Reconsidering School Songbooks in the United States during the Post–Civil War Period (1865-1899)

Abstract

Many of the first public school music teachers in the United States came from the singing school tradition and taught from the same tune books that had been used in singing schools. After the war, renewed interest in education and the establishment of graded schools soon led to the introduction of music series that were designed to serve the individual needs of each grade and the classroom teachers who often assisted with music instruction. The major music education history texts in the United States claim that music series soon replaced single-volume songbooks since they better served the needs of the new graded school system. Music series represented the new progressive views of education in the years following the Civil War, and the single-volume songbooks that descended from antebellum tune books of the singing school movement are largely dismissed as relics of a bygone era. This study explores the use of these school songbooks in the years following the Civil War, extending many years beyond the introduction of the first music series.