Dr. Alise A. Brown, music educator and teacher of the Ward Method at the University of Northern Colorado, has kindly allowed us to make available on-line her 2007 dissertation, The Life of Justine Ward.
The University offers Ward method studies every summer under Dr. Brown’s direction; for information on 2013 offerings, see: Ward Method I and Ward Method II.
The full title of her study is The Life of Justine Ward; her Work in Comparison to Orff and Kodaly; with Applications for the Public School Classroom.
She writes:
Music classrooms today usually include some form of instruction that includes elements of Orff or Kodály methods. The purpose of using these methods is to increase learning. Each of the methods helps provide needed stimulation in one or more areas that will hopefully lead to music literacy. But there is another method, the Ward Method, created by Justine Ward, an American-born woman. The first book of her Catholic Education Series appeared in 1914. Her unique method is based in principles of the Chevé method from France in the 1800s and on Gregorian chant.
Here are the chapter titles:
- Introduction
- The Life and Times of Justine Ward
- The Ward Method and its Growth
- The Ward Method in Comparison to Orff and Kodaly
- Teaching and Adapting the Ward Method
- Conclusion
The paper is available here on-line in PDF format.
A note: the copy of the paper which we have so far is missing the image files from the Appendices; we hope to correct that as soon as possible.
