ABSTRACT
This chapter presents a brief overview of the development of popular music education within formal educational institutions in the United States (US), while also highlighting trends in popular music education outside of these institutions. Facilitated by the forces of industrialization and urbanization, the expansion of the middle class in the United States during the 19th century provided a paying audience for professional live entertainment as well as for the sale of sheet music and instructional books to amateur musicians. According to US music education historians Michael Mark and Charles Gary, the Tanglewood Symposium was "arguably the most important event in recent music education history in regard to professional planning and implementation". The 21st century has seen unprecedented growth in the field of popular music education in the US, expanding in every teaching context from internet delivery to community music schools and private music studios, to all levels of public and private education.
