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from III - THE INSTITUTIONAL CULTURE, 1920–83
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 July 2013
The ABRSM's institutional identity
THE prominence of the ABRSM in the 1920s and 30s owed much to the persona of the RCM's Director, Sir Hugh Allen. His indefatigable energy, together with his qualities of leadership, made him something of a force of nature, and his assiduous politicking ensured that few major appointments in his spheres of influence were made without his knowledge or specific recommendation. He was generally looked upon as the de facto leader of music in the educational and church spheres, a widely held view that was made explicit in Allen's obituary in The Times: ‘He became for a time the acknowledged but unofficial head of the music profession in this country.’ Allen had strong views on everything. He was especially exercised about recording and radio damaging the world of amateur music: he feared that the too easy access to ‘ready-made’ music offered by this technology would discourage people from taking up instruments or singing in choirs, and he had the ear of The Times in which to air his opinions. In 1931 Allen summarized the Associated Board and its work:
The Associated Board is the Royal Academy of Music and the Royal College of Music, and the welfare of one is wrapped up in the welfare of the other. […] Certain duties are laid upon us, backed by all the power of our Royal Charters, to do all we can for the advancement of music education. This is done in two ways. Firstly by the teaching of the two schools; secondly by the wider work of the Schools through the Associated Board. The Examinations which the Board controls are designed to spread the influence of the teaching and the prestige of the body of the Professors who form, in the two Schools, the most remarkable group of musicians and teachers of the day […] so that all teachers in the country may receive by actual contact the guidance, encouragement and stimulus which can only come from such contact […] with all the advantages that a common interest and companionship can give. It is only by authority that such work can be successful, and there can be no question as to the Board’s authority.
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