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First Singing School Established
Singing schools established in Boston to improve singing and music literacy in students so they can take these skills back with them to their local churches. These schools inevitably garnered popularity and respect and soon schools like it were established throughout the colonies. -
War of the Quadruple Alliance
France, along with England, Austria and the Dutch Republic declare war on Spain after the King Phillip V of Spain attempts to retake lost territories in Italy in order to take the French throne. The war was later settle in the the Treaty of Hague in 1720. -
Mozart Horn Concerto no 2
This concerto is his first composed of the four in total that he wrote for horn player and close friend Joseph Leitgeb. This among the many concertos have been pivotal in establishing the horn as a solo-worthy instrument for orchestras around the world -
Beethoven's 9th Symphony
Ludwig van Beethoven completes what would be his final symphony in 1824. This symphony is hailed often as his greatest work with its "Ode to Joy" theme in the fourth movement often being played in variations still to this day. -
Symphonie Fantastique
Written by French composer, Hector Berlioz, the piece premiered at the Paris Conservatory in December 1830 and has since been recognized as Berlioz's greatest work but has also become a popular favorite for orchestras year round. -
Boston Academy of Music
First music school of its kind founded by Lowell Mason and William Channing Woodbridge. This new school would spur a growth in trained musicians in the United States with training based in teaching theory and singing as well as methods of teaching music. -
June Rebellions
An important part of the French Revolution was underway as a group of anti-monarchist rebels who chiefly students staged a rebellion in Paris with the takeover of the Eastern and Central districts of Paris but inevitably their efforts were defeated by the Parisian local militia taking backing control of the city. This rebellion was the basis of Victor Hugo's book Les Miserables and which would later be adapted into a very successful musical. -
Manual of Instruction Published
This book written and published by Lowell Mason was the first book on singing instruction in the United States and became the standard of which singing school teachers taught at. This book was based on the music education works of Swiss educator Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi. -
Slavery Abolition Act goes into effect in England
This act which recieved Royal approval in August of the previous year went into effect for England and its colonies. This is a sign of the inevitability that the United States would abolish slavery but however not until 30 years later and with a war to determine such. -
Music added to Boston schools' curriculum
Music is approved by the Boston School Committee to be added to the curriculum of schools in the area. This was the first a notable city's school committee approved of such and subsequently Lowell Mason was named the first supervisor of elementary music education. -
Trail of Tears
16,543 men, women and children of the Cherokee Nation are forcibly removed by the United States government upon the discovery of gold in the area. On the journey on the 1,000 mile trail somewhere between 2,000 to 6,000 people perished along the way due to the harsh winter they encountered on the trail. -
The Washington Post March
John Philip Sousa premieres the Washington Post March at the Washington Post's essay contest ceremony with positive reviews. It was the march that landed him the title of "The March King" by by many. -
MSNC Founded
The Music Supervisors National Conference or MSNC begins with 64 initial members as an organization for the advancement of music education in schools. This organization would later become the Music Educators National Conference or MENC in 1934 and then inevitably became what is known today as NAfME or the National Association for Music Education -
First Montessori School opens in Rome
Maria Montessori opens the Casa dei Bambini, or Children's House, in a tenement building in Rome. The school was based here ideas developed in 1897 of how children should learn at their own pace instead of allotted time being spent on each subject throughout the school day amongst other radical ideas. -
The Rite of Spring premieres
The ballet based on pagan myths was composed by Igor Stravinsky,choreographed by Vaslav Ninjinsky and produced by Sergei Diaghilev. The ballet's music, choreography, and subject matter was controversial that it led to a riot during it premiere among those in attendience in the audience. -
Carmina Burana
This controversial piece is often cited as Carl Orff's greatest work and was premiered by the Frankfurt Opera. The piece is based of poems that discuss the perils but yet joys of drinking, gluttony, gambling, and most notably, lust. -
World War II ends
The end of the second world war comes to a close after Japan signs the terms of surrendering on the USS Missouri. -
The American String Teachers Association forms
Upon seeing the decline in string instruction in schools, the ASTA was formed to promote string teaching in schools. -
4'33"
This work written by controversial composer John Cage consist of the performers to sit in silence for 4 minutes and 33 seconds. This more so among the many pieces John Cage and his contemporaries wrote left many musicologists to ponder what should really be considered music -
The American School Band Directors Association formed
The creation of this organization is the first that the band movement became organized and through its efforts has instituted bands in school across the nation. -
Launch of Sputnik
The success of the launch of Sputnik by the USSR begins the first move on playing field between the US and the USSR in what became known as the Space Race. This event also struck fear into the US to try to advance itself to produce brighter citizens in the schools by making sure schools focused on advancing students in core subjects such as science, history and math. -
First Grammy Awards
The first Grammy Awards ceremony was held May 4th, 1959 to honor the best releases of musical recordings of a variety of genres. The Grammy award has since been known as one the highest honors one can achieve in music today. -
American Choral Directors Association formed
Soon after the string and band movement became organized that the choir movement in the United States finally become organized to promote vocal instruction in education. -
Yale Seminar
This is a conference whern music education at time was being scrutinized for at that point not producing a musically active or literate public in the United States. The panel discussed how they were to improve the way music education was to be taught in schools from now on in regards to music materials and music performance. -
John F. Kennedy assassinated
President John F. Kennedy was assassinated when he was shot in his open motorcade during a parade in Dallas, Tx. -
Civil Rights Act
Civil Rights Act enacted after being signed by President Lyndon Johnson into law. It gave congress the power of protection of all citizens under the 14th ammendment and the duty to protect voting rights under the 15th ammendment. This legislation ultimately led to the fall of the Jim Crow laws and would lead to the growing of Black Americans into society where they had otherwise been rejected. -
National Edowment for the Arts
This Great Society program signed by Lyndon Johnson was a program created to financially support the arts in the United States. -
US escalates involvement in Vietnam War.
Although the war had been going since 1959, the fear of losing another country to communism led the United States to escalate its involvement in 1965 to be a full blown war by the United States against the communist forces. The United States got many of its soldier via the draft which left many of the United States upset at the country for putting young men in danger for a war the country didn't need to involve itself in which ultimately spurred the countercultural movement in the United States. -
Tanglewood Symposium
This symposium sponsored by the MENC (later NAfME) was to group not just music educators but sociologists, scientists, labor leaders, and business heads to discuss as well as define what music education was in that point in history as its purpose it felt has changed since its conception in schools. The symposium would also lead to recommendations to improve the effectivity of music education. Symposium resulted in including electronic, urban, youth and special education music to curriculums. -
GO Project
In response to the success of the Tanglewood Symposium, the Goals and Objectives (or GO) Project was a group of 35 objectives conjured by the Music Educator's National Conference or MENC (later the NAfME) that was published and highly recommended by the organization for music educators to pursue. -
Woodstock Music Festival
This music festival featuring many of the greatest musical artists of the time is considered one of the most important events of the 60's as it was reflection of the growth of the countercultural movement that spurred in the decade. -
Beatles release Abbey Road
The rock group, The Beatles release their album Abbey Road to rave reviews and with many citing it as one of the greatest, if not, the greatest rock albums in history. -
American Pie
The song American Pie by Don McLean is released in 1971. The song has been hailed among many musicologists as the greatest American song of all time as the details of the song are about the decline of what was known as the United States' "innocence" with references to Altamont and the death of Buddy Holly. -
Ann Arbor Symposium
Then Ann Arbor Symposium accomplished much for the MENC in that it established with psychologists the relationships between behavorial psychology and music education. Also discussed was the impact of learning theory in music education in regards to methods such as auditory perception, motor learning, memory processing and motivation. -
Iranian Hostage Crisis
This 444 day diplomatic crisis between the United States and Iran happened when Iranian students who were a part of Muslim Student Followers of the Imam's Line invaded the American Embassy and took captive of its inhabitants demanding the United States submit to its demands. President Jimmy Carter however refused to submit to blackmail and ultimately it wasn't until 444 days after the break in that the inhabitants were freed. -
MTV Launches
MTV or Music Television is launched on August 1st, 1981. The channel ever since its launch date has been on forefront of premiering and playing music videos among other programs that have made groups today as successful as they are by getting them familiarized with the younger audiences who watch the channel. -
Thriller
Michael Jackson releases the album Thriller on November 30, 1982 much to the high anticipation of the public. It would go on to be the highest selling album of all time as well as the most awarded with it winning a record breaking 8 grammys. The album success coupled by Michael Jackson's dance moves led to him being hailed the King of Pop and known as one of the most important figures in pop music. -
The Wesleyan Symposium
This symposium held in Reston, VA was more based on anthropology's role in music education in regards to changing cultural demographics in the United States as well as the for educators to focus on the cultural context of music education. -
Phantom of the Opera
The musical, Phantom of the Opera premieres in West End in 1986. The musical would go on in its numerous productions later to be the highest grossing musical of all time. -
The Berlin Wall Falls
Marking the end of a decade known for the rise of Capitalistic economics and the fading of communistic economics it was the fall of the Berlin Wall under President Ronald Reagan's orders to "tear down this wall" that inevitably unified Germany again and the beginning to the rebuilding of the country as well as a sign of the inevitable fall of the USSR. -
Persian Gulf War begins
This war which lasted only a year and with few casualties to the United States was impart to rid the Iraqi forces from the country from Kuwait after Iraq's leader Saddam Hussein order his troops into Kuwait. -
Kurt Cobain Dies
Kurt Cobain dies from an apparent suicide from a shotgun wound. This event remains significant as he was at the forefront of the 90's music scene and his death came as a shock worldwide to see one of rock music's up and coming artists die tragically. -
National Standards for Music Education
These were standards set by the MENC for states to potentially adopt to put in place for there school of which the music educators would have to follow. The standards were set of what each child per grade level needed to understand in regards to music theory, composition and performance. Many states accepted standards while others either watered them down. -
The Housewright Symposium
This was a symposium held to discuss the changing views, methods and philosophies of music education. At this particular one was what was known as Vision 2020 where there were discussions on how music education would potentially be like in 20 years. -
No Child Left Behind Passed
NCLB was signed into law by President George W. Bush on January 8, 2002. This law which passed with bipartisan support was a law passed on making sure disadvantaged children would recieve the proper education they deserved throughout the United States by making the states set their own high standards for education in order to recieve federal funding.
