ABSTRACT
School programmes have evolved over a long period of time, and current curriculum issues and debates can often be more clearly illuminated and better understood when viewed initially from an historical perspective. It is perhaps not always appreciated that music is, in fact, one of the oldest of curriculum subjects and was probably included in the first formal systems of education designed for the ruling elite in ancient Egypt. The Greeks valued musical studies for intellectual, cultural and moral reasons, and the strong connections between singing and Christian worship have ensured a place for music in educational institutions over the past two thousand years.
