A second formidable factor in the position is the mere technical difficulty, still felt, of teaching music-reading and script. Cur wen's excellent adaptation of the ancient solmization and the ingenious French Cheve method of using numerals have helped to ease the situation in schools. But until the books are in the schools and the acts of reading from, and writing on a music stave can be taken by the children in their stride while they are daily making melody together and enjoying it with disciplined zest, it is hard to see improvement ahead.
The third and hopefully new factor, which may render the pres ent article speedily obsolete, is the sudden vast increase in avail ability of every kind of good music, and consequently of musical stimulus and enjoyment, by means of wireless and the gramo phone. (H. W. D.) Music received slight attention in the days of the American colonists. For the improvement of church music, manuals of in struction in singing were prepared early in the t8th century by two Massachusetts ministers, the Rev. John Tufts and the Rev. Thomas Walter. These books and their successors provided the text material for the "singing schools" and "musical conventions" which for years represented the chief activity in music study.
The first well organized effort to provide a more complete musical education was the Boston Academy of Music founded by Lowell Mason in 1833. From about 1840 a considerable num ber of Americans went abroad to study music, chiefly in Germany. These pioneers, reinforced by many foreigners, were leaders in the marked advance of their profession, especially after the Civil War. Music education was recognized by instructors in music at Oberlin college from 1838 and at Harvard from 1862. The col lege music department and the independent music school were first exemplified by the foundation of Oberlin conservatory (1865) and the New England conservatory (Boston, 1867). Then fol lowed the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music (1867), Chicago Musical college (1867), Peabody conservatory (1868), College of Music in Cincinnati (1878) and the American conservatory (Chicago, 1886).
The most important music schools have developed along two general lines, either as independent music schools or as college or university departments. In the former the graduate receives a degree or diploma; in the latter music study is credited toward an academic or musical degree. Further additions to the list include the Yale School of Music, University of Kansas, University of Michigan, Vassar, Wellesley and Smith colleges, Combs conserva tory (Philadelphia), Northwestern university, Syracuse university, Columbia School of Music (Chicago), Bush conservatory (Chi cago), Newcomb college, Detroit Conservatory of Music, Mac Phail School of Music (Minneapolis), Cornish school (Seattle), Louisville conservatory, Pittsburgh Musical Institute, Horner Institute (Kansas City, Mo.) and Cleveland Institute.
Four music schools have special endowments. The oldest was founded in 1904 as the Institute of Musical Art of New York; since 1926 it has been called The Institute of Musical Art of tne Juilliard School of Music. The bequest of Augustus D. Juilliard (1919) left some millions of dollars for the promotion of musical education and culture, and led to the founding of a music school in New York city (1924). It is now a graduate school for students of unusual talent, with the Institute of Musical Art and an exten sion department as under-graduate provisions. The Eastman School of Music (1919) at Rochester, N.Y., a department of the University of Rochester, has been endowed with $12,000,000 by George Eastman. The Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia (1924) has been endowed with more than $12,000,000 by Mrs. Edward W. Bok.
In 1908 Arthur L. Manchester prepared a report on music education in the United States for the Bureau of Education, deal ing with schools and departments of music, not with public schools. The widely varying curricula quoted led the compiler to the conclusion that undue exaltation of the vocational aspects of music had led to the separation of music from general educa tional thought. An improved condition is shown by the 1928 report of the National Research Council of Music Education, which shows that 85% of colleges and universities now allow entrance credit for music, and 77.5% offer courses in music for credit toward a degree. The organization (1924) of the National Association of Schools of Music is also promoting a more satis factory state of curricula and credits. Efforts have been made in some States to demand certain standards of attainment for the work of the private music teachers, who flourish in abundance, but State regulation is not yet common. Chief among the teachers' organizations is the Music Teachers National Association, founded in 1876 by Theodore Presser. Many State associations of music teachers have functioned along similar lines.