Irene Britton Smith

Irene Britton Smith (December 22, 1907 – February 15, 1999) was an American classical composer and educator. Biography Childhood and youth Irene Britton Smith was born on December 22, 1907, in Chicago, Illinois as the youngest of four siblings. She was of African-American, Crow, and Cherokee descent. Adult life Smith wanted to study music at Northwestern University but her family could not afford to send her there. Smith was an advocate of the phono-visual method of teaching reading and Chicago University Press published her monograph on the topic, Methods and Materials for Teaching Word Perception in Kindergarten Through Grade Three, in 1960. Musical activity As a child Smith studied piano with V. Emanuel Johnson and took violin lessons. From 1946 to 1947 Smith took a sabbatical from teaching to complete graduate work at the Juilliard School of Music, where she studied composition with Vittorio Giannini. Works This is a list of works by Smith. Violin * Reminiscence for violin, piano, 1941 * Sonata for Violin and Piano, 1947 (published by Vivace Press in 1996) Piano * Invention in Two Voices, 1940 * Passacaglia and Fugue in C-sharp Minor, 1940 (published by Vivace Press in 2001) *