest to the memoir. After a short time working in the Land Registry, Rainbow was called up and joined the army in 1939. Chapters 3 through 5 are devoted to his life in the army and his travels between 1939 and 1944 when he was discharged and returned to Britain. His years at High Wycombe as organist and choirmaster of All Saints Parish Church and head of music at the Royal Grammar School, 1944-1952, are documented in chapter 6. … |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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