Students of Music and Music Educators
Your Comments, email to musicedu@calhounconservatoryofmusic.net
A. the use of music in church
services, which exhibited a severe decline in quality during the first
few generations of Colonial Americans.
B. the establishment and spread
of the singing school movement.
A. the introduction of music
in the public schools.
B. the acceptance of music as a curricular subject by the Boston school committee in 1838.
C. the spread of music as a curricular
subject into other school districts.
A. the expansion of music through
all grade levels.
B. the assignment of music teaching responsibilities to classroom teachers.
C. the widespread effort to improve the teaching of music reading.
D. the broadening of the music curriculum to include several activities in addition to music reading.
E. the spread of public school
music throughout the country.
A. new emphasis on instrumental
performance.
B. new emphasis on excellence in choral performance, not only by bands and orchestras.
C. contest movement.
D. school performing ensembles become extremely visible to the public.
E. American public supports school music more strongly than ever before because the results were so tangible in the performing ensembles.
F. general music continues to progress,
and is strongly supported because of its central role in the progressive
education philosophy.
A. the development and establishment
of an aesthetically based philosophy of music
education (Reimer).
B. the acceptance of all music as aesthetically valid for the curriculum.
C. the introduction of advocacy
as a major professional activity.
B. rise of competing philosophy of MUE (praxial/Elliott).
C. conflict in profession over intrinsic vs. extrinsic justifications/rationales
for MUE in public schools.
The history of music is tied together with the history of music
education.
Ancient Greece - music was the art (included poetry and dance)
Jewish Culture - music education was reserved for a select group of musicians, called Levites.
Early Christians - educated the general population during the first
part of the worship (origin of
Sunday School).
St Gregory - Pope from 590-604 AD. Organized Schola Cantorum and established
uniform
musical practices throughout the church.
The Seven Liberal Arts
1. Trivium (grammar, rhetoric, logic)
2. Quadrinium (arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, music)
Guido D'Arezzo - wrote Micologus (around 1030 AD) dealing with melodic
motion. Used hexachord instead of the seven-tone scale.
rote versus note
"The history of music education in the United States has been ... one of reform." Keene, J. (1987)
Pilgrim separatists established at Plymouth, Massachusetts in 1620.
- brought the Ainsworth Psalter (39 tunes)
- contained melodies meant to be sung in unison with almost no part-singing
- long stanzas, difficult melodies, easily forgotten
- soon reduced to 12 more easier tunes, signaling a trend toward simplification
Puritan separatists established in Massachusetts Bay area (Salem) in 1630.
- brought the Sternhold and Hopkins Psalter
- Puritans loved psalm singing at home and at church
- appointed a committee to make original translations of the original Hebrew
- this was published in 1640, known as the Bay Psalm Book (1ST book published in America)
- generally sang in unison and unaccompanied
- the use of instruments was considered the work of the devil
- officially began using "lining out" in psalm singing (deacon read each line of the psalm, "precenter" gave the pitch for the tune, congregation repeated it using a prescribed tune they had memorized)
- helped those who hadn't learned the melody
- tended to break up the musical flow
- in churches where precenter was musical, the congregation sang musically
John Tufts published Introduction to the Singing of Psalm Tunes
- new system of notation (Andrew Law later 1780--used the fasola method along with his new notational system of "shaped notes")
- used fa-sol-la-mi (F-S-L-M on the staff) fasola followed by punctuation to designate note duration
Rev. Thomas Walter published Grounds and Rules of Musick Explained
- musical instruments began appearing in church (cello, flute, violin, clarinet, trombone)
- church singers began interest in private music lessons
- singing school movement is born
- early singing masters went town to town
- original mission was to improve church singing
- introduced the art of singing by note
1776-1789 - Educational balance of power went to the common good
Signing and ratification of U.S. Constitution
- religious dominance decreased
- theory of equality
- western expansion
1) education is recognized as a function of government (states)
2) extend education to a large number of people through philanthropy
a) Sunday Schools
b) Voluntary societies to raise money
c) Denominational schools
d) Private schools
3) increased emphasis on private education
4) new educational objectives
a) enlarged social obligation
b) rising interest of science
c) fall of classical education
1818 - public primary schools in Boston
1821 - public high schools in Boston
1837 - Boston experimented with vocal music in one school only (with no funding)
Early 1800's, a rapid development of American instrument manufacturing, especially pianos.
- European music teachers began to flow into America to teach music according to the best of the European instrumental tradition, not the American singing school method.
- Sales of the piano and the cabinet organ take off
- Organs become the leading church instrument
In the South, an aristocratic-plantation society captured musicians in a European-style service employment; music was certainly not for the common people.
- musicians there earned their living by the following:
a) playing in the theater
b) playing balls for the plantation
c) playing in the Anglican churches
(there was no living to be made as a music teacher)
- theater houses and orchestras flourished
- music was a toy of the wealthy
Heinrich Pestalozzi - father of modern educational thought (1746-1864); ideas were perfectly and easily adaptable to music education
- child-centered education
- fascinated by "sense impressions"
Easy Instructor published by Smith and Littles (1789)
- introduced shaped-note system to make music more understandable
- meter referred to the number of syllables in text (this number is still visible in modern Protestant church hymnals)
Lowell Mason
1827 - Lowell Mason opens a singing school for children only in Boston
- following Pestalozzi, Mason taught children (including infants) through ear-training and singing. He developed his own curriculum and long-range lesson plans for elementary music instruction.
1832 - Mason gave concerts in Boston
in order to spark interest in vocal music in the
schools.
1834 - Mason wrote Manual of the
Boston Academy of Music, for Instruction in the
Elements of Vocal Music on the
System of Pestalozzi. Expanded (and stole) ideas from Pestalozzi on teaching
children music (and sold the text to his own students).
1835 - Mason began teaching teachers at the Boston Academy of Music because he saw an inadequate supply of music teachers.
1838 - Mason convinced the school board to include music as part of the entire Boston Public School Curriculum. Music "Magna Charta."
1841 - Controversy begins at the second annual National Music Convention over the teaching of music vs. performance.
- the first instrumental clinics are held
- massive children's vocal concerts are given
1845 - Mason is fired as Superintendent of Music for "the good of the schools." Boston begins experimenting with standardized testing of students (initiated by Horace Mann), and music is cited as one possible cause for the decline in student scores.
1854 - Henry Mason founds the Mason & Hamlin Company (manufacturer of musical instruments)
Thanks to Lowell Mason, 50 other school districts followed Boston's
example by 1860.
National Music Convention often featured 1,000 voice choruses in multiple concerts.
- the conventions were flooded with music directors and publishers flagrantly selling their own methods and systems.
- the musicality of the performances was often very poor.
- the conventions still maintained incredibly high popularity.
Before the Civil War, there were few instrumental performing groups.
After the Civil War:
1) rise in the prestige of the music teacher
2) widespread choral activities with emphasis on high artistry
3) formation of civic orchestras
4) rise of music colleges
Educational resistance in the South (no tax-supported schools until 1869)
1) Slavery-based society hindered post-war education (no existing facilities/funds)
2) Resistance to change
3) Scattered instances of punitive Northern policies (graft and looting) were used as public relations hindrances to reform
4) Tolerance for a casual attitude about school attendance
This all led to low attendance, short school term, limited curriculum, and inept teachers in the South.
In the 1870's, the South began to experience the educational reform that Northern states had solved 50 years earlier.
Academies were schools for boys, then later separate schools for girls.
- high schools evolved from academies to college prep schools.
- high schools were a new idea and difficult to get rolling (funded)
There was "grass roots" support for a music teacher at the high school level, if music could be treated as a discipline and not an art (a scientific-minded public liked disciplined music).
Heavy German immigration helped push for more secular music in the schools (most European immigrants brought their own music education and folk music traditions).
- choral societies began moving away from religious orientation
Standardization of the music curriculum got its initiation
1) public performance teaching vs. classroom teaching
2) rote vs. note
3) movable do vs. fixed do
In 1800, there were 102 private academies in the United States. By 1850, there were 6,083 private academies in the United States. As academies competed for students (and tuition), music became a popular course and recruitment tool. During this time, Dvorak was named director of the National Conservatory of Music in New York.
1865-1885 Beginning of music method nationwide in schools.
Music concerts became more popular and music instruction became quite serious (and marketable).
Silver-Burdett, American Book Company, etc. began to publish music textbooks for the public schools, sponsoring institutes of music teaching (featuring music education techniques seminars and materials for purchase).
Grammar school music curriculum did not usually connect with the high school music curriculum.
Commercial success of the program had top priority (not artistry). THE QUALITY OF A MUSIC PROGRAM SELLS ITSELF.
After around 1880, private music students began banding together after school hours to play "immigrant" music (forerunner of the school band). Many schools today still maintain the tradition of teaching band at the end of the day.
Instantly, band ensembles began popping up everywhere (greatly encouraged by instrument manufacturing companies who would send area representatives to offer instrument repair and instruction).
Music instrument companies began offering free music lessons in the schools.
Contest movement was not far away (1913, Emporia, Kansas).
1885-1905 - Concentration on music reading (not playing)
1907 - Music Supervisors National Conference founded in Keokuk, Iowa by Francis Elliott Clark (although they didn't adopt the name officially until 1910).
1910-1920 - Rise of music appreciation in schools
- high school credit for applied music lessons
- orchestras in grade schools (Charles Farnsworth, Albert Mitchell, and Paul Stoeving)
- phonograph/victrola and telephone
- elementary band program (Otto Miessner)
- class instruction with designated concepts
- band contests
- class piano
- Thaddeus Giddings, choirs, music by note
- Frank Beach, Kansas State Normal School in Emporia
1920's - Rise of junior high music program and its connection to
the high school program
- first band method published (Maddy and Giddings)
- Jacob Evanson, St. Olaf/Westminster choral methods in schools
- first national school band contest, Chicago, 1923
- Walter Damrosch, radio (children's orchestra concerts)
- talking movies, soundtracks (George Eastman)
- testing and measurement (Carl Seashore, innate rhythm skills)
1930's - Radio/phonograph/motion picture
- academic music begins dying, and performance instruction grows
- correlation of music to other school subjects
- child-centered, progressive education (John Dewey) begins to take hold
- music series written with classroom teacher in mind (not music specialist)
- appearance of rhythm bands in elementary schools
- Music Supervisors National Conference
changes to the Music Educators National
Conference (MENC), 1934
- serious questions begin about student exploitation at regional and state contests
1950's - decade of progressive education (John Dewey)
- child-centered
- teacher shortage following World War II
- elementary music instruction still provided by classroom teacher (records)
- easy for inept teachers to hide behind label of progressive education (under pressure from teacher shortage)
- MENC issues a wake-up call to teachers
1) Assume leadership of the music curriculum in your district and set some standards
2) Become knowledgeable about general education and its problems and issues
3) Involve professional musicians
4) Understand general culture
- "Music in American Life," a series of ten publications in 1954
- Art in a Changing America, by philosopher Max Kaplan, teacher education
- arts in total American society, arts in American education
- social influences on art in American society
- Rapid changes in American society
(Brown vs Board in 1954) affects arts, which demands change in teacher
training. Call to include training in social psychology, sociology, and
behavioral sciences (including growth of statistical research in music
education).
OCTOBER, 1957: SPUTNIK I
Admiral Rickover successfully kicks progressive education out the door as Americans are in absolute sheer terror that the Russians have overtaken American education (science and math especially).
- art vs. technological advance in the schools
- music education responds with programs for the gifted students (especially identification)
- split between performance and content is vast, with a drifting of philosophies
- Bennett Reimer
1959 - Woods Hole Conference generated big federal $$$ giveaways to
physics, biology,
psychology, and mathematics. (some $ "dribbled down" to MUE1959,
Young Composers Project, N. Dello Joio, Ford Foundation)
1961 White House Panel (JFK) to improve education
1) urban education
2) new curricula/teacher recruiting
3) nature of learning
1962 MENC convention initiates a study of music in aesthetic terms
Aesthetic experiences
- nonpractical by nature
- involve both intellect and emotion
- hard to describe
- object is focus of attention, not task
Debate over nonmusical reasons to teach music and the meaning of aesthetics
- Lowell Mason (music helped reading, speech, gave recreation)
- music increases intelligence?
- social performing skills
- good role models
- awards and recognitions
- at-risk students
1) Nonmusical benefits should be thought of as bonuses to music, not foundations for its existence.
2) Music teachers don't know any tricks to make these bonuses occur; it's still up to the student, not the teacher.
Mid-1960's and the Baby Boom begins to hit high school and college age
- social change/youth movement led to a voice in educational decisions
- enlargement of the curriculum (basket weaving and flower arranging)
- traditional subjects suffered enrollment declines (future teacher shortage)
Historical Landmarks in the 1960s:
1963, Yale Seminar, C. Palisca
1963, Contemporary Music Project
1964, Juilliard Repertory Project
1967, Tanglewood (symposium and declaration) sponsored by MENC
- invited professionals from many different areas of American society
- discuss/define the role of music edcuation in America
- make recommendations to improve music education
1969, MENC "Youth Music" endorsement
A Philosophy of the Arts for an Emerging Society by philosopher Max Kaplan
1) You can't understand music education without understanding music as an aesthetic whole
2) Relationship of music to other arts
3) Relationship of tastes
4) Relationship to historical traditions
5) Distinction between person and environment
6) Essence vs. technique
7) Subject matter for doctoral dissertations
8) To what degree is a music educator a musician?
9) Goals in terms of the future (American leisure time)
1970s, perception that American educational system in decline, hampered by poor global economy, oil shortages, etc.
Accountability movement, "back to basics" drive, similar to 1950s
1980s, public becomes vocal about need for better schools to compete in world marketplace
1983, National Commission on Excellence in Education released their
highly critical report of American education, "A Nation at Risk", arts
not identified as part of the basic curriculum
1994, National Standards published by MENC and other arts associations
1995, Music Matters, D. Elliott
1996, "Goals 2000"
Advent of brain research, "music makes you smarter" (F. Rauscher, G.
Shaw) intensifies debate surrounding intrinsic vs. extrinsic rationales
for MUE in schools
