The purpose of this study was to examine the professional contributions of Alice Carey Inskeep (1875-1942), who contributed significantly to music education through her positive and effective teaching, supervising, community service, and leadership in music education. Inskeep was born in Ottumwa, Iowa, and taught for five years in that city's school system after graduating from high school. She served as music supervisor in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, for most of the remainder of her career, and she provided progressive leadership to the schools and community. She was one of three people appointed to plan the initial meeting in Keokuk, Iowa, for what eventually became MENC: The National Association for Music Education, and she was one of sixty-nine founding members of the organization in 1907. The Keokuk meeting served as an impetus for Inskeep to to travel to Chicago, where she studied with several notable music educators. Later, she sat on the organization's nominating committee, the first Educational Council (precursor to the Music Education Research Council) board of directors, and provided leadership to two of the organization's affiliates, the North Central Division and the Iowa Music Educators Association. She served as a part-time or summer faculty member at Iowa State Normal School and Coe College in Cedar Falls and Cedar Rapids, Iowa, respectively, and the American Institute of Normal Methods in Evanston, Illinois, and Auburndale, Massachusetts.

This invited speech was about various aspects of the world of music education in the United States, including how European art music continues to be emphasized, how music educators think it is their job to improve people's taste in music, the folly of top-down curricular initiatives, especially federal ones, and more.

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of school enrollment, distance to audition site, sex of auditionees, and instrument type on the results of the 1992-97 South Dakota all-state band auditions. Results include the following:

1. Total audition scores were better for students from larger schools and for those who traveled a shorter distance to the audition.
2. Female students' scores were significantly better than those of male students, but there was no significant difference in the percentages of successful auditions between males and females.
3. Scores differed significantly between instrument groups, with flutes and double reeds receiving the best scores, followed by saxophones, trumpets and French horns, low brass and string basses, and clarinets.
4. The variables of distance to audition site, instrument group, and sex accounted for 11% of the variance in total audition scores.