ABSTRACT
Music was an integral part of Greek education, whose main purpose was to develop citizens capable of fully participating in society. The scientific and artistic aspects of music were both subjects of study in the Middle Ages, when the invention of notation led to further developments in music theory, and the development of reading as a subject of musical study. It was the much less diverse New England colonists, however, who had the greatest and most widespread influence on the future music education system in America. As vocal music's importance was being recognized by its inclusion in school curricula, interest in instrumental music was growing in America’s towns and cities. Nineteenth-century instrumental music education was, like eighteenth-century vocal music education, largely a private matter. While the Benjamins were developing free violin schools, another movement was underway to establish a European-style conservatory system in the United States.
