Categories: Books

Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia Fraternity: A History of this Secret Society for Musicians

If you’re someone who has music as a major part of your life (or career), you’ve undoubtedly at least heard of the Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia fraternity (or “The Sinfonia”). And if you haven’t, then you undoubtedly wouldn’t have guessed that musicians would have a secret society complete with all the usual rituals and initiation ceremonies associated with them. This one, though, isn’t as mysterious as say the Order of Skull and Bones at Yale University or most other overly secretive collegiate types of fraternities. Who knows what they may do behind the scenes, but it’s ordinarily a social society who go out and get involved in educational pursuits–as well as shaping the music industry supposedly for the better. When you see the past and current list of members, it truly is a society that’s on a crusade to better music in the world on all fronts.

Since it’s founding in 1898 by the long-time bursar of New England Conservatory, Ossian Everett Mills–the fraternity has gone on to live by the philosophy of Mills who created his own mission statement. In it, he wanted to promote the highest ideals (and quasi philanthropy) in the music world and among members. The statement read: “The object of this fraternity shall be for the development of the best and truest fraternal spirit; the mutual welfare and brotherhood of musical students; the advancement of music in America and a loyalty to the Alma Mater.” To show how much the organization still lives by this, it was re-introduced in 2003 after years of the mission statement being slightly revised.

That above mission statement is also known as the “Mills Music Mission” and held the extremely sincere vision of members sharing their musical talents and knowledge with others to better mankind. And that’s what many members have done for decades–usually playing in nursing homes or homeless shelters to help bring music to those who couldn’t get access to it. Some of those early practices were called “flower missions”, because students at New England Conservatory (some of the first members) brought flowers to those above places while playing instruments, singing or reciting poetry.

Yes, this all sounds like a utopian secret society. You might say that they’re the closest to any in that category. But they also have their little ritualistic ceremonies to induct people into the fray. They’ve also had some behind-the-scenes influence on the music business that’s conveniently gone unnoticed on purpose. It makes one wonder whether the Sinfonians are really in the middle of a war right now with other forces who want to change the music business for the worst. At earlier times in this country, the Sinfonians had a member list that would blow your mind in the big names involved. Many of these men are either dead or very old now, but represent the best quality within every genre of music during the entire 20^th century.

Just some of the names who were either official Sinfonians or made an honorary member…

In the earliest days of the Sinfonians, everybody from John Philip Sousa, Leopold Stokowski, Arnold Schoenberg and Enrico Caruso were either honorary or full members who went through the ritual. But it didn’t just stop with musicians. Other prominent members of the arts community joined the Sinfonians just as appreciators of music and making sure it was brought to all and stayed at a high sense of quality. People such as George Eastman, Andrew Carnegie and Henry Steinway (heir to the Steinway legacy) were inducted as official honorary members. Once the Sinfonians decided to recognize changing musical tastes in the 1920’s and 30’s–jazz members were added. Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Stan Kenton and (later) Bill Evans were all members who rightly received special honors from the Sinfonian inner circles.

Lest you think that the Sinfonians didn’t keep up to speed after the jazz era–you’d be wrong. They do have some members from the rock n ‘roll era, though admittedly far and few between. The organization obviously viewed the state of music as one that doesn’t involve the promotion of three chords being the norm. Nevertheless, the world obviously has a large bunch of innovative rock legends who brought something different to the table. What’s interesting is that three members of the group Chicago were brought into the fray in the 1960’s. Lee Loughnane, James Pankow and Walter Parazaider all received honors from the Sinfonians in the mid-60’s before Chicago even started. Yet, they went on to create one of the most enduring (and one of the highest songwriting-quality) pop/rock bands of the latter half of the 20^th century.

A lot of actors who were musicians on the side have also been members for years. Andy Griffith and Fred Rogers (Mister Rogers) are and were prominent members in the honorary sense who, in their real lives, really have lived up to the fraternity’s mission statement. Rumors are that Prince is one of the more modern members of the Sinfonians. That’s apparently been confirmed in recent years via a website giving chapter listings from around the world, but it makes sense when many say that he’s as prolific a composer as Tchaikovsky was. Guffaw if you want, though there isn’t any denying that Prince is one of the true innovators in just about every category of pop music.

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The truly fascinating aspect of the Sinfonian famous list is that not many famous names have been added in recent years. You don’t see Justin Timberlake, Britney Spears or Kanye West there–even though those are the major players of mainstream music today. It’s not that new ones aren’t being added, but they’re all within the worlds of classical, jazz and some of the higher quality pop or R&B.; You’d probably be surprised to learn that an “American Idol” winner was asked to join in the last few years. That’s right, Ruben Studdard is apparently the most mainstream within the music business to become an official Sinfonian. The man’s a good singer and musician too–and (at the time of this writing) is inexplicably searching for a new record label.

As you can see, however, the Sinfonians are representative of a different time and philosophy from what’s happening in music today. Because the quality of music seems to be defined pretty much within the classical, jazz and rare pop genres, it makes you wonder how long famous names will dominate as Sinfonians. Right now, the famous list is mostly a long list of men who are up into their 60’s and well beyond. Yet, a lot of non-famous members are still becoming members from the collegiate level who bring the philanthropy of music as part of the Ossian Mills code mentioned above.

With that, the utterance of the mission statement still gets uttered often–and during the secretive initiation process…

What the initiation process is said to entail…

Much of this is secret as you’d expect. Yet, the Sinfonians do reveal that it’s similar to an ancient Greek initiation ceremony. It’s unlikely it involves macabre aspects that the Skull and Bones Society eerily use. Mostly, it seems to involve recitations of oaths as well as adhering to a set of other universal “truths” that apparently come from Ossian Mills himself and his overall philanthropic view of life. Brotherhood is also one of the leading commitments–and one has to likely take an oath of standing up for (and protecting, if necessary) their fellow peers in the organization. This part of the oath comes in handy when fellow musicians have to protect their industry from being brought down by corporations (i.e. record companies) who want to destroy careers or otherwise harm the quality of music around the world.

Sinfonians must have their commitment cut out for them now…