Chapter 3: Methodology
A course was chosen at the host university to implement the concepts and ideas discussed in the previously discussed literature. The course was a masters and doctorate level music education course in a traditional classroom setting. There were six students enrolled in the course. Only one of the participants in the course reported taking an online course, and that was within the past year. Three of the students were international students near or fluent in English. A pre-survey of the students’ technology knowledge about Adobe Acrobat, MicroSoft Word, HTML, web surfing, online search engines, file transfer/attachments, e-mail, and chat rooms was given. This assessment benefited my creation of the site and course materials for use in the activity.
The course’s topics and schedule was assessed to plan the activity. The topic selected for the activity was mid-to-late nineteenth century American tune books. Along with the topic, the course instructor and I agreed on the class sessions which would be given to the activity and resulting demonstrations of student knowledge.
Upon selecting the topic, the following tune books were selected for use in the activity:
Lowell Mason’s The Song Garden, Ripley and Tapper’s Natural Music Primer, George Loomis’ New Progressive Music Lessons, Luther Whiting Mason’s National Music Course, Whiting’s Public School Music Course, John Tuft’s Normal Music Course, Damrosch’s Universal Music Series, William Walker’s Sacred Harp, Lowell Mason’s The School Book of the School Room, Aaron Cox’s Public School Singing Book, and George Root’s Normal Musical Hand-Book. These books were chosen for the accessibility to the course’s instructor and myself, the inclusion in previous years’ curriculums of the course, and their variety of coverage to offer the currently enrolled students.
The books were scanned in to Adobe pdf files. Not every page was scanned due to file size limitations. Instead, all books were scanned at least to page twenty – including any all prefaces, introductory material, and indexes. Other pages included in the scan were pages referring to the teaching of music or training of the voice. The effort was not particularly important to maintain a balance between sacred and secular material. All of the files were edited and cropped to create high quality images for the participants to view and interact with. The process of editing and cropping increased the readability in a few of the documents which was noted by the instructor, students, and myself in comparing the primary source to the pdf file.
Following the tune books, notable research was located for the topic of tune books and the specific books in the study. If the article was available electronically to participants it was hyperlinked. If an article was available in an offline library, it was located and a pdf file created for the participants. The file was linked in a similar fashion as the other articles for possible research.
Web searches were conducted for quality websites for researching tune books, specific books in the study, singing schools, revivals, and many of the premier musical figures writing tune books of the time period. Using the searches yielded a enormous amount of hits. These pages were visited and assessed of content type. All the pages were grouped according to their primary content – by book, figure, or shape-note teaching. Upon classifying the pages accordingly, all were given hyperlinks on the participants’ research page.
The above materials were developed into a framed course website utilizing the metaphor of a classroom. The image of the classroom was given hot spots with specific actions available to the students. When a cursor appeared over a specific object, the arrow would turn into the hand which is commonly known as a hyperlink. One instance of this is the teacher’s desk is an email hyperlink to the myself (the researcher in this case). The bookshelf was access to the research page. The research page contained the Google links mentioned previously, a guide to online search engines, and the online library of the host institution. The blackboard of the metaphor contained the readings of the activity. Each reading was hyperlinked to the Word document or Adobe pdf file.
Each participant was asked to read a research article written by myself to introduce the topic of tune books, the composers, the shape note systems, the variety of books and their importance, and how the books were used. The second required reading was a chose between three noted authorities. One reading was the first chapter from Michael Mark’s Contemporary Music Education. The second option was the first and fifth chapters of Edward Birge’s History of Public School Music in the United States. The final option was the second and third chapters of James Keene’s A History of Music Education in the United States. Upon completing these readings, participants began to access the primary sources supplied.
After viewing the tune book(s) chosen for further study, participants began researching online by using any of the documents or links supplied or by searching for themselves. The rationale for including the resources was to provide quality alternatives for further researching. The participants were never limited to or redirected to the provided documents.
The final display of knowledge is a lesson plan for music education majors studying the history of music education in the U.S. This should include music making (standard 1 or 2), music reading (standard 5), studying how and why the music was performed (standard 9), how the music was depicted in the other arts such as dance or visual art (standard 8). Another representation could be the composition of a musical work that teaches about the tune book, the culture from which it sprang forth, or the techniques used to produce or use the book (standard 4). A third idea for representing their knowledge is the creation of a recital or scripted CD recording of music performed from the tune book along with an explanation of the work (standard 6). This could also include a quick time video streamed online with scans of the tune along with a performance and explanation of the performance. A fourth project might be the display of the student’s knowledge through a musical performance such as a CD or recital using period specific instruments and vocal techniques with appropriate recital program notes including a critical analysis of the works performed. The program should include scans of the important vocal and instrumental techniques unique to the tune book. Other pictures should include visual arts or descriptions of the dance steps often performed with the music (standards 1-2, 5, 7, 8).
Reference Readings:
^Keast article
*Michael Mark – Contemporary Music Education, chapter 1 (14 pdf pages)
Mark chapter 1.pdf
*Edward Birge – History of Public School Music in the United States, chapters 1 & 5 (36 pdf pages)
Birge chapters 1 and 5.pdf
*James Keene – A History of Music Education in the United States, chapters 2 & 3 (25 pdf pages)
Keene chapters 2 and 3.pdf
^mandatory reading
*choose one of these 3 readings
-The New England Psalm Singer
New England Psalm Singer.pdf
-Bay Psalm Book
Bay Psalm Book.pdf
Tune Books:
-Mason’s The Song Garden
Song-Garden - by Lowell Mason - 1st Book.pdf
Public School Singing Book - Aaron Cox.pdf
-Ripley & Tapper’s Natural Music Primer
Ripley and Tapper - Natural Music Primer.pdf
-George Loomis’ New Progressive Music Lessons
Loomis - New Progressive Music Lessons - 4th Reader.pdf
-Luther Whiting Mason’s National Music Course
National Music Course - LW Mason - 1st Reader.pdf
-Whiting’s Public School Music Course
Whiting - Public School Music Course - 2nd Reader.pdf
Whiting - Public School Music Course - 5th Reader.pdf
-Normal Music Course
Normal Music Course - First Reader.pdf
Normal Music Course - Second Reader.pdf
Normal Music Course - Third Reader.pdf
Normal School - High School Collection.pdf
-Progressive Music Series
Loomis - New Progressive Music Lessons - 4th Reader.pdf
-Universal Music Series
Damrosch - Universal School Music Series - Teacher Edition.pdf
-Sacred Harp
William Walker - Southern Harmony.pdf
-The School Book of the School Room
Lowell Mason - Song-Book of the School-Room.pdf
-Aaron Cox’s Public School Singing Book (lyrics only)
Public School Singing Book - Aaron Cox.pdf
-George Root’s Normal Musical Hand-Book (for teacher training?)
Normal Musical Hand-Book by George Root.pdf
Links:
-Sacred Harp:
-The Bay Psalm Book:
-SingingSchools & Revivals:
-Southern Harmony:
-Psalmody:
-New Harp of Columbia:
-Fasola & Tonic Sol-Fa:
-Northern Harmony:
-Misc.:
Lining Out:
Fuging Tunes:
Normal Music Course:
Tunebooks in General:
Lowell Mason:
William Billings:
Searching:
Moravians:
Instruments:
Research Articles in .pdf format or links to full text in EBSCO:
Lowell Mason Article in MEJ.PDF
Beckwith Article.PDF
Colonial Harmonist Article.pdf
Heller and Pemberton article on Boston Handel and Haydn Society.pdf
Landon article on Fasola.pdf
Lowell Mason Article in MEJ.PDF
Music article on Billings in Southern Fasola Tunebooks.pdf
Taddie Article.pdf
Vogan article on 18th C Fasola Tunebooks.pdf
Zinar article on teaching Tonic Solfa Method.pdf
Fawcett-Yeske Article on Billings Fuging Tunes.pdf
Loftis Article on Southern Harmony Singing.pdf