Finding Aid for Marilyn Pflederer Zimmerman Papers, 1949-2002 | The Sousa Archives and Center for American Music

Title: Marilyn Pflederer Zimmerman Papers, 1949-2002

ID: 12/5/47

Primary Creator: Zimmerman, Marilyn Pflederer (1929-1995)

Extent: 3.0 cubic feet

Arrangement: Organized into four series: Series 1. Research and Writing Drafts and Notes, Series 2. Administrative, Personal and Research Correspondence; Series 3. Course Syllabi and Lesson Plans; Series 4. Faculty Oversight Committee to the Zimmerman Foundation Records; and Series 5. Papers by Other Authors. Each series is arranged chronologically at the folder-level by the earliest date appearing in each folder. Duplicates removed from papers.

Date Acquired: 01/00/2010

Subjects: Class Notes, Classroom Instruction, Early Childhood Education, Faculty, Faculty Papers, Music, School of, Music Educators National Conference, Music instruction, Music teachers, Music teachers - Training of

Formats/Genres: Papers

Languages: English

Consists of unpublished drafts of research articles, research notes, lecture and book chapters; course syllabi and lecture notes for courses taught both at the University of Illinois and other colleges and universities; programs for conferences and symposia in which Zimmerman participated; unpublished drafts of papers by other authors Zimmerman consulted in her research; and the administrative records from the University of Illinois School of Music and the Center for Music Education Research documenting the career of Marilyn Pflederer Zimmerman as she established herself as an educator, researcher and administrator. Of particular interest are the notes and data compiled during Zimmerman's 1968 research project (with Lee Sechrest), "How Children Conceptually Organize Musical Sounds."

Music educator and researcher Marilyn Pflederer Zimmerman was born in Peoria, Illinois. She graduated from Illinois Wesleyan University in 1951, with a Bachelor of Music degree and majors in Piano and Music Education. She earned a Master's of Science degree in 1955 and a Doctor of Education degree in 1963, both from the University of Illinois, and both in Music Education.

Her teaching career began with three years of elementary and junior high school general music instruction in Illinois. She was an instructor at Illinois Wesleyan from 1955-1956. She then served for three years on the music education faculty of Southern Illinois University-Carbondale, before returning to the University of Illinois as an instructor from 1959 to 1964. From 1964 to 1968 she served as associate professor at Northwestern University. On December 16, 1967, she married Vernon Zimmerman and returned to the University of Illinois for three years as visiting associate professor from 1968 to 1971. She also served as visiting associate professor at Illinois State University, The College-Conservatory of Cincinnati, the Pennsylvania State University and the University of Victoria. She served as director of the Music Program at Temple University in 1978-1979 and was the Distinguished Flora Stone Mather visiting professor at Case Western University in 1980-1981. In 1987, she returned to the University of Illinois School of Music as Professor of Music Education, a position she held until 1993.

Marilyn Pflederer Zimmerman's research focused on music education, with emphases in early childhood education and the study of cognitive influences on the musical learning of children. In 1968 she conducted, with Lee Sechrest, an H.E.W. Research Project entitled "How Children Conceptually Organize Musical Sounds." She served as editor of the Bulletin of the Council for Research in Music Education and on the editorial review board of The Quarterly Journal of Music Teaching and Learning. During her research career she published more than fifty articles in various journals in her field. She also participated regularly in the International Society for Music Education. Many of Marilyn Pflederer Zimmerman's writings are available in the book On musicality and milestones : selected writings of Marilyn Pflederer Zimmerman : with contributions from the profession edited by Mark Robin Campbell and published by the University of Illinois School of Music in 2002.

In 1991 Marilyn Pflederer Zimmerman and her husband established the Vernon and Marilyn Pflederer Zimmerman Foundation, which provided funds for doctoral fellowships, conferences and other scholarships relating to early childhood education and cognitive learning in early music education. The Foundation remains active as of February 2010.

Class Notes
Classroom Instruction
Early Childhood Education
Faculty
Faculty Papers
Music, School of
Music Educators National Conference
Music instruction
Music teachers
Music teachers - Training of

Repository: The Sousa Archives and Center for American Music

Access Restrictions: No restrictions.

Acquisition Source: School of Music Annex

Acquisition Method: Donation

Related Materials: Vernon K. Zimmerman Papers, 1945-1996, 09/01/022 For more information please see http://www.library.uiuc.edu/archives/uasfa/0901022.pdf.