Evening star., 1963-02-03
NEWS OF MUSIC
Music in Residence for Our Schools
BY IRVING L0WENS
Star Music Critic

BY IRVING LOWENS
star Music Critic
In a column last Sunday
on a recent Ford Foundation
grant of $1,38o,OOO to the
Music Educators National
Conference, I suggested that
it might be a good thing for
American music education
as a whole If there were
NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. in
the grade schools as we'll as
composers-in-residence in
the high schools.
I should have realized that
somewhere in this vast and
diverse country of ours,
somebody would be putting
such a simple idea into oper-
alton.
So it turns out.
The weeks mail brings the
story of what is going on
along these lines in one
music-minded Middle West
community.
1t seems that the city Of
Flint. Mich. has had a
NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. since
last June. Those responsible
for hiring him boast that the
Flint Neutrality-suspicious.
program is the first such
project to have been started
in the Nation.
1t came about this way:
Late in 1861, an unknown
pianist by the name Of Cole
man Blumfield. a Vladimir
Horowitz pupil, played a
spectacularly successful re-
cital in Flint. A group Of
people who heard him got
the idea that 1t would be nice
for their children II they
could manage to get the
young Chicagoan to settle in
Flint, and almost spontane-
ously, the idea Of q city
musician-in n-in-residence was
born.
Pioneers
The group was not content
to talk-it decided to do
something. 1t got together
enough money to finance the
operation, and persuaded the
Flint Board Of Education to
set UP a position Of musician
in-residence.
The project as it developed
was to stimulate the Flint
school population musically
(as well as the city's cultural
life as a whole) by making
possible free access to an
artists talents and ideas,
and to give recognition to
young artists Of top profess
sional caliber at the beginning
of their careers, which is
when they need it most.
Salary Is $4,000
Mr.. Blumfield got the Job
less than a year after his
Flint recital. He now lives in
Flint with his wife and son.
His one-year contract with
the Board Of Education.
which expires next May 81,
pays him a salary Of $4,000
NOT too bad for a 28-year-
old virtuoso. For this sum, he
gives two concerts locally
during the season. holds a
series OF workshops for mu-
sically gifted youngsters, and
makes himself available
without charge. as music ex-
pert, to a clientele OF some
100000 Flint citizens. Except
for these commitments, he is
free to concertize where and
when he chooses.
He broadcasts frequently
over the Board Of Educa-
tion's own FM radio station.
occasionally over commercial
radio stations. and (of con-
siderable sociological interest
and Importance tapes much
OF his work so that the city
will have the core OF what It
hopes will some day be an
extensive music library In
sound.
Plans for Expansion
The original enthusiasts
are now formally organized
into a Community Commit
tee for Artist-in-R Residence
and they have plans for ex-
panding their activities.
For instance, they see no
good reason why Flint, with
an area population OF about
100000, should not have a
painter in-residence or a
sculptor -in-residence for a
one-year stint.
And there is even talk
about the possibility Of hav-
ing all three-painter. sculp-
tor, and musician---in resi-
dence simultaneously.
Thus. a few dedicated poo
pie In a town which not in
frequently boasts OF itself as
1.-THE most industrialized city
In the world" have apparent
ly succeeded In launching a
novel experiment in building
musical culture at a grass
roots, community level.
Flint will certainly bear