2.  Little research had been completed on
multicultural music education
 Recorded instances of multicultural music
education
 Statis Coleman developed a “Creative Music” program
that included world musical instruments in Washington
D.C (1916) and New York (1918)
 Folk dancing movement and folk music presentations
were in music appreciation classes at turn of century

4.  Early multicultural music education was not the same
as it is today
 The researcher believes, “that the increasing diversity
of musics used in American schools (even by
predominantly Caucasian teachers of largely Anglo-
Saxon decent) was an important antecedent for later
multicultural developments.”
 Music education at the time was Eurocentric and
focused on Western classical music, especially German
music

5.  America was segregated into white and “colored”
populations
 The Supreme Court ruling Plessy V. Fergusson
validated segregation
 Restrictions placed on Asian Americans
 African Americans segregated
 Native Americans were ignored
 Southern and European Immigrants continued to
move to America

6.  Social Darwinism became one of the major
philosophies
 English philosopher Herbert Spencer made this popular
 Used by people to justify keeping America pure and
putting restrictions on immigrants
 America became known as the “Melting Pot”
 This term coined after Israel Zanwill’s 1909 play The
Melting Pot

7.  Progressive reformers and Harvard philosopher
William James valued uniqueness, individuality, and
diversity
 African American W.E.B. DuBois founded the National
Association for the Advancement of Colored People
(NAACP) in 1910
 Horace Kallen promoted “unity from diversity” in his
book Culture and Democracy in the United States in
1924

8.  Social worker Jane Addams worked at the Hull House
in Chicago and believed in the importance of sharing
immigrants’ “arts, crafts, sons, dances, and festivals”
 Henry Street Settlement in New York City encouraged
immigrant celebrations and folk dancing
 Addams and John Dewey advocated teaching foreign
languages and about students’ cultures in school

9.  Initially, immigrants were expected to assimilate into
American culture.
 It was found immigrant students performed better at
bilingual schools
 In a 1908 speech before the National Education
Association, Addams recommended that “ethnic-
cultural elements” should be included in the
curriculum.

10.  In 1905, a Folk Dance Committee was formed as part of
the Playground and Recreation Association of America
 Folk dancing became part of the physical education
curriculum in the New York City schools by 1908
 Physical education teachers believed students
benefitted from folk dancing
 Students began to respect their own and other cultures
 Could be performed inside and outside
 Great form of exercise

11.  Music education in the early 1900s did not include
multicultural elements
 Folk music was thought of as “primitive”
 The book Folk Songs of Many Nations by Louis
Elson, the cofounder of the Music Teacher’s National
Association, included songs from around world.
However, few schools used it as part of the curriculum.
 English and French folk songs began to appear in
school music series around 1916

12.  Music teachers started to become aware of
folk songs, folk dancing and multicultural
teaching as they attended conferences
 Music teachers were slow to incorporate
their music from other cultures into their
curriculum

13.  “We, the melting-pot nation, can amalgamate all these
divers peoples more quickly through music than in any
other ways.”
 Educators started using folk music in their classrooms
 Immigrants felt at home when singing their folk songs
 This helped students assimilate into American culture
 Folk festivals and pageants included folk music

14.  Folk dances were recorded on the Victrola. This allowed
authentic music to be played in the classroom setting.
 Music classes started teaching folk dancing
 Teachers used the folk dances to for rhythm
exercises, movement exercises, cultural studies
 1911-1916 – The National Summer School gave classes on
teaching folk songs, dances, and games
 Anne Faulkner’s What We Hear in Music Victrola
recording was used in music appreciation classes
 Included music from around the world
 Included information the cultures represented by the music

15.  Little Native American and African music was used in
schools
 Native American music was often misrepresented and
called “primitive”
 African music was labeled as “slave” or “old Southern”

16.  Multicultural education entered the education system
initially with the study of folk dancing in physical
education classes
 Folk music was used initially to “Americanize”
immigrants
 Music educators were slow to incorporate ethnic music
into the curriculum, but it was eventually used in the
form of folk dancing and singing folk songs

17. “Multicultural music education is far more than folk
music and dance. Yet the increasing diversity of
school music resulting from profound social and
cultural changes in the American population during
1900 to 1916 may be one of the beginnings of
multicultural music education.”
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18. Volk, Terese M. 1994.“Folk Musics and Increasing
Diversity in American Music Education: 1900-1916.”
Journal of Research in Music Education 42 (4): 285-305.
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