Our Forgotten But Notable Neighbors: Gertrude Goldstein-Maged

When she started her job as Music Director for the Nyack School System in 1925, 19-year-old Gertrude Goldstein must have had mixed emotions. She herself had graduated from Nyack High School just four short years earlier, and with Nyack’s then small-town atmosphere, she must have already known everyone – the students, the teachers, and the administrative staff. In the past, they would have called her by her first name, Gertrude. But now, transitioning into a member of the teaching staff, following years of advanced piano studies at the Juilliard School of Music, in addition to owning a brand-new Bachelor’s diploma in Music Education from Columbia Teachers College, she would now be addressed as Miss Goldstein.  

At the time, all the grades in the Nyack School System, from elementary to high school, were crammed into the same building, the old Liberty Street School.  Barely older than many of the students, Gertrude could easily have been misidentified as a high schooler. And despite her very impressive title as director, there was nobody for her to direct since she was the “only” music teacher employed by Nyack.

With that said, she saw it as an opportunity to put into place her vision, ideas and concepts of what a music education could, and should, be. Before Gertrude took the helm, music education in Nyack was a typical, simple program, but she was determined not to follow stale traditions. Rather, her goal was to spread the love of music into both the hearts and minds of her students by implementing more advanced and challenging programs and techniques. 

Working with boundless energy and dynamic, infectious enthusiasm, by the time Gertrude left the Nyack Music Department nine-years later, her time would be the lodestar whose innovative programs would be incorporated by other school districts. Indeed, many of the programs and concepts that she originated are still being followed in classrooms. What’s more, many successful careers in the music profession of people like Rupert Holmes can be traced back to her.

To get the funds and hire the personnel required to bring her vision to fruition, she would need the approval of the school administrators. One could argue that this might put a financial strain on the School Board’s budget, especially during the height of the Great Depression.  But by putting to use skills of persuasion that she more than likely developed while helping out at her family’s clothing store at 100 Main Street in Nyack, this gutsy, self-assured young lady, barely out of adolescence, was able to convince the “powers that be” to support her proposals and allocate the necessary expenditures.

In addition to the extensive musical education that she received, Gertrude came from a distinguished musical lineage.  Her maternal grandfather was a rabbi and famous chazan, or Jewish cantor, whose talent and popularity was such that on the Jewish High Holidays, worshipers would pack large music halls to attend services in which he was the star attraction. Also, one of her cousins was Arnold Volpe, conductor, violinist and the founder of the Miami and Kansas City Symphonic Orchestras, who was himself known for developing young musical talent. Another cousin was Stefan Wolpe, a famous composer and a musical guru who was known for putting the finishing touches on a number of famous composers and arrangers in the mid-20th century American music scene, including Eddie Sauter, Bill Finegan, Gil Evans and Elmer Bernstein.

For the first four-years as Music Director, Gertrude taught grades 1-6 in the Liberty Street School. She had a chance to ply her trade on the younger ones, in whom she could develop a deep love of music from an early age. In 1929, when Nyack opened a new building on Midland Avenue to house the Jr. and Sr. High School students, Gertrude moved with them and began teaching grades 7-12.  By then, many students had already been with her for four years and she would continue to have them for another four.  This allowed her to further nurture and mold their musical talents and knowledge and to solidify their love for the art-form.

Gertrude instituted a number of programs that may be commonplace today, but at the time were cutting edge. In 1928, she started glee clubs for both the Jr. and Sr. High School students, in which, besides making beautiful music, the concept of harmony was strongly emphasized. The following year, the Nyack Sr. High School Band was created. Both programs were very popular. 

Convinced that the students should have a strong foundational education, she would hold daily classes in music history, appreciation, and theory. She also instituted the Springtime shows, then called operettas. Encompassing performances by the glee clubs, orchestra and with contributions from Miss Sarah Roody of the Dramatic Club, the musicals became the highlight of the year for the student body and the community at large. The most popular were Gilbert and Sullivan’s Pirates of Penzance, and The Mikado.

The shows were extraordinary successes due, to a great extent, to Gertrude’s tireless efforts and the enthusiasm that she galvanized amongst the performers.  She would even bring students to her home on weekends and evenings for extra rehearsals.

In 1929, she persuaded the administration to hire clarinetist Arthur Christman, Columbia and Juilliard graduate, to instruct on the woodwind and brass instruments, and to lead the band.

Other innovative programs that she initiated included having broadcasts of operas and choral programs played on a radio to students in the auditorium (this was a time when less than half the nation’s population owned radios), and taking students on organized trips to Manhattan to attend live opera performances. In 1929, she began Music Week in the Nyack School System that encompassed many student performances and competitions. By 1933, this novel idea had spread countywide, and by 1938 over 1,500 students participated.

To be continued in next week’s edition of the RCT…