BRIAN D. EBIE, PH.D
A Brief History of Choral Music Education In The United States
(concluding with a brief look at current trends in music education)
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.
The Whole Book of Psalmes—Ainsworth
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.
The Accomplished Singer – Cotton Mather
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.
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
The Singing Master’s Assistant – Billings
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.
Second Great Awakening: LDS Hymnal, 1835
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…
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.
The Juvenile Lyre—1835
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.
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.
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.
National Music Course—Luther Whiting Mason
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.
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.
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
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
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.”
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.
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.”
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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
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.
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.
