Her Story
Ida Daniel Dark began her teaching career as a vocal music teacher in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Public School System in North Carolina, where she served as a “transitional teacher” bridging the racial gap during the early days of school integration — an effort formally recognized by her administrators. She went on to teach elementary vocal music for the Yonkers, New York public schools, then returned to North Carolina in 1972 as a music specialist with the State Department of Rehabilitation, teaching music to adolescent boys in juvenile detention.
In 1974 she began what would become the core of her career: music therapist and music educator at Joseph Leidy Elementary School in the Philadelphia Public School System, working with severely and profoundly impaired children. She developed a music curriculum for these students that is still used in programs throughout the United States and Canada. In 1981 she moved to the Dr. Ethel Allen Elementary School in Philadelphia, where she remained for the rest of her career, eventually earning a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from Combs College of Music.
Her achievements brought recognition well beyond her own classroom: she was named Pennsylvania Teacher of the Year in 1985 and, in 1988, was placed in the Miller Gallery of Greats as one of twelve outstanding educators in the country. She served as Pennsylvania’s representative to the First National Teachers Forum sponsored by the Education Commission of the States, and appeared in two educational videos — “Why Teach?” produced by the Pennsylvania Department of Education, and “Listening to Teachers Talk,” produced by the Education Commission of the States.
Beyond the Classroom
In 1991, Dark wrote a grant proposal with a colleague to create “EAGER” (Educational Alternatives for Growth, Enrichment and Refinement) — a program giving sixty inner-city students the chance to attend theater, art, and music events on Saturdays that would otherwise have been out of reach because of their social and economic circumstances. The Philadelphia School System funded the program, and she considered it one of the major successes of her career.
She developed and taught an in-service curriculum, approved for credit by the Pennsylvania State Department of Education, to prepare music teachers to work with exceptional children, and served as a mentor in the “Tell Them We Are Rising Program,” a privately funded initiative for at-risk children. She was a member of the National Board of Directors of Very Special Arts, an organization founded by Jean Kennedy Smith to promote the creative arts among people with disabilities, and served as a consultant and design team member for Very Special Arts Education Services nationally.
She served as President of the Philadelphia Chapter of the National Black Music Caucus, developing music curricula and experiences centered on Black composers, and belonged to the National Association of Music Therapy. In 1986 she addressed the Federal and State Education and Labor Committees in Washington, D.C. on “New Directions in Education,” and for more than five years served as education representative at the Career Fair at Saint Joseph’s University in Philadelphia.
Philosophy Into Action
Dark believed that education should do more than transmit facts — it should humanize students through the arts, and that classroom teaching succeeds when a teacher’s own knowledge and motivation reach every student regardless of “cultural, ethnic, and social backgrounds.” That belief was most vivid in her work with students with severe and profound disabilities, described firsthand by a colleague at Allen School:
“As the wheel chairs are being rolled into the music room, their bodies become animated with excitement as they anticipate what is about to take place… Often times Doc will leave her piano seat to hold on to the children (one by one) as she sings acapella… and guides them through what we regular classroom teachers describe as free bodily movement. And their little faces actually light up.”— Addie Pate Edmonson, Colleague, Dr. Ethel Allen Elementary School
Edmonson also described Dark’s insistence on eating lunch with her students with disabilities, not because it was required, but “because she loves them — it’s not rostered into her schedule.”
In Her Own Words
“I would add to these important points that of humanizing the child through learning experiences in the arts and humanities… The charge to mold the minds of children toward an intellectual, social and ethical maturity is one of the greatest responsibilities a human being can undertake.”— from her essay, “Philosophy of Teaching”
“In short the better the classroom teacher, the better the classroom teaching… The classroom teacher who is comfortable enough with his or her knowledge of the subject matter and properly motivated to impart that information to all students is and will be for some time to come the successful classroom teacher.”— from her essay, “A Classroom Teacher”
What Others Said
“For three decades, Ida Daniel Dark has successfully served public education as a music teacher and music therapist… Ida Dark is a beacon of light who has persevered through the years with utmost ease, precision and professionalism.”— Robert N. C. Nix, Jr., Chief Justice of Pennsylvania
“A recipient of the prestigious Rose Lindenbaum Outstanding Teacher Award and a former Pennsylvania Teacher Of The Year, and the only registered music therapist in our school district… ‘These children do indeed respond to music!'”— Addie Pate Edmonson, Colleague, Dr. Ethel Allen Elementary School
“The strongest link between the art of music and the art of teaching is creativity… Even the slowest student seems to know where all are going when Mrs. Dark is leading. Her personal style reflects considerable patience and determination both of which contribute to the creativity which characterizes her methodology.”— William Graham, Head, Department of Music Education and Music Therapy, University of Georgia
“Ida Daniel Dark, former Pennsylvania Teacher of the Year, has become an indelible mark on the students of Philadelphia. Ida Daniel Dark is a role model’s role model to not only the students in her immediate charge but also to the greater community… Lady Dark eats, sleeps and drinks music, and her outward beauty is equal to her cultural depth.”— Burton H. Klein, Administrative Assistant, School District of Philadelphia