Music Education Historical Timeline

By krt2018
  • Massachusetts Law of 1642, 1647

    Music was not considered a proper subject for study in tax supported schools.
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    Singing Schools

    Singing in church had become so poor that ministers want to create a system of teaching music. Singing masters traveled from town to town and held classes for all ages for weeks at a time.
  • Boston Schools Include Music in Curriculum

    Lowell Mason convinced the Boston School Committee to include music in public education. For the first time, music was supported by public taxes.
  • NY Philharmonic Founded

  • Leipzig Conservatory

    Mendelssohn
    Students playing for each other, criticized by teacher in front of each other = most desired form of instruction at the time
  • The Benjamens

    Lewis A. Benjamen
    First to teach instructional classes in the U.S.
    Organized musical academy
    Benjamin brothers musical academy (1880s)
    Frank T Benjamen "Free Violin School"
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    James and Joseph Howell

    The Howell Brothers, James and Joseph, sold musical instruments and taught music.
  • Conservatories

    Eben Toujee started conservatories in the United States, borrowing from the European style system.
  • World Peace Festival 1869, 1872

    Patrick S. Gilmore
    First time the country was exposed to a mass band concert, with chorus, orchestra, organ, cannon, and anvils
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    The "Why" for Music Education

    Music educators became more interested in the "why of music education".
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    Immigration

    During this period, immigration was at an all time high, making America a "melting pot" of cultures.
  • Boston Symphony

    Destined to become one of the world's finest symphonic organizations
  • Plessy v Ferguson

  • First School Contest

    Interpretation, sight reading ability, original music prepared for the occasion, competitive singing by high school choral groups
  • Murdock Company Violin Classes

    poor children could afford lessons
    almost 500,000 violins sold
    first festival in 1905
    10th festival in 1914
  • NAfMe Started

    The Music Supervisors National Conference (later the National Association for Music Educators) was started.
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    WWI

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    WWII

    WWII is significant because it caused a shortage of band teachers in the country as a lot of them went to fight in the war.
  • Contemporary Era of Music Begins

  • Brown v Board of Education

  • MENC organized Commission on Basic Concepts

    o Design a solid philosophical foundation for music
  • The Contemporary Music Project

    This project, funded by the Ford Foundation, was created to promote the relationship between the arts and American society.
  • Sputnik

    The Russians launched Sputnik and shocked Americans into reforming their education system to encourage more math and science.
  • Contemporary Music Project

    • 1957- Ford Foundation began to explore the relationship between the arts and American society
    • Composer Norman Dello Joio proposed sending composers of serious music to public schools to write music for choruses, bands, orchestras, and other performing groups.
    o Composers would have an outlet for their music
    o Schools and
  • Woods Hole

    Educators were determined for education to be math and science driven.
  • Ford Foundation grant to establish the Young Composers Project

    o Placed young composers in public schools as composers in residence
    o Benefit composers and school music programs
    o Composers paid $5000 a year to create pieces for the ensembles to perform
    o Students and teachers could get to know composers personally and as mentors
     Comprehensive Musicianship: term adopted to describe what was supposed to be an in-depth musical experience for students
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    More support for Music Education

    Major organizations supported music in schools. They legitimized music education as a whole. Scientists added their support because excellence in music had some connection to the arts.
  • Yale Seminar

    The purpose of the Yale Seminar was to identify and address music problems in schools. Despite being a seminar about music education, only 5 of the 31 participants were actively involved in music education. The end result was that the focus of music in schools should be musicality.
  • Tanglewood Symposium

    Conference in Tanglewood, MA. Its purpose was to define the role of American Music Education in a rapidly changing social environment.
  • The Goals and Objectives (GO) Project

    This project identified goals to be met by music educators as a result of the Tanglewood Symposium
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    Education Starts to Decline in US

    The overall education in the United States plummeted in the 70s and 80s, with SAT scores at an all-time low.
  • The School Music Program: Description and Standards

    The National Commission on Instruction published this book in response to the Tanglewood Symposium. It describes ideals on which music programs should be based.
  • Arts PROPEL

    Howard Gardner. Primarily process as production which involves the cognitive components of perception and reflection. Process folio Collection of the student’s work that leads up to the finished product. The student experiences the arts in hands-on manner. Sponsored by Getty Center for Education in the Arts to promote the Visual Arts
    Recommended a new mode of instruction called discipline based art education. Intended to expand tradition assessment practices to focus on skill development
  • J. Terry Gates & Thomas Regelski MayDay Group

    o Dedicated to spoken and written dialogue about philosophy in music ed
    o Apply critical thinking to music ed
    o Affirm importance of music ed in life
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    Vision 2020 Symposium

    This event, named the Housewright Symposium, was started to create a vision for the future of music education. It attempted to answer important questions regarding music education.
  • The Centennial Congress of the Music Educators National Conference

    This was the 100th anniversary of the MENC. While not significant when is comes to the development of music education, it brought together many organizations.
  • The National Coalition for Core Arts Standards

    These new standards, updated versions of the 1994 National Standards for Arts, emphasize the importance of arts as a core subject.