Clifford K. Madsen's Contributions to Music Education and Music Therapy

Love of Learning

Jessica Nápoles, Rebecca B. MacLeod

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2020
• ISBN:
  9781000055467
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Medios de comunicación y artes escénicas
• Subtopic: Música

Clifford K. Madsen's Contributions to Music Education and Music Therapy: Love of Learning summarizes the life and work of Dr. Clifford Madsen, a luminary in music education and author of a dozen books, the first recipient of the Senior Researcher Award from the Music Educators National Conference, and mentor and teacher to generations of music educators and music therapists. This text presents Madsen's philosophy, career, and legacy through an exploration of primary sources and extensive interviews with former students, outlining the philosophical tenets Madsen espouses while contextualizing those tenets within his teachings, research, and service. What began as an exercise to record Madsen's work for archival purposes resulted in a study of how his philosophy manifested in a significant offering to music educators.

Throughout a prolific academic career, Dr. Madsen has led Florida State University to a position of preeminence in the fields of music education and music therapy. Yet as detailed here, his greatest impact goes beyond lesson plans and syllabi, epitomized by a love of learning. As Bob Duke stated, "What is monumental about Cliff is not what he has written. It is what he has done as a human being for other human beings."

I
Biographical Sketch

1
The Madsen Family

The story of young Clifford Madsen is one of a “late bloomer” who grew up in a large family that highly valued education. Born and reared in Price, Utah, his family were members of the Mormon Church. He was taught the values of kindness and generosity at a young age, and has continued to practice those principles throughout his life. He married his high school sweetheart, Mary Marakis, and they raised three children together—Sitka, Cort, and Katia. Clifford was born 3 May 1937 in the coal mining town of Price. Clifford’s parents were Charles Henry Madsen, Sr. (1890–1982) and Lenora Roberts Kimball Madsen (1908–1986). He was one of 12 children.

Father: Charles Henry Madsen, Sr.

Charles H. Madsen, Sr. (Figure 1.1) was born in Ephraim, Utah, on 26 August 1890, and attended Snow Academy before entering teaching. He had two wives prior to Lenora. He married Mabel Ivie on 29 November 1911, and they had twin girls (Myrtle and Mabel). Mabel, his first wife, died the day after childbirth from kidney failure, and baby Mabel died shortly after. Zina Christensen was his second wife, whom he married on 14 February 1917. They had four daughters—Lora, Mildred (“Millie”), Josephine, and Charlene. Zina developed a toxic goiter when her five girls were still young. She died on 9 November 1930.

Figure 1.1 Photo of Charles Henry Madsen, Sr.

In 1932, Charles was the principal of Southside School, and Lenora Kimball was a teacher at the same school. During her time there, Lenora underwent an operation because she broke her ankle, and Charles offered to drive her from her apartment to school and back while she recovered. She told him how much the trips meant to her and thanked him for all of his help. Charles, 18 years her senior, had no idea she could be interested in him. He especially wondered if she would be willing to take on the work of raising his five daughters, and he knew that he needed help and a companion. They married on 2 June 1932, and had seven more children together: Charles Jr. (“Charley”), Mary, Clifford, Lenora (“Kaye”), Stanford, Carolyn, and Robert (see Figures 1.2 and 1.3).

Figure 1.2 Lenora and Charles Madsen

Figure 1.3 Genealogy¹

Charles held a variety of jobs and service commitments throughout his life. He was a principal in Price schools for 34 years, first including South-side Elementary (grades 1–6), Harding Elementary (grades 4–6), and Central Elementary (grades 1–3). Later, because of a growing population, the Carbon County School Board appointed a Southside principal, thereby leaving Charles with just the Harding and Central schools that shared the same city block in downtown Price.

Charles Madsen was devoted to his students (Figure 1.4). When a teacher missed a day, Charles would substitute teach the class. During school days as a substitute, he recited poetry, having committed sundry poems to memory. Every student who went through any school where he was the principal remembers his rich baritone voice reciting poems. He graded standardized tests himself, in order to know exactly how each child was performing and what they needed in the future. Additionally, he read each student’s report card and marked his initials, “CHM,” in tiny letters after every teacher’s entry. He went through this procedure every term of the academic year for every student during his entire tenure. He also instituted a character education program in the elementary schools, which was unique at that time.

Figure 1.4 Charles Henry Madsen, Sr. and students of Southside Elementary School

Charles received a Bachelor of Science in Educational Administration degree from Brigham Young University (BYU). Even after he retired as principal, he returned to the classroom to teach English at Cyprus High School, and received an outstanding teacher award at age 72. When asked about his philosophy, he stated:

I had somewhat the same idea as Joseph Smith had about the LDS church, when asked how he controlled so many people. He said he taught them correct principles and they governed themselves. I taught my teachers to place children in the center of the stage, not subject matter. We organized a child-centered curriculum in which the children were the focal point of the entire program.²

A faithful member of the Rotary Club, Charles began as an education leader, then went on to become Secretary, then President. In this position, he proposed that the community build a swimming pool for children because they were swimming in a filthy public canal. The Rotary Club members met weekly to discuss issues facing the community. At these meetings, there was always a musical moment. Members of the club rotated responsibility for facilitating these programs, and Charles would call on his son Clifford when it was his “night at the Rotary.” Clifford became well known among the Rotarians as a fine trumpet player and orator.

Charles was also committed to removing prostitution from the city of Price, and he did. As a mayoral candidate, Charles, as had many before him, ran on the platform of cleaning out the prostitutes. Others had said the same thing—although it was tacitly assumed they would never do it. Not Charles Madsen: When he won the election, he did just that. He gave every known prostitute a one-way ticket out of town. He served one term in 1926–1927. During this time, he carried a gun for self-protection; such was the condition of Carbon County. It was perhaps the only place in the state of Utah where open gambling and prostitution coexisted with a group of other folks that included the Madsens.

During the school’s summer recess, Charles Madsen sold encyclopedias to help support the family. He also worked as a soil engineer at the Scofield Dam. After retirement from education, he went back to soil testing when the family moved to Bountiful, Utah. He was always exceedingly competent and quickly became the best person at this task. He even trained some of the new engineers who were studying at the University of Utah.

As for his religious beliefs, Charles and his family were strong believers of the Mormon/Latter-day Saints (LDS) teachings. He believed that:

Our family was taught by example and precept that we are our brothers’ keepers, and the solidarity of the group has stood the test of years. The older children helped the younger ones to reach goals that would never have been possible without this assistance.³

Charles Madsen involved his sons in the Boy Scouts of America, and both of his sons rose to the rank of Eagle Scout. In fact, Clifford Madsen was the youngest scouting member in Utah to achieve that rank (see Figure 1.5), something of which he and his father were quite proud.

Figure 1.5 Scouting: Charley, Charles, and Clifford

Mother: Lenora Roberts Kimball Madsen

Clifford’s mother Lenora (Figure 1.6) was born in St. David, Arizona, and was reared in a family of ten children. Her parents were farmers. Intellectually advanced, she skipped a grade and completed a four-year high school program in three years. Lenora was a teacher in the Elsinore, Rains, Columbia, and Wellington school districts in Utah before moving to Price. She is quoted as saying “Teaching, to me, is a privilege, rather than a means to an end. No other field offers such a fertile place to build character as does teaching.”⁴ It is said that every student wanted to be in her fifth-grade class (see Figure 1.7). When other teachers struggled with “problem students,” those students were placed in Lenora’s class. She was extremely creative; during World War II, she put together a variety show consisting of fifth graders that toured the state. This endeavor raised $10,000 for war bonds.

Figure 1.6 Lenora Madsen

Figure 1.7 Lenora (top right) with her students

In addition to her commitment to teaching, Lenora loved to write poems and stories. She wrote many poems, and Green-Eye Phantoms was one of her most popular books. The local newspaper recognized it as a great book for children.

Lenora’s generosity has been mentioned repeatedly by her children and family members. Many of her children relay the times they remember taking clothing and other items to needy families in the community, and how there were always a number of people over for Thanksgiving who would otherwise be spending the holiday alone. She also demanded that the children say something positive before launching into criticism. Lenora taught her children not just to get along, but to truly love each other. She taught them to be inclusive and to treat people with respect. During one of Clifford’s classes, he said that he was very lucky as a child to have had a delightfully romantic and somewhat zany mother and an extremely proper father. Clifford remembers that during a time of financial difficulty, his mother had two dresses, and she would wash one every night so that she would have one to wear the next day. Lenora rarely spent money on herself. She saved everything she had in order to give to others. One Christmas, she saved her money in order to buy Clifford his first instrument, even if it meant only having two dresses. Such was the character of Lenora Madsen.

Educational experiences were plentiful in the Madsen household. Lenora’s focus on education was pervasive. She received a Bachelor of Science in Education degree from BYU later in life (1946), and a master’s degree at age 60. Lenora taught her children to value their education and to respect their teachers. At the end of the day, she would often ask them: “What did you do to get the teacher to like you today?”

When Lenora met her future husband Charles at a teachers’ convention, she said: “Someday I’m going to marry that man. I don’t care if he’s married and has half a dozen children, I’m still going to marry him some day.”⁵ She did in fact marry Charles, and they shared a long life together. Lenora had a major car accident in 1952. Thereafter, she suffered from headaches, loss of equilibrium, and a shift in her cognitive processes. She passed away in 1986 after a long bout with Alzheimer’s disease.

Siblings

Clifford had 11 brothers and sisters (excluding baby Mabel, who died shortly after her birth): Myrtle (from his father’s first marriage to Mabel), Lora, Mildred (“Millie”), Josephine (“Jo”), and Charlene (from his father’s second marriage to Zina), and six others from his mother and father: Charley, Mary, Lenora (“Kaye”), Stanford, Carolyn, and Robert (Figure 1.8). Of those, Myrtle, Lora, Mildred, Josephine, and Kaye are deceased (as of 2016). Charlene is a retired private secretary and insurance clerk. Charley was a psychology professor at FSU before retiring, and he continues a private practice as a clinical psychologist in Tallahassee. Mary is a retired secondary school teacher.

Figure 1.8 Charles and Lenora Madsen with their 12 children. Top row: Charley, Clifford, Dad Charles, Mom Lenora, Stan, and Robert. Front row: “Millie,” Charlene, Lora, Josephine/Jo, Myrtle, Mary, Carolyn, and Lenora “Kaye.”

Stanford is a retired dentist. Carolyn works as an elementary and secondary substitute teach...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• Preface
• Acknowledgements
• Introduction
• PART I Biographical Sketch
• PART II Philosophy: A Love of Learning
• PART III Legacy
• Appendix: Complete List of Doctoral Students Advised
• Index