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A history of the Dana School of Music
YOUNGSTOWN
William H. Dana opened his musical institute in Warren on Oct. 4, 1869, because he had a passion for music education. He rented some rooms in a building on the corner of Main and Market streets.
Having studied music in a number of conservatories in the United States, Germany and England, he was frustrated with the trend of using part-time instructors, group lessons and less than rigorous study. He believed music should be practiced (for hours) every day and studied with the same seriousness as other academic subjects.
The following year, enrollment in the school had grown so much that it moved to a larger, 40-room building on the corner of Park Avenue and High Street, Warren. It offered private lessons as well as a set curriculum leading to a degree for aspiring professional musicians.
Students had access to dedicated practice rooms and instruments. They could choose to study in four departments: church, parlor, orchestra or brass-band music. They also received classes in arrangement, harmony, composition, music history, theory and solfeggio. During this time, Dana wrote several theoretical instruction books and was one of the three founders of the Music Teacher’s National Association in 1876.
Ohio approved the Dana Musical Institute to grant bachelor of music degrees in 1891.
The students regularly performed in the school orchestra, band or operas. Although graduating classes were small, many students achieved careers as professional musicians. Dana’s son, Lynn, shared his father’s passion for music education.
A talented pianist and excellent speaker, he joined the Institute as a vice president in 1901. In 1912, Dana’s Musical Institute built a new five-story building on the same site as the former school but provided improved teaching and performance facilities. William Dana died in 1916, and Lynn became president of the Institute.
In the 1920s, enrollment at Dana’s Musical Institute was high. The school had a string quartet, string orchestra, symphony orchestra, military band and chorus. In addition, public schools started teaching music classes, and teachers were anxious to receive training in teaching music to young school students.
Dana’s Musical Institute offered a curriculum for public-school music starting in 1925. Nearby, Youngstown College hired William Stearns, the music director at Youngstown’s First Presbyterian Church, to teach evening classes in public school music in 1929.
In 1931, Ohio changed its accreditation standards for schools to grant degrees in education.
With these increased curriculum requirements, the Dana Musical Institute saw the need to merge with a college in order to keep its educational credentials with the state. Enrollment declined in the 1930s as it could no longer grant teaching degrees.
Meanwhile, at Youngstown College, the music department was growing. Alvin Myerovich and George Bretz were hired as full-time faculty, and the program had enough courses to offer a bachelor of arts degree in music.
Students wishing to become music teachers could coordinate with the education department to get a bachelor of science degree in public-school music.
In the summer of 1941, arrangements were finalized for Dana’s Musical institute to move from Warren to Youngstown to merge with Youngstown College. Five faculty from the Institute were added to the three from Youngstown College. The new “Dana’s Musical Institute at Youngstown College” took over the Thomas family house on Wick Avenue.
With the addition of the institute faculty, Youngstown College was able to award bachelor of music degrees in 1942 and was fully accredited by the National Association of Schools of Music in 1947.
The program continued to grow and additional practice and teaching spaces were added around campus.
In 1950, the name of the institute was changed to the Dana School of Music at Youngstown College. In 1968, Youngstown University became Youngstown State University and a master of music degree program began.In 1974, the music school was combined with the theater and art departments to form the College of Fine and Performing Arts. Donald Byo was elected (and re-elected) to serve as director of the school of music for the next 20 years.
Bliss Hall opened in 1977 and brought together all the music faculty offices, classrooms and rehearsal spaces that had been scattered around campus. After a decade of increasing student interest in jazz music and award-winning student ensembles, courses leading to a bachelor of music in jazz studies began in fall 1980.
The newest academic track is the bachelor of music in music recording, which was added in 2007.
Prepared by the Youngstown State University Archives