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Music for Minors: Our History
Music for Minors was conceived as a stopgap solution to keep music programs from disappearing in local schools in the 1970s. Today, MFM serves thousands of children each year throughout San Mateo and Santa Clara counties. For many of them, this is the only music education they will ever receive.
The passage of California's tax initiative, known as Proposition 13, in 1978 had a significant negative impact on State funding to schools. One of the early casualties of this funding shift was music education.
When Grace Johnston and Dr. G.G. Fitzmaurice looked at the state of music in California schools, they were not pleased. Music programs were becoming dismal silhouettes of what they had been with many disappearing altogether. Their hope was that schools would one day return to hiring paid, qualified music teachers. But in the mean time, they felt something needed to be done to keep music from disappearing in elementary schools altogether.
In an attempt to provide a stopgap solution, G.G and Grace conceived a quality, yet affordable volunteer program to fill the void. Music for Minors was born with the support of the Palo Alto/Mid Peninsula Junior League, the Los Altos Elementary School District and the Los Altos-Mountain View branch of the American Association of University Woman (AAUW). Early collaborators included Nancy Hanna Enright, Mary Jane Garden, Iris Moran, Robert Reasoner, Rachel Wagner, and Nancy Wilde.
Both Grace and G.G. brought a great deal of expertise to the table: Grace with a BS in Elementary Education and a minor in Music from University of Missouri and G.G. with a PhD in Music Education from Stanford University. Together they developed not only an intensive training program for volunteer instructors, but also a multifaceted outline for a sustainable, high-quality program that was affordable.
Today, MFM still offers high-caliber, affordable music education programs in alignment with the California Content Standards for Music. We have two different program models—one taught by trained volunteers and the other by professional educators—as well as a unique and unparalleled training program for music educators.
It is still our hope that one day, dedicated, credentialed, paid music educators will once again return to the classroom. Until that time, there is Music for Minors.