Martin-Smith School of Music
Music school in New York City, U.S.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Martin-Smith School of Music (MSSM) was a music school at 139 W. 136th St in the Harlem neighborhood of Upper Manhattan, New York City, United States.[1][2] Founded in 1912 by David I. Martin and Helen Elise Smith, the school was a significant music conservatory for African-Americans during the first half of the 20th century. The school was still active as late as 1953, but by 1969 its building was demolished.
History
The Martin-Smith School of Music was founded to serve black students at a time when many institutions of learning were racially segregated and denied admittance to African Americans. It was co-founded in 1912 by violinist David I. Martin and pianist Helen Elise Smith (later the wife of Robert Nathaniel Dett).[3] According to musicologist Eileen Southern, it was "one of the most important black musical institutions in the country",[4] an assessment echoed by historian Reid Badger.[5] In its early years the peak enrollment at the school reached more than 300 students.[6] It was an influential school during the era of the Harlem Renaissance.[2]
The MSSM had both youth and adult orchestras conducted by Martin.[7] The school also had a Ladies' Staff Orchestra founded c. 1915, an all-women ensemble that was directed by Mildred Gassaway Franklin.[8] Walter F. Craig was an early supporter of the school, and many of its students and graduates were featured in concerts that he organized in the 1910s.[9] On May 5, 1915, Scott Joplin's Frolic of the Bears was given its world premiere at the MSSM's annual recital concert.[10] That same year the school hosted a recital given by Daisy Tapley.[11] Later, the school sponsored one of Marian Anderson's earliest recitals.[12]
In 1919 the Colored Music Settlement School was subsumed into the MSSM after its primary teacher, J. Rosamond Johnson, resigned.[13] After Martin's death in 1923,[14] his wife Gertrude took over the business management of the school[7] and his son, violinist and MSSM graduate Eugene Mars Martin,[15] was appointed director.[4] When Eugene Mars died in 1926 he was succeeded as director by David I. Martin Jr.[6] By 1929 the school enrollment had declined to 150 students with 12 music faculty teaching courses in harmony, music theory, strings, woodwinds, brass, voice, and piano.[6] Enrollment increased in the 1930s, and in 1934 approximately 500 students were attending the school.[16]
Gertrude succeeded David Jr. as director, and was still leading the school as late as 1953 when she was honored in a special tribute event by the National Association of Negro Musicians.[17] She died in June 1954.[18] By 1969 the school's building had been demolished and an article in New York Amsterdam News advocated for the placement of a memorial plaque to honor the MSSM.[2]
Faculty
Vocal music faculty at the school included sopranos Marie Selika Williams[4] and Minnie G. Brown;[19] concert tenor Sidney Woodward;[4] and baritone Frank Goodall Harrison.[20] The multi-instrumentalist, composer, and conductor Francis Eugene Mikell was another influential teacher at the school.[21] Other faculty members included Irving Frederick Barnwell (violin),[22] Andrew Fletcher Rosemond (violin),[20] Tourgee DeBose (piano),[23] Lou Hooper (piano),[24] H. Leonard Jeter (cello),[25] James R. C. Pinn (piano),[26] Sonoma Talley (piano),[19] Edwin Coates (piano / music theory),[19] Jessie Ernestine Covington (piano),[19] and Will Marion Cook.[27]
Alumni
Jazz trombonist George Matthews was a student at the school from 1927 to 1931.[28] Other graduates of the school included cellists Clarissa Burton Cumbo[29] and David Irwin Martin Jr.;[15] violinists Winston Collymore,[30] and Gertrude Martin (daughter of David and Gertrude);[15] pianist Hugo Bornn;[2] jazz bassists Chocolate Williams and Olivia Sophie L'Ange Shipp,[31] jazz trumpeter Arthur Briggs;[27] jazz saxophonist and clarinetist Sol Moore;[32] and jazz keyboardist and arranger Skip Hall.[33]