History of Music Education (focus in America)

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    Pilgrims/Puritans

    Little music education, Psalm singing for leisure, little skill in music
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    Bach

    Some of the most influential music written in this time, also "night schools" made to teach religious songs (however not very good singing in general yet)
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    Singing Schools and Masters

    Community singing events, William Billings, quality of singing in general increased
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    American Industrial Revolution

    Moved people towards cities where larger schools were created impacting how music was taught having to be done to bigger and smaller classes depending upon location
  • Northampton, MA

    For once, nearly all girls in grade school were in voice class
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    Teaching Debate

    Teach students by rote or teach students to read music, teaching for fun and lifelong appreciation, Dewey and Montessori
  • First School Band

    Boston, MA
  • Spread of Instruments in Schools

    Started in Boston
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    Multiculturalism in First Major Immigration Wave

    Western Immigration, "melting pot",
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    Frank Damrosch

    formed Peoples' Singing Classes at Cooper Union, organized Musical Art Society of New York (among first to specialize in a cappella)
  • Plessy vs Ferguson

    "Separate but Equal"
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    Early Band

    Method books created for the band, expansion of sheet music produced for performing and entertainment
  • Music Supervisors National Conference

    The organization was created and it published/sold sold songbooks during this time, especially for band as it grew in popularity.
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    1910s

    Bands continued to spike in popularity due to the patriotism effect of WWI and young men's voices changing in middle school, Oratorios rose as choir entered into a renaissance of sorts to compete with band.
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    Creation of the modern A Cappella Choir

    As oratorios started to shrink in popularity due to the music of the day, operetta and glee clubs replaced it (the combination of these two groups resulted in the a cappella choir which critics liked the sound of but weren't pleased with the musical selections for)
  • Music Educators National Conference

    MENC
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    World War II

    Continued effect of patriotism on music education (bands were popular and playing Sousa marches, choirs were large masses of students singing patriotic songs)
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    Multiculturalism in Second Major Immigration Wave

    Eastern Immigration, "salad bowl"
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    Decline of Music Education

    Cold War, Sputnik, and Rickover led to STEM push which neglected music for years in public schools
  • Brown vs Topeka BoE

    Segregation is now unconstitutional. Integration in schools changed the culture of a lot of music classes and made selecting music a bigger challenge than it had previously been.
  • Ford Foundation

    They did research on America's culture and decided to try and figure out how to enrich the cultural life of Americans in general.
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    Young Composer's Project

    Alongside AASA's push for arts in the curriculum and the results of the Ford Foundation's efforts, the project created to ultimately enrich cultural life was this which saw composers residing in schools and working with teachers and students on their own music.
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    1960s

    MLK Jr, Civil Rights Movement, push for multicultural music in newly integrated schools, declining scores despite STEM push, a new emphasis on individual experience within music education
  • Yale Seminar

    Essentially a list of recommendations for music educators by a bunch of non-musicians.
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    Contemporary Music Project

    Expansion of MENC's Young Composer's Project, involved more schools/teachers/workshops/etc, focused on the "right" kinds of contemporary music
  • Juilliard Repertory Project

    List of K-6 music created by Juilliard School of Music in response to Yale Seminar
  • Civil Rights Act of 1964

    Effectively banned discrimination in the United States in all public places (government, school, workforce, etc)
  • Tanglewood Symposium

    MENC sponsored event meant to define the role of music education in the middle of the changing United States culminating in the Tanglewood Report which, among other things, suggested more jazz music in schools
  • GO Project

    GO = Goals and Objectives
    response to Tanglewood Report from the previous year
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    1970s

    Higher prices in general (especially gas which there was less of), fewer students in schools as baby boomers graduated, continued decline in test scores
  • School Music Program: Description and Standards

    Set goals for music education such as accessibility and relevance but struggled to realize through enforcement
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    1980s

    test scores continue to decline, A Nation at Risk Report (doesn't include arts as "basics" despite overwhelming support from College Board and Carnegie Foundation)
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    1990s

    Rising dropout rate, a slight increase of test scores (possibly as a result of the increase in dropouts), more money put towards education, first national music standards, school programs still look like they did in the 1950s (only smaller), Housewright Symposium as an update to Tanglewood Symposium (setting goals for 2020)
  • MENC: The National Association for Music Education

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    2000s

    focus on "21st century skills", 4 C's, STEAM push to finally balance arts after years of neglect under STEM policies, music teachers generally failing to make music classes creative (a problem given that creativity is the valuable skill employers look for the arts to teach), a lot of schools still using 1994 standards
  • Centennial Congress MENC Conference

    Lots of professional educational organizations supported, the curriculum needs to be more diverse, assessments on how to grade students based on attendance/effort/attitude, and advocacy
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    2010s

    more student influence in classroom, states push against Common Core standards, Ga combining it with their own
  • National Association for Music Education

    NAfME
  • NCCAS: National Coalition for Core Arts Standards

    started with 1994 standards, modeled after Common Core push in US, led by Scott Shuler (NAfME president), expanded skills towards 21st century