MUE 6080 - Module 1 Assignment: Book Comparison

When comparing books published for music education in 1906, 1920, 1995, and 2000 you find several similarities, but mostly differences. The notation in the early books seems unorganized by today’s standards. The book from 1906 uses enharmonic accidentals in the same measure (bass part measure 1 with an A sharp and a B flat), which is particularly interesting since the table of contents indicates the book's strong focus on key structure. Both, the book from 1906 and the book from 1920, lacked 8^th note beaming, but instead used ties for like pitched 8^th notes. It should be noted however, that the early music books include breath marks while the later books did not. Additionally, the book from 1906 was the only example that included dynamic markings. The later books included chord symbols above the music and more intricate road maps (a D.C. al Fine in 2000 example).

The nature of the songs are fairly similar. In both eras there is a song addressing morals or values (“A Lesson in Giving” 1906 and “Free At Last” 2000) and a song that simply tells a story (“Little Miss Tulip” 1920 and “Don Gato” 1995). However, there seems to be a wide variety in the overall curriculum plans. For example, the early 20^th century books are both divided into sections based on musical theory; key signatures in 1906 and chords and intervals in 1920. On the other hand, the books from 1995 and 2000 both use overarching themes. The early books seem to focus strictly on singing while the later books branch out to include instrumentation, professional musician spotlights, student composition, and world musics.

The note range in the early 1900s books is much larger than the range in the books from the late 1990s and early 2000s. I wonder if it was more acceptable to request a young teenager to sing more over an octave in the early 1900s because of the American lifestyle. We know in the early 1900s many American households had a piano in their parlor and a main form of entertainment was to buy and play sheet music. While children today still actively sing along with popular music on the radio, I speculate that the vocal demand of popular music in the early 1900s was greater than today’s top hits.

Year	Range
1906	Soprano: d to f, Alto: b to d, Bass: g to g
1920	e to e
1995	d to c
2000	d to d

  

One very noticeable difference between the books is the size. The 160 pages of the early textbooks might have left some to be desired in terms of a well-rounded music textbook, however the smaller size is less cumbersome for a 5^th grade student to hold compared to the 400 page monstrosities of the 2000s. During the four years that I taught elementary music I never asked the kindergartners, 1^st graders, or 2^nd graders to get the books off the shelf. The time it took them to bench press a book just to walk it to their seat was incredible. I think most publishers are combating this by creating digital resources of their book materials for teachers with projectors.