the history of music education site
newer books and articles

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music education in New Orleans, Louisiana
Al Kennedy,  Chord Changes on the Chalkboard: How Public School Teachers Shaped Jazz and the Music of New Orleans (Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press, 2002).  Winner of the Henry Kmen Award for Music Research given by the New Orleans International  Music Colloquium.

new history of music education in Great Britain
(1) Stephanie Pitts. A Century of Change in Music Education (Ashgate Publishing Company, 2000). ISBN: 0754600971.  From the publisher's review: "Stephanie Pitts charts the history of music teaching in British secondary schools over the course of the twentieth century. Each chapter looks at a significant period of music education history in which ideas and practices of a generation were established  and refined. The main educational publications of each decade are examined, from the early work by MacPherson, Somervell and Yorke Trotter to later studies by Paynter, Shafter and Swanwick."  The publisher is Ashgate. Ashgate's website for this book is http://www.ashgate.com.  For some reason the book is not on the publisher's list of "new books." To get a description of it, type in "Pitts" in the publisher's book search engine.

(2) Diane E. Peters. Canadian Music and Music Education: An Annotated Bibliography of Theses and Dissertations (Scarecrow Press, 1997). IBSN 0-8108-3275-5; $65.50.  This book is a list of master's theses and dissertations with abstracts related to Canadian music completed mostly at U.S. and Canadian universities, though a few entries are from outside these two countries. There is a great emphasis on theses. The book helps fill in the gaps in Dissertation Abstracts for Canadian work. There are many entries on music education history. This book and others are listed online at the Scarecrow website at http://www.scarecrowpress.com/. 


newer books in the history of music education

(1) Livingston, Carolyn. Charles Faulkner Bryan: His Life and Music. Knoxville: The University of Tennessee Press, 2003.  This is a biography of Charles Faulkner Bryan, the brilliant Tennessee composer and music educator.
(2) Olmstead, Andrea. Juilliard: A History. Urbana and Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1999. An outstanding and candid history of one of the world’s great schools of music.

(3) Marie McCarthy,  Passing It On: The Transmission of Music in Irish Culture (Cork, Ireland: Cork University Press, 1999). As the title indicates this book is about how music has been taught and learned in Irish culture. It is significant in that it includes both formal and informal music learning and does so in historical context. It addresses the peculiarly political nature of much of Irish music learning. A significant work in this field that points to new directions and approaches. Chapters include: "Music, Education, and the Changing Canons of Culture," "Foundations of Music in Irish Culture and Education," "Music Schooling, and Irish Culture: A Mid-Nineteenth-Century Perspective," "Music, Education and Cultural Nationalism in Fin-de-Siecle Ireland," "Constructing Ireland: The Role of Music Education in the Nation State," "The Transmission of Music in Late Twentieth-Century Ireland," and "'The Given Note': Patterns of Music Transmission in Irish Culture."

(4) Sondra Wieland Howe, Luther Whiting Mason: International Music Educator (Warren, Michigan: Harmonie Park Press, 1997). This work describes the work the most influential U.S. music educator in the late nineteenth century. Reviewed by William R. Lee in the History of Education Quarterly 39(Fall 1999): 352-354.  

(5) Thomas E. Range and Sean Patrick Smith, The Penn State Blue Band: A Century of Pride and Precision (Pennsylvania State Universisty Press, 1999). ISBN: 0271019603).
(6) Terese M. Volk, Music, Education, and Multiculturalism: Foundations and Principles (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997). Reviewed by Robin E. Liston in The Bulletin of Historical Research in Music Education 20(September 1998):68-71.
(7) George N. Heller, Charles Leonhard: American Music Educator (Metuchen, N.J.: The Scarecrow Press, Inc., 1995). Scarecrow Press, Inc. has a website.
(8) Harry E. Price, Editor, Music Education Research: An Anthology from the Journal of Research in Music Education (Reston, Va.: Music Educators National Conference, 1998). Contains reprints of six articles in the history of music education.
(9) Joseph A. Labuta and Deborah A. Smith, Music Education: Historical Contexts and Perspectives (Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1997). A textbook that is described at the following address: Click here.

other important books relating to the history of music education
(1) Richard Crawford, Richard. America’s Musical Life: A History. New York: W. W. Norton and Company, 2001. One of the leading histories of American music with references to music teachers.

(2) Charles H. Kaufman, Music in New Jersey 1655-1860 (East Brunswick, New Jersey: Associated Presses, Inc., 1981). This book has a chapter on music education.

(3) Ulrich, Homer. A Centennial History of the Music Teachers National Association. Cincinnati, Ohio: Music Teachers National Association, 1976. This is a history of a major music teachers’ association by a leading historian. One of its values is a classified index to papers presented  at it conventions since the late nineteenth century.  An older but essential book.

(4) Crawford, Richard. The American Musical Landscape: The Business of Musicianship from Billings Gershwin. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1993. Treats the business of music teaching in detail. An essential work.

newer articles in the history of music education
(1) David G. Tovey,  "The Role of the Music Educator in Mexico's Cultural Missions." Bulletin of the Council for Research in Music Education  No. 139 (Winter 1999):1-11. Tovey discusses the role of the traveling misones culturales in rural education in Mexico in the 1920's and the difficulties they faced.

(2) Fumiko Shiraishi, "Calvin Brainerd Cady: Thought and Feeling in the Study of Music." Journal of Research in Music Education 47 (Summer 1999):150-162. Cady was John Dewey's music teacher at the famous Chicago Laboratory School. Cady influenced Charles Farnsworth and others in his time.

(3) Richard J. Altenbaugh, Historical Dictionary of American Education (Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 1999). This contains several citations on music education: "Lowell Mason," by William R. Lee, "Music Education," by Hoyt F. LeCroy, and the "Music Educators National Conference," by Amy F. Rolleri.
(4) Philosophy of Music Review, Vol. 6, No. 2. Contents: "Historical Research in Music Education: Definitions and Defenses"--George Heller; "The Content of Music Education History? It's a Philosophical Question, Really"--Jere T. Humphreys; "Reconstructing the History of Music Education from a Feminist Perspective"--Sondra Wieland Howe; "Public Policy and the Genesis of Aesthetic Education"--Michael L. Mark; "Movement and Music Education: An Historian's Perspective"--Barbara Lewis; "In Memorium, Benarr Rainbow, Music Education Historian."
(5) Hoyt LeCroy, "Community-Based Music Education: Influences of Industrial Bands in the American South." Journal of Research in Music Education 46 (Summer 1998): 248-264.
(6) William R. Lee, "Music Education and Rural Reform: 1900-1925." Journal of Research in Music Education 45 (Summer 1997): 306-326.
(7) William R. Lee, "Lowell Mason, Samuel A. Worcester, and the Cherokee Singing Book." The Chronicles of Oklahoma 75 Spring 1997): 32-54.


documents and scholarly projects online

newer dissertations -- Some partially downloadable!


newer and helpful books in the history of education

(1) David L. Angus and Jeffrey E. Mirel, The Failed Promise of the American High School 1890-1995 (New York: Teachers College, Columbia University, 1999). This purpose of this book is to inform policy makers. On page 158, the authors discuss the rise of credit in music and art in American high schools. Credits were 8% of students' work in 1958, 14% in 1969, and 20% in 1973--larger than all vocational fields combined and equal to P.E. This growth was due primarily to more credit given for the same work. Further, the authors state, prior to 1958 music and art classes only met three times per week and five times per week by the 1970's.  Has anyone in music education researched the history of meeting practices and credit?--William R. Lee
(2) Sol Cohen, Challenging Orthodoxies: Toward a New Cultural History of Education (New York: Peter Lang, 1999).

books of interest relating to the history of music education

William-Lee@utc.edu
Dr. William R. Lee
Department of Music
The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga
615 McCallie Ave. Chattanooga, TN 37403-2598
(423) 425-5269
(423 425-4601 (secretary)
(423) 425-46035 (fax)