Major Publications
Links
References
Pitts received her BA from Columbia University in 1935. She received an Honorary Doctorate from Elon College in 1949.
Lilla Belle Pitts developed the jr. high general
music program and the concept of integration with other subjects.
She promoted a love of singing in her students, which included
school singing assemblies, and popular participation in Opera
Sings as preparation for attendance at opera matinee
presentations (organized by Pitts). Listening was crucial to all
activities, and Pitts strongly believed in learning through
instruments, playing, and rhythmic activities. The 1936
performance of her eighth grade students at a national MENC
conference became widely known, and within two years, Pitts was
elected to second Vice President of MENC and President in 1942.
Pitts’ MENC presidency occurred during WWII, which required creative, but crucial, leadership from Pitts. Because of travel restrictions, Pitts organized committee and regional planning, which allowed the national convention to occur. Her plan for “Widening Horizons for Music Education” was a call to broaden the music curriculum and respond to worldwide events.
From 1940-1960, Lilla Belle Pitts was the “most generally and widely accepted leader in the field” (Blanchard, 1966, p. 128). This acclaim was through her successful and highly popular classes in a sixteen-year career at Teachers College, Columbia University, as well as through her appearances in national and regional meetings of MENC after retiring from Columbia.
Pitts, L. B. (1938). Music Integration in the
Junior High School. Boston: C.C. Birchard and Company.
Pitts, L. B. (1944). The Music Curriculum in a Changing World.
NY: Silver Burdett Co.
Pitts, L. B. (1944). Widening Horizons for Music Education. Music
Educators Journal, XXX (Feb.-Mar.), 17.
Pitts, L. B. (1949). Our Singing World (12 vols.). Boston:
Ginn and Company.
Lilla Belle Pitts Papers, at MENC Historical Research Center
Honorary Doctorate, Elon College, N.C.
1986 MENC Hall of Fame
Blanchard, G. L. (1966). Lilla Belle Pitts: Her Life and Contribution to Music Education. (Unpublished Doctoral dissertation, Brigham Young University 1966). Dissertation Abstracts Online, 27, no. 09A: 2836.
Music Educators National Conference. (2001). Lilla Belle Pitts Papers, [www]. University of Maryland. Available: http://www.lib.umd.edu/PAL/SCPA/MENC/pitts.html [2002, 11/3].