Overview:
Music has been considered important academic discipline for several centuries. The Ancient Greeks considered music to be an integral of a liberal arts education and placed it within the quadrivium subjects (arithmetic, geometry, music and astronomy) to be taught after the trivium (grammar, logic, and rhetoric). In the United States, music is a core subject in the curriculum. Studying the history of music and the origins of music education helps us understand how our current study of music is different from or similar to other periods.
Objectives:
Students will be able to:
- Examine and describe the history of elementary school music curriculum in the United States,
- Describe the rationale for the inclusion of music in the elementary school curriculum,
- Identify the early influences on the development of elementary general music in the United States,
- Identify and describe the principles of early educators, including Johann Pestalozzi, Hans Georg Nägeli, and Lowell Mason,
- Identify the differences between early public school music education and contemporary programs.
What is Elementary General Music?
Elementary general music, also referred to as general music or elementary music, is the first stage of music education traditionally found in formal education, beginning about age 5 or 6 and ending about 11 or 12. Elementary general music may be preceded by a form of preschool for children age birth through approximately 5 or 6, and at times up to age 8. Preschool may be referred to as pre-kindergarten, nursery school, B-8 (birth through eight), Pre-K-5, or another form designating the specific ages of children.
Elementary general music education focuses on musicianship and the internalization of basic music skills (such as the acquisition of pitch and pulse), sensitivity and response to music, and appreciation through planned lessons utilizing movement, exploration, singing, playing instruments, and other related activities.
