Book Comparison

This post is a quick survey of music texts from different time period. Each is analyzed considering the appearance of notation, nature of the songs, range and tessitura, and relation of the songs to specific music aspects or other curriculum. A critical look at the differences in curricular plans will also shed light on the development of music texts from 1920 to 2000.

The first text is the Progressive Music Series Book 1 printed in 1920. The table of contents shows that the book is a collection of songs organized by their melodic content. The first pages contain songs based on the tonic chord with later songs adding neighbor tones, diatonic figures, and more complicated intervals. There are also sections at the end for sight reading and rote songs. One of the songs towards the back of the book "Little Miss Tulip" is an example of one of the more complicated melodies. Notation includes eighth notes that are not beamed.The song begins on the tonic, but contains a number of intervallic skips such as descending 3rds and ascending 4ths. The range is fairly large from a D below the staff to a top space E and may stretch very young singers. There does not seem to be a specific skill being taught with this song and no cross-curricular emphasis. The lyrics are simple and likely are of secondary importance. The goal of this series is certainly the development of singers. This is expected as the original goal of early music education was to develop good singers particularly for the church. There is a teacher's edition, but one was not available to review.

The second text is the New Educational Music Course from 1906. The text is intended for 7th and 8th grade students and includes mostly two parts songs with some three part with the third part in the bass clef towards the end. Like the Progressive series, the text is a collection of songs for the purpose of developing young singers. The first section includes some review of the previous texts and develops singing skill with intermediate tones with skips . Songs are arranged in the book by key starting with C and moving to flat and sharp keys adding one at a time. The second part is a continuation of songs with skips to and from intermediate tones, but includes more sharp and flat heavy keys. Part three explores contrasts between major an minor again moving from fewer to more sharps and flats. Part four is a collection of duets, trios, and parts songs. Part five includes more parts singing with the inclusion of a bass clef voice. On of the songs from part four is "A Lesson in Giving." It includes three parts with each part having it's own written lyrics. The third part has some interesting chromaticism and the first part contains the largest skips. The song has a number of crescendo and decrescendo markings which were not present in the Progressive text. Breath marks are also included. The first part has a larger range going from D to top line F. The Third part goes as low as a G below the staff. The rhythms of each part are distinct which, when added to the large range and big skips, create a fairly complicated song to sing. The purpose of this text is certainly to build strong singers and each song seems to have specific skill goals as evidenced by the organization shown in the table of contents. There is no mention of a teacher's edition.

The third text is The Music Connection Grade Three from 1995. At over 300 pages, it is much longer than the previous two texts which didn't eclipse 200 pages. The text also includes CDs and simple piano accompaniments. The text is colorful with pictures and large letters with several fonts on each page. The table of contents shows organization by concepts and themes. The concepts in unit one include rhythm, melody, harmony, form, and tone color. The theme section includes a variety of concepts including both American music and world music. The unit ends with a "theme musical" which likely ties the unit concepts and themes together. One of the songs from the "Just Imagine" theme is "Don Gato." The song is a silly song about a cat that includes "meowing." Spanish lyrics are also included as well as a description of ballads. The time signature is written with a quarter note instead of a 4 which is an attempt to clarify beats and measures for students. The notation is printed clearly and includes chord symbols. This inclusion helps to facilitate the addition of simple accompaniments at the discretion of the teacher. There is a teacher's edition which, in the author's experience, contains further directions for learning. The goal of this text is not simply to build singing skills. Instead, there is a clear intent to build musical knowledge and intersect with other subjects as well.

The fourth text is Share the Music for grade five from 2000. It is longer yet with 440 pages and includes ancillaries. The table of contents reveals as text organized by themes. The specific curricular goals might be included in the teacher edition and follow a logical scope and sequence, but those goals are not readily apparent given the theme titles. Each unit includes creating and writing unlike the earlier texts.  The focus on a more well-rounded music learning rather than building better singers may be relate to the development of the national standards. This text seems to cover a variety of standards within a single unit. One of the songs in the text, "Free at Last," includes a short paragraph on the importance of the song for the African American community and mentions Dr. King. The song might be used as a cross-curricular opportunity with social studies. Unlike earlier texts reviewed where the lyrics are of secondary importance, this text includes songs thoughtfully to address more than just singing development. The notation includes chord symbols like the Music Connection text which can be used for simple accompaniments. A regular 4/4 time signature is used and the tonic (do) is noted at the beginning. There are also directions for making the song call-and-response.  There is a teacher's edition that likely has further details.

Overall, it seems that the focus of music texts evolved from a vocal skill building focus to a more general approach. Later texts included more cross-curricular possibilities. They also were more likely to include detailed teacher editions and ancillaries. The notation of songs included in the text also changed to add chord symbols which facilitated easy construction of accompaniment parts. The broadening of the focus may be related to the development of the national music standards developed in 1994. Certainly, there has been an larger shift of focus from vocal development to well-rounded music education.