The earliest systematic music education in the country was centered on the training of singers for Protestant church services, to lead the congregation in
psalm-singing. In the 18th century, the first singing schools in the country were founded, and a number of legendary traveling singing masters traveled New England, teaching in barns, schoolhouses and other informal locations; these masters included
Francis Hopkinson and
William Billings. By the end of the century, more formal singing schools in cities like
Savannah,
Philadelphia and
Boston became
social singing societies. Public education in the United States first offered music as part of the curriculum in Boston in the 1830s, and it spread through the help of singing teacher
Lowell Mason, after he successfully advocated it to the Boston School Committee in 1838. The committee ultimately decided to include music as a curricular subject because it was of a moral, physical, and intellectual nature. Music was considered moral because it played such a part in
religion, as well as the fact that it had been documented to produce "happiness, contentment, cheerfulness, and tranquility." It was of a physical nature because singing was exercise for the
lungs. The committee justified music's intellectual nature by stating that it had been studied as a part of the
quadrivium in the Middle Ages, and that it "contributes to memory, comparison, attention, and intellectual faculties." Another advocate of music in public education was Swiss educational reformer
Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi. Pestalozzi believed that nature was the ultimate and original source of knowledge, therefore his educational theories placed a high value on sensory, kinesthetic, and active learning. He felt students should start with simple concepts in all subjects and move later to more complex ideas. Pestalozzi's method was one of the earliest methods that could be considered "student-centered learning" and his ideas of discipline and a student-teacher rapport based on love and trust were markedly different from the common practice of corporal punishment at the time. The first music educator to use Pestalozzian ideas in teaching music was Hans Negeli, a colleague of Pestalozzi in Switzerland. His Pestalozzian approach to music was brought to the United States, translated, and popularized by
William Channing Woodbridge, Elam Ives, and Lowell Mason. This approach prized active and sensory learning, taught sounds before signs, separated music into melody, rhythm, and expression, and also moved from the simple to complex within the context of each element. Many of these ideas are found in later established music teaching methods, such as Orff-Schulwerk, Kodály, and, Dalcroze-Eurthymics. Music education, primarily vocal, remained most common in women's schools, though many private academies also existed, offering boys and girls instruction in orchestral instruments like the
violin,
viola,
cello and
piano. In the mid-19th century, educator
Luther Whiting Mason established music education in the schools of
Cincinnati, and become a prominent author of textbooks. His
National Music Course, first published in 1870, was a widely adopted standard part of many American curricula. Music education continued to expand across the country, and gained in respect as an essential part of educational development. There was a music section in the
National Education Association by the 1890s.
The scientific method and how it affected music After the Civil War, pragmatism and the scientific aspects of sequential skill building, accurate evaluations, examinations, systematic teaching methods, and scientific methods were popular in education. Music educators' responses showed that music could be studied scientifically through the use of different methodologies, systematic textbooks and
graded music series, and instructional material for teachers. The scientific and more pragmatic goals of education in the nineteenth century had a profound effect on the development of music education in the schools.
Two methodologies: rote vs. note Two main methodologies used to teach music were the "rote" method and the "note" method. The rote method followed many Pestalozzian ideologies. Songs were taught first and musical ideas were presented later, one at time, carefully and systematically. Singing by rote was the basis for this methodology. Lowell Mason authored what is believed to be the first music series using the rote method. Lowell Mason's
The Song Garden from 1864 set the stage for other rote methodologies of the late nineteenth century. Luther Whiting Mason was a prominent rote method name presented in the textbook. Luther Mason was employed in Cincinnati schools but later moved to Boston to be the "superintendent of music in the primary schools". Luther Mason wrote school textbooks using rote methodology. The National Music Course, published by Ginn in 1870, had seven books presented in a sequential approach of using rote songs to teach music reading. (p. 196) Luther Mason included very detailed lesson plans for the classroom teacher, since at the time music was taught by the classroom teacher but overseen by a music specialist. The series was designed for fifteen minutes of music instruction each day given by the classroom teacher and overseen by a music educator once per week. The book series was so popular Luther Mason was invited to apply his methods in Japan and Germany. The rote method was less favored than the "note" method later in the nineteenth century. However, the debate continues today. An example of the note method is Joseph Bird's 1861
Vocal Music Reader and Benjamin Jepson's three-book series using "note" methodology.
The Elementary Music Reader was published in 1871 by the Barnes Company, one year after Luther Mason's
The National Music Course. Benjamin Jepson was a military man turned music teacher in New Haven after an injury in the war. His music textbooks had exercises and songs presented systematically for the goal of music reading and sight-singing. Jepson later published two revisions of his series under the names
The Standard Music Reader in 1888, and in 1904
The New Standard Music Reader. Following in Jepson's footsteps of note methodology were Hosea Edson Holt and John Wheeler Tufts, who wrote
The Normal Music Course published in 1883 (twelve years after Jepson's
The Elementary Music Reader). Click here to read the Normal Music Course. This series had five books all geared toward sight-singing and reading music. A few other note methodology textbook were presented to show the seriousness of music reading as a scientific and pragmatic study. These other note methodology books included:
The Graded School Singer by Blackman and Whittemore-1873, and the Cincinnati Schools'
The Young Singer-1860, ''The Young Singer's Manual
-1866, and the Cincinnati Music Reader''-1893. The culmination of the scientific method and note methodology advances was presented in Thomas Tapper's and Frederick Ripley's
The National Music Course published in 1895. The book focused on a no-nonsense systematic approach to music literacy to develop beauty in singing. It emphasized the systematic and pragmatic delivery of materials. Music Education in the United States took a big turn with the creation of the Music Supervisors National Conference. The first meeting of the Music Supervisors Conference was held on April 10–12, 1907 in
Keokuk, Iowa, at Westminster Presbyterian Church. A music educator by the name of
Philip C. Hayden made the first meeting possible by sending invitations and announcing the meeting in the
Music School Monthly of which Hayden was the founder and editor of the publication. The gathering was primarily meant for educators to come observe new teaching techniques in rhythm and observe Hayden's music students. During the three-day convention, music demonstrations took place provided by Hayden and his students. Informal discussions on current topics in music education would also take place during the convention. Future conventions and clinics would be based on this model. Throughout the convention, many educators discussed the importance of having a more permanent organization dedicated to music supervisors and teaching techniques. On the last day of the convention, a forum of sixty-nine music supervisors voted to have another convention and became charter-members of an organization that would remain nameless. The Music Supervisors National Conference was officially established during the third meeting of the organization in Cincinnati in 1910 with the adoption of the constitution and bylaws. As the role of the music supervisor changed into more of an administrative position, the conference began to focus primarily on the teaching methods provided in the classroom. At the 1934 Chicago meeting, members decided to change the name to
Music Educators National Conference. Since the inception of Music Supervisors National Conference, the organization has worked diligently in making sure that every student has access to music instruction in the public school system provided by a qualified music teacher. Vocal instruction dominated public schooling at all levels. Instrumental education was handled largely through private enterprise, until the early 20th century. Inspired by the band music of
Frederick Innes,
John Philip Sousa and others, many schools offered orchestral instrument bands. This accelerated following World War I, when many soldiers returned with knowledge and interest in the band music they learned as soldiers. The first formal school for music educators was founded in 1884, in
Potsdam, New York, by
Julia Ettie Crane, but
Oberlin Conservatory in Ohio in the 1920s became the first school to offer a four-year degree in music education. == Concert and marching bands ==