Editing Federal Music Project (section)

==Objectives==
The primary objective of the FMP was to employ professional musicians from all over the country to perform as [[musician|instrumentalists]], [[singing|singers]], and concert actors.  As a result of the growing number of performing groups, there was also a need for music [[copyist]]s and binders.  Men and women were hired to copy existing music by hand and then to bind them, distributing musical arrangements to ensembles around the nation.<ref name="WPA music manuscripts">{{cite web|title=WPA Music Manuscripts|url=http://digital.library.wayne.edu/digitalcollections/item?id=wayne:collectionWPAscores|website=Digital Collections at Wayne State University}}</ref> The Project also aimed to inspire music appreciation by enabling access to live performances and by introducing music instruction in the classroom. Finally, the FMP sought to document musical activity in the United States.<ref name="Bellmore and Jackson" />

Even though the project was thought to be this picturesque, ideal, and perfect plan, there were still many challenging facets that occurred during its time. One of the more general obstacles the Federal Music Project had to go through was the types of culture going into the project. Sokoloff was predisposed to European classical music, and made that the focus of the FMP. There was a much lower priority placed on vernacular or American folk music. These Eurocentric tastes were in contrast to the "common man" ideology of the New Deal.
Despite this national focus on classical music, regional and local implementations of the FMP revealed the diverse musical genres in early 20th century America. Live performances of African American and Hispanic music drew attention, as did efforts in several states to document musical traditions from ethnic minorities, spirituals, work songs and other folk music.<ref name="Bellmore and Jackson" />