This presentation briefly examines the growth of music education in American educational systems, with an emphasis on singing schools and the transition to choral programs and general music appreciation courses. The presentation concludes with a birdseye view of the trends and developments in music education during the 20th century, including various Education Acts, NCLB, Common Core, and the role of the arts--specifically music--in those legislative educational policies.

1. B R I A N D . E B I E , P H . D
A Brief History of Choral Music
Education In The United States
(concluding with a brief look at current trends in music education)

2. Group Singing in Colonial America (1600-1800)
 1620-Pilgrims established the Plymouth
Colony in America. They brought with
them Henry Ainsworth’s Book of
Psalms, containing 39 psalm songs.
 1630-The Puritans established the
Massachusetts Bay Colony and brought
Stemhold and Hopkin’s Whole Book of
Psalms.
 1639-The Puritans were dissatisfied
with some of the translations and
number of meters in the Sternhold and
Hopkins Psalm Book, so they published
the Bay Psalm Book.

3. The Whole Book of Psalmes—Ainsworth

4. Singing by Rote vs. Note
 1630-A common practice in the early colonial church was
rote singing. Rote singing was accomplished by a process
called “lining out,” where a priest would sing a line of psalm
to the congregation, and they would repeat it.
 1720-The importance of reading music became apparent
when Thomas Symmes wrote a pamphlet entitled:
 The Reasonableness of Regular Singing or Singing by Note.
 1723-Symmes suggested the establishment of Singing Schools to
improve the musical skills of the church populace.
 1721- Cotton Mather delivers a sermon entitled The
Accomplished Singer. The process for lining out is outlined.

5. The Accomplished Singer – Cotton Mather

6. Music Textbooks –John Tufts
 John Tufts wrote the Introduction to the Singing of Psalm
Tunes. It was the first American music textbook.
 The selling of this book was considered the beginning of
organized music education in the United States.

7. William Billings
 William Billings (October 7, 1746 –
September 26, 1800) is regarded as the
first American choral composer
 Billings was involved in teaching
singing schools throughout his life.
 Billings' work was very popular in its
heyday, but his career was hampered
by the primitive state of copyright law
in America at the time. By the time the
copyright laws had been strengthened,
it was too late for Billings: the favorites
among his tunes had already been
widely reprinted in other people's
hymnals, permanently copyright-free.
 From Wikipedia: William Billings

8. The Singing Master’s Assistant – Billings

9. The Singing School Movement
 1725-1800’s
 The Singing School Movement Flourished during the “Great
Awakening,” which can best be described as a revitalization of
religious piety that swept through the American colonies between
the 1730s and the 1770s.
 Religions growing out of the Second Great Awakening are the
Churches of Christ, Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), The
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons), the
Seventh-day Adventist Church, and the Evangelical Christian
Church in Canada.
 Singing Schools, operated by itinerant music teachers,
taught people to sing by note. They used a four syllable
system called “fa-sol-la” to teach sight-singing skills.

10. Second Great Awakening: LDS Hymnal, 1835

11. Music In The Schools
 1787-1789-
 Ratification of the Constitution by the states reflected ideas of education
as a function of government.
 August 24, 1830-
 After observing the instructional principles of Johann Heinrich
Pestalozzi, William Channing Woodbridge (also a signer of the US
Constitution) delivered a speech entitled On Vocal Music as a Branch of
Common Education to the American Institute of Instruction.
 Click the link above to read more…

12. Music in the Schools
 1831-
 Elam Ives and Lowell Mason publish the Juvenile Lyre,
which Mason described as the first school song book
published in this country.
 1832-
 Lowell Mason, George Webb and other Boston musicians
founded the Boston Academy of Music.

13. The Juvenile Lyre—1835

14. Lowell Mason
 The Boston Academy of Music was
dedicated to improving the quality of
music in the church and promoting
general music education.
 The Manual of the Boston Academy of Music
for Instruction in the Elements of Vocal
Music on the System of Pestalozzi, a
translation of an earlier German publication,
was published under Mason’s name and
became the official text for the academy’s
music teacher training course.
 Boston Academy, the country’s leading
independent music education institution,
offered instruction for adults and
children, but its leaders were strongly in
favor of music in common school.

15. The First Vocal Music Program in a public school
 Boston Academy associates and other prominent citizens
submitted two proposals to the Massachusetts School Board
urging that vocal music instruction be made part of the primary
school curriculum. Following the second proposal (1837) the
board agreed to an experimental inclusion of vocal music at
Hawes Primary School.
 Lowell Mason volunteered his services as an instructor.
 1838- The Boston School Board voted to include music in public
elementary schools, marking the first time in American history
that music was officially given a place in the school curriculum.
 1838-1860- 50 other school districts follow Boston’s example.

16. Curricular Development
 1870- Luther Whiting Mason’s graded music
series entitled The National Music Course was
published and became a model for future graded
series.
 Considered the founder of School music methodology.
 Recognized for his instruction materials for early grades.
 Many music education textbooks today have their roots in
Mason’s original works.

17. National Music Course—Luther Whiting Mason

18. Other Popular Music Courses
 1885-
 The Normal Music Course, co authored by Hosea Edson
Holt and John Wheeler Tufts, was published and became
the standard for school music series by 1893.
 The Natural Music Course, by Thomas Tapper and
Frederick Ripley was published containing some new and
innovative approaches to simplify instruction.

19. Frances Elliott Clark
 1891 music supervisor at Monmouth, Illinois.
 she began giving a series of ten minute lectures before her choir rehearsals on
topics such as the Rise of Opera, J.S.Bach, Chopin, and living composers. These
were some of the first efforts of teaching music appreciation.
 1903 Supervisor of Music in the schools.
 While in Milwaukee she organized children's music programs at the elementary
level to teach children how to sing and read music.
 She also pioneered a plan to encourage ear-training at the kindergarten level.
 Interested in technology and formed a strong relationship with the
Victor Talking Machine company.
 Pioneered the use of using recordings in the classroom to teach music.
 Used the phonograph as an educational tool, allowing students to hear music
they were singing performed by professional musicians.
 Under her leadership music of the world as well as American folk songs were
recorded for use in the classroom.

20. Frances Elliott Clark
 Her work with the Victor record company led to the
Victor Company publishing its first educational
catalog in 1911 and she endorsed one of the first
music appreciation books, What We Hear in Music,
by Anne Faulkner, a member of the Victor staff.
 Source: http://www.public.asu.edu/~aajth/history/clark~f.c/clark~f.c.html

21. MENC / NAfME
 The National Association for Music Education (NAfME) is an
organization of American music educators dedicated to advancing and
preserving music education and as part of the core curriculum of
schools in the United States.
 Founded in 1907 as the Music Supervisors National Conference (MSNC),
the organization was known from 1934 to 1998 as the Music Educators
National Conference (origin of the MENC acronym).
 From 1998 to 2011 it was known as "MENC: The National Association
for Music Education."
 On September 1, 2011, the organization changed its acronym from
MENC to NAfME.
 On March 8, 2012, the organization's name legally became National
Association for Music Education. The acronym "NAfME" is used. With
more than 130,000 members, NAfME headquarters are located in
Reston, Virginia.
From Wikipedia: MENC

22. Contemporary Music Education in America
 1959-American Association of School Administrators
expresses support for more complete curriculum including
arts instruction.
 1962- MENC works to change perception in music as non-
academic. Theme of biennial meeting is “The Study of
Music: An Academic discipline.”
 1965- National Assessment of Educational Progress
develops music objectives (later evolved into the National
Standards)
 1967- Tanglewood Symposium, sponsored by MENC to
discuss and define the role of music education. Results in
the “Tanglewood Declaration.”

23. Contemporary Music Education in America
 1983- A Nation at Risk: The Imperative for Educational
Reform echoes reform cry from post-Sputnik philosophies
that focused on the subjects of math and science. Includes
the arts and music as fundamental subject areas.
 1985- National Board for Professional Teaching
Standards instituted. MENC introduces “Professional
Certification Program.”
 1994-Goals 2000 (Improving America’s Schools Act)
legislation passes. MENC introduces National Standards
for Music Education.

24. Contemporary Music Education in America
 1994-Goals 2000 (Improving America’s Schools
Act) legislation passes. MENC introduces National
Standards for Music Education.
 2001- No Child Left Behind (NCLB) act
 Former Secretary of Education Rod Paige wrote in 2004
to superintendents that “the arts, perhaps more than any
other subject, help students to understand themselves
and others, whether they lived in the past or are living in
the present.”
 asdf

25. Contemporary Music Education in America
 NCLB has not typically benefited arts education
programs.
 The long-term effects of NCLB are not yet evident, but the
short-term effects have been detrimental to all nontested
subjects, especially those courses that are typically considered
electives. ARTS EDUCATION POLICY REVIEW, 111: 4–7, 2010
 Some principals strive to hire arts teachers who are trained in
reading and mathematics integration. This trend could
endanger the arts, especially music, from being recognized as a
distinct and separate subject matter with its own skills and
concepts. ARTS EDUCATION POLICY REVIEW, 111: 4–7, 2010

26. Contemporary Music Education in America
 Common Core
 The Common Core State Standards Initiative is an educational
initiative in the United States that details what K–12 students
should know in English language arts and mathematics at the
end of each grade.
 The potential for music knowledge to be used
extensively as part of instruction exists, however,
information on actual implementation is scarce.
 See the College Board Report on Arts Education and Common
Core.

27. Conclusion
 There is always a danger that music education and other arts will be
relegated to the sidelines in favor of math and science and more
standardized testing. Despite countless studies indicating
significant positive correlations between music study and academic
achievement, well being, emotional health, and more, because the
arts are subjective and better measured in the affective domain, they
will lose ground to even more math and science.
 In the 58 years since Sputnik, and Admiral Hyman Rickover’s
report on the state of American education, music has had to fight
for it’s place in the school. This is not likely to change.
Communities, parents, teachers, and supportive administrators are
key to keeping the programs alive in public schools.
 A Principal supportive of music education, along with good teaching
is without equal in enabling the endurance of successful programs.