THE HISTORY OF MUSIC EDUCATION

PHOEBE JUMALON BASCONES

THE ROLE OF MUSIC IN GREEK LIFE
 Music had divine origin from the gods and demi-gods
 Musical materials were associated with the various planets in the
early astronomy
 Music and the order of mathematics exemplified the harmony of the
cosmos
 Music accompanied:
- poetic works or “sung poetry” and dance
- Greek dramas (ritual theater) derived from the Dionysus cut
- instrumental solo contests in festivals
Greek Music Theory
 Greek music theory, including ideas about
pitch, became the basis for Western music
theory.
• Almost entirely improvised
• Melody and Rhythm were linked to the sound
and meter of Greek poetry.
• Disciplines of harmonics and pitch , and
concepts of notes, intervals and scales were
defined and explained by Greek writers.
 Beginning around 500 BC, the purpose of education was to develop citizens
capable of actively participating in Greek society. Music education was
included in the education of the general fine arts.
 The Ancient Greek placed music in a prominent position, viewed it as equal
to the other arts and therefore attributed special significance to it. Its role
was important in all aspects of life: religious celebrations, weddings,
funerals, sporting events, war and daily activities.
 The ancient Greek society ensured that music was among the main courses
of children education. Because of that, the development of this art was the
main purpose of ancient time philosophers such as Plato, Aristotle,
Pythagoras and others.
 PYTHAGORAS
• Pythagoras believed that all the forms of mathematics, the notes and
harmonies of music, the motions of the planets, and the gods of the mysteries
were all essentially related.
• The Pythagoras believed that all the harmonics of music were mathematical,
and that harmonious tones were able to be produced by strings whose
measurements were determined by ratios, and this was regarded as a deeply
spiritual and religious revelation.
• Pythagoras further experimented with measuring tones created by different
string lengths and he discovered the harmonic overtone series and mapped it
out.
 PLATO
He believed ideal education had two basic
elements - music and gymnastics. He also
believed children should learn music to
develop a perception of idealized community
life and to prepare them to participate
actively as responsible citizens.
 ARISTOTLE
He believed that the proper
curriculum should include the usual
subjects of general instruction –
music, gymnastics, letters and
drawing.

"the use of music for intellectual

enjoyment in leisure... It is evident,
then, that there is a sort of
education in which parents should
train their sons, not as being useful
or necessary, but because it is
liberal or noble."
 MUSIC EDUCATION IN ANCIENT ROME
• In 146 BC, Romans conquered the Greeks and made Greece into a
province of the Roman Empire. The Romans absorbed much of the
Greek culture including their education system because many of the
private tutors and teachers in the Roman system were Greek slaves
or freedmen.
• The Romans did not hold music in the same high regard as their
Greek predecessors.
• Music was not considered part of the essential education it tended
to be a pursuit saved for the upper class of the society.
Music Education in the Medieval Ages
• The word Medieval is derived from the Latin word “medius”
meaning “middle.” The Medieval Period in Western history is also
known as the Middle Ages or also the Dark Ages. It was a period in
the history of Western civilization when civilization broke down in
various ways and became quite primitive. The cultural advances of
ancient Greece and Rome were essentially lost with the Fall of the
Western Roman Empire in 476 A.D.
• Music education in the Middle Ages consisted of training in singing
until musical notation was developed. Music education then shifted
to music reading. For the first time in history composers could
effectively express their true intentions on the page.
 Guido of Arezzo’s Innovations in Music
Education and Theory
• The first of Guido’s major developments in the realm of
music theory and education was his codification of the
hexachord system. In his system, the notes of the musical
gamut were described in interlocking six-note segments,
known as hexachords, all of which shared the same interval
pattern. It has quickly become an important tool for teaching
the system itself and for teaching the important technique of
transposition.
 Guido of Arezzo’s Innovations in Music
Education and Theory

• The second of Guido’s major innovations in music theory

and education was his creation of a system of solmization
syllables. Closely related to his previous development of
hexachords, the solmization syllables allowed the
hexachord system to be used as a practical tool in the
learning of chants. “Guido’s new system, in many ways the
beginning of modern sight-singing technique, was badly
needed as a method of learning the chant.”
 Guido of Arezzo’s Innovations in Music
Education and Theory
• The third area of Guido’s innovations in music education and theory
were his developments in music notation. His improvements in this
area laid the foundation for our modern musical staff and notation
and provided a means of visually expressing his hexachord and
solmization systems. By linking these areas, music notation proved to
be a vital step in Guido’s reform of music education, allowing singers
to visualize the music they were organizing into hexachords and
singing to solmization syllables. As a result of his work, “there was
now available to the West a practical method of notating music that
was fully diastematic, whose intervals represented precise numerical
ratios that could be converted directly into sound.”
 THE FOUNDING OF CONSERVATORIES AND
SCHOOLS OF MUSIC
• Conservatory, in music, institution for education in musical
performance and composition. The term and institution derive from
the Italian conservatorio, which in the Renaissance period and
earlier denoted a type of orphanage often attached to a hospital.
• . The foundlings (conservati) were given musical instruction at state
expense.
• The conservatori were thus the first secular institutions equipped
for training in practical music
 THE FOUNDING OF CONSERVATORIES AND
SCHOOLS OF MUSIC
• The first secular school of music for students at large was
established in Paris. Founded in 1784, it was reorganized and
renamed the Conservatoire National de Musique et d’Art
Dramatique in 1795. Its chief purpose was to train musicians to
participate in public concerts and celebrations organized by the
republic. A state subsidy was granted, admission was by competitive
examination, and tuition was free.
 THE FOUNDING OF CONSERVATORIES AND
SCHOOLS OF MUSIC
• Throughout the 19th century the French model was copied, with
modifications, in Europe and in the U.S. Conservatories were
founded in Milan (1807), Naples (1808), Prague (1811; the first such
institution in central Europe), and Vienna (the Akademie, founded in
1817 by the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde [Society of Friends of
Music]).
• The composers Felix Mendelssohn and Robert Schumann founded
the Leipzig Conservatory (now called the Staatliche Hochschule für
Musik) in 1843.
• Royal Academy of Music (1822; royal charter, 1830) and the Royal
College of Music (1882; royal charter 1883) in Great Britain.
 THE FOUNDING OF CONSERVATORIES AND
SCHOOLS OF MUSIC
• Such institutions began to appear in the United States in the 1860s.
Two of the first were those at Oberlin, Ohio (1865), and the
Peabody Conservatory of Music, Baltimore, founded 1857.
• The Institute of Musical Art (1905) and the Juilliard Graduate School
(1924) were united in 1926 to form the Juilliard School of Music, in
New York City; this institution became the Juilliard School in 1968.
• Australia has the Adelaide Conservatorium (1898).
 HISTORY OF MUSIC EDUCATION IN THE
PHILIPPINES
• Music permeates the daily lives of indigenous culture groups. it is
used in connection with life-cycle events such as birth, courtship,
marriage and death.
• Occupational activities such as planting, harvesting, hunting and
fishing and functions such as peace pacts and victory celebrations
are occasions for music making.
• Lullabies are sung to put babies to sleep, instruments are played to
drive away evil spirits and songs and chants accompany the playing
of children. In these communities, singing of songs and playing of
instruments are naturally learned through participation.
 FORMAL WAYS OF LEARNING MUSIC
AMONG CULTURAL GROUPS
• A Maranao lad who wishes to specialize in singing certain types of the
extensive Maranao vocal repertoire studies with a professional singer
in a kasombak (apprenticeship) system. He stays with
the goro (teacher) and does daily chores for free instruction, board
and lodging. The training of the morit (student) begin with the
learning of songs by rote, gradually progressing to creating
improvisations and variations and ends with the student singing in his
own style songs prepared by the teacher. Training includes learning
the vocabulary and grammar of specific song languages, and other
aspects of performance
• The Spanish colonizers who arrived in the 1500’s brought with them
missionaries who established churches, convents and schools in
different parts of the islands. Among them were church musicians
and music teachers who composed and performed liturgical music,
wrote books on music and taught young Filipino boys to sing the
Gregorian chant and play instruments for church services.
• The American colonial government established public schools all
over the islands. The first teachers were American soldiers who
were later replaced by the Thomasites. Curricula of these schools
included music in the elementary level. Music instruction
concentrated based on the Progressive Music Series, a graded
foreign collection of songs, and a Philippine edition of the same
series by Norberto Romualdez
• In 1966, the Philippine Congress passed Republic Act No. 4723
popularly known as the Music Law which provided for the teaching
of music and art as a separate subject in the elementary level and
the teaching of music once a week for one hour in the secondary.
-In the high school, music was made a part of a subject area, PEHM,
which includes Physical Education and Health. Content of instruction
consists of a study of Philippine, Asian and Western music.
-Colleges and universities offer undergraduate and graduate courses
in music. Various courses range from a Diploma in Music, Bachelor of
Music and Master of Music in Performance (major in piano, voice,
strings, winds, or percussion) Composition, Musicology, Conducting
and Music Education, to a Diploma or Certificate in Performance.
PHILIPPINES UNIVERSITIES AND COLLEGES THAT OFFER
GRADUATE AND UNDERGRADUATE STUDIES IN MUSIC
• The University of the Philippines (UP) College of Music is one of the
leading schools of music in the country.
• The University of Santo Tomas (UST)
• St. Scholastica’s College
• Philippine Women’s University
• St. Paul’s College
• Centro Escolar University
• Silliman University