Federal Music Project
*The beginning of the Federal Music Project (FMP) is celebrated on this date in 1935. FMP was part of the New Deal program, specifically Federal Project Number One, which the U.S. federal government funded. This program employed musicians, conductors, and composers during the Great Depression.
During President Franklin D. Roosevelt's term, he proposed increasing public projects to raise employment. Known as the New Deal, Roosevelt realized the importance of the arts in American culture, stating that the "American Dream… was the promise not only of economic and social justice but also of cultural enrichment." In the summer of 1935, Federal One was created. This endeavor included five art projects, including the FMP. This project marked the first time federal funds were used to promote culture. In addition to performing thousands of concerts, offering music classes, organizing the Composers Forum Laboratory, hosting music festivals, and establishing 34 new orchestras, employees of the FMP researched American traditional music and folk songs, a practice now known as ethnomusicology.
Dr. Nikolai Sokoloff, conductor of the original Cleveland Orchestra, was the director of the Federal Music Project. There were obstacles, such as the type of culture involved in the project. Sokoloff was predisposed to European classical music and placed a much lower priority on dialect or American folk music. These Eurocentric tastes contrasted with the "common man" ideology of the New Deal. Despite this national focus on classical music, regional and local implementations of the FMP revealed the diverse musical genres in early 20th-century America. Live performances of African American and Hispanic music drew attention, as did efforts in several states to document musical traditions from ethnic minorities, spirituals, work songs, and other folk music.
The Federal Music Project did notable studies on cowboy, Creole, folk, and blues music. The Federal Music Project created lessons for underprivileged adults and a musical program for children. Music creation was more popular, and music appreciation arose. The amateur musicians improved, and the number of musical participants increased. The project formed new orchestras, singers, dancers, vocal groups, and producers. The music project provided performers and music teachers with employment opportunities. It also created many new orchestral pieces of music. The project gained significant momentum in the 1930s, to the point where most schools established their music programs. Helen Chandler Ryan served as the FMP New Mexico music director from January 1936 until the project's end. She adapted the national program to meet the special musical interests of her sparsely populated state.
Another concentration was studying the diverse regional musical style created by blending European, Native American, and Spanish American music. In 1936, the Works Progress Administration also began to add to the Federal Music Project. The primary objective of the FMP was to employ professional musicians from all over the country to perform as instrumentalists, singers, and concert actors. Men and women copied existing music by hand and bound it, distributing musical arrangements to ensembles across the nation. The project also aimed to inspire music appreciation by enabling access to live performances and by introducing music instruction in the classroom.
Finally, the FMP sought to document musical activity in the United States. During the Great Depression, many people attended these symphonies to escape the economic hardship of the time. It provided something for people to do during the difficult times. These musical concerts were low-cost or free, allowing many to attend. In 1939, the Federal Music Project's budget and other New Deal programs were cut by the legislature. Sokoloff had resigned the previous month amid debate over his preference for classical music. In 1939, the Federal Music Project was renamed the WPA Music Program. The Federal Music Project/WPA Music Program would be terminated a year later. State music projects came to an end with the end of the WPA on June 30, 1943.
